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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-17680

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what responses the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland has received to the consultation with registered medical practitioners that is referred to in paragraph 3, chapter 1, part 1, schedule 5 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018.

Question reference: S5W-17681

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland has conducted with registered medical practitioners to satisfy the provision in paragraph 3, chapter 1, part 1, schedule 5 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, and which professional bodies it has consulted.

Question reference: S5W-17686

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland (CMO) (a) had with the Minister for Social Security, following the CMO's letter of 27 March 2018, and (b) has had with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People, since the CMO's letter of 26 June 2018, regarding the CMO's duties under paragraph 3, chapter 1, part 1, schedule 5 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018.

Question reference: S5W-17169

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the budget is for social security experience panels, and how much has been spent to date, broken down by (a) staffing costs, (b) venue hire, (c) communications, (d) expenses for members and (e) any other costs.

Experience Panels do not have a hypothecated budget from the overall Social Security budget, it is contained within the overall allocated budget for the Social Security agency and implementation of benefits.

The total spend from 3 March 2017 when recruitment to the panels opened to date is £291,149. This consists of:

	2017-18 and 2018-19 YTD
Staffing costs	220,508
Venue hire	13,511
Communications	24,561
Expenses	4,806
Other costs, Including accessibility provision, staff training and materials	27,763

Question reference: S5W-17178

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people applied for positions at the social security agency and, of those, how many were (a) interviewed and (b) appointed.

Question reference: S5W-17179

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who (a) applied, (b) interviewed and (c) were appointed for positions at the social security agency had a protected characteristic, broken down by characteristic.

Question reference: S5W-17177

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who (a) applied, (b) interviewed and (c) were appointed for positions at the social security agency were carers.

Question reference: S5W-17223

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16813 by Jeane Freeman on 5 June 2018, whether Social Security Scotland will have a debt management office in place when it is established.

Question reference: S5W-17222

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16813 by Jeane Freeman on 5 June 2018, when it will commence Chapter (a) 5 and (b) 6 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, and whether this will be restricted to the benefits and provisions listed at Chapter 2 and Part 3 for which it has executive competence when this competence is granted.

Question reference: S5W-17172

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-10875 by Jeane Freeman on 20 September 2017, what the average time is for processing social security experience panel members' expenses claims, and what the maximum time has been.

Experience Panels expense claims are received by the Scottish Government Experience panels research team either directly from panel members at events, or sent in via a First Class FREEPOST service. Once completed forms are received in the office they are usually sent to finance to be processed within one working day.

From June 2017 to December 2017 Experience Panels expense claims were handled by Scottish Government central finance. The average processing time for these claims was 3.4 days.

Since 5 December 2017 Experience Panels expense claims are handled by the Social Security agency finance team. The average processing time for these claims is 3 working days.

All 130 claims apart from 3 were paid within 4 working days. The maximum processing time from receiving a completed form for these three outliers was 36 days. These three outliers were due to incomplete information or errors. We are continuing to trial potential improvements to our processes to reduce the time it takes for payments to be made.