Question reference: S5W-11379
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 20 September 2017
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 October 2017
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Social Security on 19 September 2017, (Official Report, c. 10), whether it will confirm what multicriteria assessment process it used to determine the location of the agency, and for what reason it determined that Dundee and Glasgow were the most suitable.
Answer
The decision to locate the Social Security Agency’s central functions in Dundee and Glasgow was taken following the completion of a detailed and robust analytical exercise. The exercise methodology - which followed a multi-criteria analysis approach - and the results have been published and can be accessed by following the following link: https://beta.gov.scot/publications/central-functions-social-security-agency-location-analysis-phase-1-phase/.
As the report highlights, the suitability of each local authority area for agency’s central functions was considered against a number of factors, including the ability to recruit a sufficient number of staff and within the timescale required to ensure delivery of the 11 benefits with the lifetime of this parliament, scope to contribute to inclusive growth, opportunities for regeneration, and the role that the location could enable the central functions to play in the local delivery.