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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.

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Question reference: S5W-23226

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it will adapt its agile working approach in the social security programme to respond to any increase in the programme’s scale.

Question reference: S5W-23215

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the Social Security Scotland Executive Advisory Board receives clear reports regarding the long-term financial impacts of social security investment, policy and delivery decisions.

Social Security Scotland’s Executive Advisory Body provides strategic advice and constructive challenge to the Chief Executive and the Senior Leadership Team. It specifically supports those activities for which the Agency Chief Executive is Accountable Officer. The Agency works closely alongside our Policy and Programme colleagues, in the Social Security Directorate, to deliver the devolution of social security in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-23205

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what incentives are offered to staff in the social security programme to encourage them to remain in post.

Question reference: S5W-23221

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the cost of implementing the delivery of digital infrastructure for the social security programme.

As detailed in the letter sent to the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee (copied to the Social Security Committee) on 7 December 2017, please see the following table setting out current estimated IT costs for the social security programme, inclusive of VAT and the relevant levels of optimism bias.

Current Expected IT Costs

Component	Estimate Cost (£m)
Case Management Solution	33.3m
Telephony Solution	0.4m
Document Handling Solution	3.6m
Corporate Accounting Solution	0.9m
Payment Handling and Reconciliation Solution	42.1m
Knowledge Management Solution	0.4m
Identity Management Solution	7.2m
Reporting and Statistical Modelling Solution	0.3m
Data Feeds and Exchanges	4.5m
Online Presence	0.3m
Digital Access Solution	10.1m
Scottish Government IT On-boarding	15.0m
Scottish Government IT Infrastructure	17.1m
Development Environment	0.8m
Test Environment	18.0m
Protective Security	36.0m
Data Hosting	0.4m
Total	190.4m

Question reference: S5W-23309

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of subjects studied by (a) S4 and (b) S5 pupils at (i) Penicuik High, (ii) Lasswade High, (iii) North Berwick High, (iv) Ross High and (v) Musselburgh Grammar School has been in each of the last 10 years, and how this compares with the national average.

Question reference: S5W-23324

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance is provided to applicants to the Scottish Welfare Fund, and what advice it can give to applicants who do not have a specialist or benefits adviser.

Question reference: S5W-23199

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many households in the (a) Midlothian, (b) East Lothian and (c) Scottish Borders local authority area have experienced fuel poverty in each of the last 10 years.

The number of households in each local authority that are experiencing fuel poverty is published annually in the Scottish House Condition Survey local authority tables.

Local Authority figures are based on a 3-year pooled sample to allow sufficient sample sizes to produce results on each local authority. The figures in Table 1 shows the numbers of fuel poor households and the fuel poverty rate based on the most recent 10 of the 3-year pooled samples, for Midlothian, East Lothian and Scottish Borders.

These estimates are based on the current definition of fuel poverty as set out in the 2002 Scottish Fuel Poverty Statement. There are proposed changes to this definition in the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill , which is currently progressing through Parliament.

Table : Fuel poverty rates and number of fuel poor households in Midlothian, East Lothian and Scottish Borders over 10 periods of 3-year pooled sample datasets.

	Midlothian		East Lothian		Scottish Borders
	Number of households	%	Number of households	%	Number of households	%
2005-2008 1,2	8,000	24%	10,000	23%	33%	17,000
2007-2009 1	10,000	29%	11,000	27%	40%	20,000
2008-2010 1	10,000	29%	12,000	28%	38%	20,000
2009-2011 1	10,000	28%	13,000	30%	40%	21,000
2010-2012	10,000	28%	13,000	30%	40%	21,000
2011-2013	11,000	30%	14,000	31%	40%	21,000
2012-2014	11,000	30%	15,000	33%	39%	21,000
2013-2015	11,000	29%	14,000	31%	38%	20,000
2014-2016	8,000	22%	12,000	27%	34%	18,000
2015-2017	8,000	22%	11,000	25%	31%	17,000

Source: Scottish House Condition Survey

1. Historical Local Authority tables prior to the 2010-2012 period continue to be available but these have not been updated, therefore there may be differences in the underlying methodology and data breakdowns compared to more recent tables.

2. 2005-2008 figures combine three years’ worth of data (2005-06, 2007 and 2008) to provide a series of tables which present estimates for key indicators important at local authority level.

Local Authority estimates along with confidence intervals around the survey based results, are published here: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/SHCS/keyanalyses .

Question reference: S5W-23208

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that decisions made through the social security programme are appropriately escalated or reported to the programme's board.

We can confirm, and as stated by the Auditor General the Public Affairs and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee meeting held 16 May 2019, that the Social Security Programme has well established and robust governance structures, processes and mechanisms in place to support decision making and facilitate the escalation of risks and issues as when appropriate.

The Programme continues to show a commitment to improving its governance, reflecting on its progress and learning lessons.

Question reference: S5W-23213

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Social Security Scotland is staffed by an adequate number of permanent employees.

When considering our location(s) of our offices in Dundee and Glasgow, the Scottish Government undertook comprehensive analysis, part of this analysis was to consider the labour market and the ability to recruit for permanent posts within each location.

Social Security Scotland engage with third sector organisations and employability stakeholders across Scotland to raise awareness of their recruitment campaigns.

This has delivered successful outcomes in not only filling vacancies advertised, but also created some reserve lists for future recruitment campaigns.

Question reference: S5W-23219

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress it is making in finalising the contracts with the DWP for continued delivery of some devolved benefits.

A number of Agency Agreements will be put in place in preparation for transfer of executive competence on 1 April 2020. The Agency Agreements are key mechanisms to support the safe and secure transition of delivery responsibilities from the DWP to our own Social Security Scotland Agency. They are a cost-effective way of ensuring that Scottish residents continue to receive the right payments at the right time whilst we undertake the work required to develop our new systems.

To successfully achieve this, the Scottish Government is working closely with DWP to agree joint plans and priorities to deliver the necessary milestones.