Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many Pregnancy and Baby Payment Best Start Grants have been awarded in (a) Aberdeen and (b) Scotland since their introduction.
Social Security Scotland routinely releases information on Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods applications and payments.
Since the introduction of the Pregnancy and Baby Payment in December 2018, 97,685 payments with a combined value of £43,041,145 were paid to eligible clients throughout Scotland by 30 September 2024.
Whilst the latest statistics do not contain the number of payments issued broken down by local authority area, the total value of payments issued to clients in Aberdeen City was £1,371,294 over the same period.
The next Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods publication, covering the period to the end of December 2024, will be published on 25 February 2025.