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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-19089

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18813 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 September 2018, what the expected equivalent level of planned expenditure in Scotland is from the date of transfer to the end of the financial year, and what the anticipated gap is between the amount of funding it expects to receive and actual expenditure on the Best Start Pregnancy and Baby Grant in 2018-19.

In its publication of 11 September, the Scottish Fiscal Commission provided figures for the indicative expenditure for Best Start Grant - Pregnancy and Baby Grant in Scotland - for 2018-19 based on two potential dates of implementation: £2.2 million from 1 November 2018 or £1.7 million from 1 December 2018. From these forecast figures, and the Scottish Government’s estimates of funding, we expect the difference between the funding expected from the UK Government and actual expenditure to be in the region of £1 million in 2018-19 with a date for establishing executive competence before Christmas.

Question reference: S5W-19090

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much it estimates the administration of the Carer's Allowance Supplement by Social Security Scotland will cost in 2018-19.

The costs for Social Security Scotland to administer the Carer’s Allowance Supplement in 2018-19 are estimated to be in the region of £193,000. This does not include Social Security Scotland staffing costs. Social Security Scotland staff are multi-disciplinary and will work across a number of functions in preparation for the benefits being devolved. It is therefore not possible to fully attribute staff costs to any particular benefit at this stage.

Question reference: S5W-19091

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much it estimates the DWP's delivery of Carer's Allowance under agency arrangements will cost it in 2018-19.

DWP administer Carer's Allowance on behalf of Scottish Ministers under an Agency Agreement and these costs will be recharged to Social Security Scotland. DWP has provided an indicative full year cost of £5.8 million for 2017-18. DWP will recharge Social Security Scotland to deliver Carer's Allowance from the date of the transfer of executive competence, 3 September 2018, to the end of this financial year in proportion to this indicative figure.

Question reference: S5W-19063

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government to what extent Social Security Scotland engages with the Scottish Union of Supported Employment to assist with its recruitment.

Question reference: S5W-19064

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what formal relationship Social Security Scotland has with Fair Start Scotland (FSS), and how many staff it has recruited via FSS.

Social Security Scotland has formed a close working relationship with Remploy who are the Delivery Partner for Fair Start Scotland for the Tayside area. We are working in partnership with Remploy to ensure potential candidates for roles within Social Security Scotland are provided with information, encouragement and support.

All permanent appointments to Social Security Scotland are through a fair and open recruitment process involving formal assessment and interview. We do not hold data on the number of candidates with a relationship with Remploy who have been made offers.

Question reference: S5W-18843

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a range of application forms for disability assistance to correspond with an individual's primary condition.

Question reference: S5W-18932

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what public transport access there is to Social Security Scotland offices in (a) Dundee and (b) Glasgow, and whether these are accessible to disabled people.

Social Security Scotland’s interim headquarters at Dundee House in Dundee and the Glasgow office at 220 High Street are both situated close to main bus routes and mainline rail stations.

Proximity to public transport links, frequency and volume of services and the availability of ground floor public spaces were key criterion in the analytical process which rated the shortlisted buildings in each city.

The interim Headquarters in Dundee and Glasgow office are fully compliant with Equalities Act legislation.

Question reference: S5W-18928

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the materials detailing the outline service requirement, the procurement process and the support available to potential tenderers that were provided or displayed at the Supplier Awareness Event on 11 September 2018 for its notice, Provision of Agile Service Design to deliver Social Security Assessments Function.

Question reference: S5W-18938

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding from its Consultation on Social Security in Scotland that the most mentioned terms that respondents disliked were, welfare, claimant, benefit, customer or client, sanction and scrounger, and whether (a) its Social Security Directorate and (b) Social Security Scotland has been instructed to use alternative language, where necessary.

We are carrying out ongoing user research and we have also conducted research through our Experience Panel of people with lived experience of social security. A report on this research will be published in November 2018.

Both the Social Security Directorate and Social Security Scotland internal guidance on language is taking account of the emerging findings. These findings include feedback that ‘benefits’ is the most widely and easily understood term for a form of social security assistance and the word ‘client’ is the preferred word for someone in receipt of a benefit.

Question reference: S5W-18820

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the eligibility criteria for the Best Start Grant (Pregnancy and Baby Grant) do not align with the eligibility criteria for free school meals.

The eligibility criteria for Best Start Grant (BSG) ensure that low income families in Scotland who would have received a Sure Start Maternity Grant continue to receive support where they would not if eligibility was narrowed to match that for free school meals. Free school meals are universally available to pupils in primary 1-3 at all publicly funded schools in Scotland. For pupils above primary 3, free school meal eligibility is dependent on whether the pupil’s parents or carers, or the pupil themselves are in receipt of specified qualifying benefits, which are set out in legislation. There is an income threshold set in the qualifying benefits for free school meals where there isn’t for BSG. This means that BSG is paid to people on higher incomes than free school meals, including those experiencing in work poverty.