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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-19692

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what Social Security Scotland's staffing costs were in (a) September and (b) October 2018.

Question reference: S5W-19501

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has asked the UK Government lay commencement regulations under section 23 of the Scotland Act 2016 for for the purposes of having executive competence for the delivery of (a) cold-spell heating assistance and (b) winter heating assistance by Social Security Scotland and, if so, what the outcome was.

We have not yet asked the UK government to lay commencement regulations in respect of Cold Spell Heating Assistance or Winter Heating Assistance. The timing of the introduction of these new benefits will depend upon implementation and successful testing of the new social security system’s operations. We are determined to get this right and will expect the UK Government to support this change in due course.

Question reference: S5W-19716

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has made of any infrastructure and capacity implications for transplantation services arising from the implementation of an opt-out organ donation system, and what plans it has to address these.

Question reference: S5W-19715

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that there is sufficient investment in healthcare infrastructure to deliver the planned increased supply of organs for transplantation following any changes in organ donation legislation.

The proposals in the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill will contribute to the wider package of measures already in place or underway to increase donation and transplantation under the Donation and Transplantation Plan for Scotland.

The rationale and investment required for the healthcare infrastructure to meet an increase in the supply of organs for transplantation following the proposed change in legislation is set out in the Financial Memorandum http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Bills/Human%20Tissue%20(Authorisation)%20(Scotland)%20Bill/SPBILL32FMS052018.pdf and the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment to the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill https://beta.gov.scot/publications/human-tissue-authorisation-scotland-bill-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/ .

Question reference: S5W-19465

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13171 by Jeane Freeman on 21 December 2017, for what reason the experience panels are required to consider precise eligibility of extending winter fuel payments to families with disabled children on the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance, in light of it having made this commitment in its Programme for Government 2016-17 and in its answer to question S5W-02679 by Jeane Freeman on 15 September 2016.

The purpose of the experience panels is to understand the direct personal experience and views of people with experience of the benefits being devolved, including families with disabled children. Experience panels research will inform policy development and how Winter Heating Allowance is delivered. Decisions about eligibility will continue to rest with the Scottish Government.

There are over 350 Experience Panel members with experience of Winter Fuel Payments. Experience Panels are already collecting information that will inform our design and delivery of the new Winter Heating Allowance. Some of these panel members reflected specifically on their experience of Winter Fuel Payments as part of our ‘About Your Benefits and You’ research in 2017.

Question reference: S5W-19666

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people applied to be on Social Security Scotland's Executive Advisory Body, and how many had a protected characteristic, broken down by characteristic.

Social Security Scotland received 41 applications for positions on its Executive Advisory Body. The following tables reflect what candidates have declared in our Equalities Monitoring forms in relation to protected characteristics.

Please note that counts of less than 5 have been suppressed and shown as * to prevent the possible disclosure of information about individuals. Secondary data suppression has also been necessary to prevent the calculation of the suppressed values by differencing (also shown as *)
‎

Age Group:

16-29	30-39	40-49	50-54	55-59	60+	Prefer not to Say
0	*	8	*	12	12	1

Disability Statistics:

Yes	No	Unknown
16	19	6

Ethnic Group:

White	Ethnic Minority	Prefer not to say
*	*	1

‘White’ group includes Scottish; Other British; Irish; Gypsy/Traveller; Polish; Other White.

‘Ethnic Minority’ group includes Mixed or Multiple Ethnic Groups; Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British; African, Caribbean or Black; Other Ethnic Group.

Religion :

None	Christian	Other	Prefer not to say	Unknown
17	17	*	1	*

‘Christian’ includes Church of Scotland; Roman Catholic; Other Christian.

‘Other’ includes Muslim; Buddhist; Sikh; Jewish; Hindu; Another religion.

Gender Statistics:

Female	Male	Prefer not to say
20	20	1

Sexual Orientation:

LGBTI	Heterosexual	Prefer not to say	Unknown
*	36	*	*

Question reference: S5W-19404

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has instructed the DWP, under its agency agreement, not to recover, fine or prosecute a recipient of carer's allowance whose earnings have breached the earnings threshold.

Question reference: S5W-19086

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been paid in service fees to Fair Start Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-19461

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-19091 and S5W-19090 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 October 2018, what the individual cost is per payment of (a) carer's allowance delivered by the DWP and (b) carer's allowance supplement delivered by Social Security Scotland, and which of these is more cost-effective.

It is not appropriate to compare cost per payment for delivery of Carer’s Allowance and Carer’s Allowance Supplement to eligible carers in Scotland, as these are not like for like.

DWP administer Carer’s Allowance on behalf of Scottish Ministers under an Agency Agreement, and Social Security Scotland make payments of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement to eligible carers. Questions on (a) should be directed to DWP as there is currently no separate delivery arrangement in Scotland. Cost per payment of (b) are estimated to be in the region of £1.

Question reference: S5W-19402

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that recipients of carer's allowance may be prosecuted or fined where the DWP's Verify Earnings and Pensions system finds that the earnings threshold has been breached.

Carers play a vital role in our communities and I have contacted the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to highlight my concerns about the impact of this action by DWP. I have sought reassurance that in the event of any debt recovery action, individual circumstances are taken into account and that people are not prosecuted who have made a genuine error and not knowingly sought to defraud the benefit.