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The funding transfer which will accompany the transfer of executive competence for Sure Start Maternity Grant has not yet been agreed with the UK Government. However, it is expected that this will be equivalent to the level of planned expenditure in Scotland from the date of transfer to the end of the financial year.

The Scottish Government will fund any gap between the amount of funding received and actual expenditure on the Best Start Pregnancy and Baby Grant in 2018-19.

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) prevent the publication of protected characteristics for small groups of people. Such data is sensitive and breaking down a group of 30 people by nine characteristics could lead to the identification of individuals. However we are able to provide more general information on the characteristics represented in the core group. It includes:

• People with a disability (including mental, physical and learning)
• Men and women
• A range of ages
• People with different sexual orientations
• People who are married or in civil partnerships
• People of different religions and beliefs
• People with experience of all relevant benefits
• People with fluctuating conditions
• People with hearing impairments
• People with visual impairments
• Carers of both adults and disabled children
• Rural and urban dwellers
• People with intersecting characteristics (i.e. more than one of the above).

We are also working closely with stakeholders to ensure that the views of people from seldom heard or under-represented groups, including those with other protected characteristics, are strongly reflected in the charter.

Universal Credit (UC) Scottish choices do not have a separate budget line in the Social Security budget. Costs are contained within the allocated budget for the Social Security Directorate. This includes all staffing and communications costs associated with UC Scottish choices.

The Scottish Government paid £529,785.58 to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in April 2018 for one-off implementation costs which included changes to the UC IT system and updates to DWP staff guidance and training.

The Scottish Government estimates ongoing operational costs to be up to
‎ £0.4 million in 2017-18; and up to £1.6 million in 2018-19. The Scottish Government will only pay for the actual number of UC Scottish choices offered and taken up. We expect to receive an invoice from the DWP shortly, based on actual take up rates covering the period 4 October 2017 (when the choices were first made available) to 31 March 2018.

The Delivery Agreement covers Local Authority facilities and, while it doesn’t prescribe specific locations or exclude other arrangements, it notes the characteristics that Social Security Scotland will look for when considering co-location. Key to the agreement is the need for facilities to be accessible and services joined up. This will help make sure that people can easily access support in locations convenient to them.

As the executive competence for the administration of a benefit transfers to Scotland, Social Security Scotland will publish statistics for Scotland on that benefit. In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, publication dates for statistics for Social Security Scotland from 2018 onwards will be pre-announced through a 12-month release calendar, giving a specific release date at least four weeks in advance where practicable.

The Experience Panels research plan for 2018-19 can be found on the Scottish Government website at the following link: https://beta.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/corporate-report/2017/06/social-security-scotland-bill-privacy-impact-assessment/documents/social-security-experience-panels-2018-2019-research-plan/social-security-experience-panels-2018-2019-research-plan/govscot%3Adocument . It contains estimated publication dates for each project. Please note these are subject to change.

Scottish Government support for advice services is intended to maximise household resources and ensure people understand their statutory rights and have recourse to redress if those rights are not upheld.

The Scottish Government is funding a part-time welfare advice service facilitator in 2018-19 to support the embedding of Welfare Advice Services in Health and Social Care settings, with a particular focus on general practice and early years.

Provision of welfare advice is a matter for individual NHS Boards and general practices and we do not hold information centrally on where advisers are located.

Social Security Scotland's strategic objectives will be introduced in the Agency's Corporate Plan. The Corporate Plan will be published shortly, as an interim document. As with everything it does, Social Security Scotland will develop and iterate its strategic objectives in collaboration with stakeholder communities. An updated version of the Corporate Plan, which reflects this consultation and collaboration, will be published next year.

Sectarian hate crime - like any hate crime - has a hugely damaging effect on victims and communities so it is important that everybody plays their part to challenge it. That is why we fully support Police Scotland in taking robust action to both tackle hate crime and increase the confidence of victims to report incidents either directly to them or to a Third Party reporting centre.

Not all of the data requested is available. We hold a record of agreed interview dates and agreed start dates but we have no way to confirm whether a candidate actually attended the interview or ended up taking up the post.

Table A: Breakdown of diversity characteristics for candidates who applied for a vacancy in Social Security Scotland.

On the 31 August there were 150 people who transferred from the Social Security Agency Implementation Division within Social Security Directorate in the Scottish Government to Social Security Scotland. The following table provides a breakdown on protected characteristics.