Chamber and committees

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: S6W-05794

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 28 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons are for setting a time limit of six weeks within which applicants must complete both parts of the Child Disability Payment application process.

The purpose of setting a six week period is to balance the need to ensure that decisions can be dealt with as quickly as possible, with providing applicant’s sufficient time to seek supporting information, or to request help from Social Security Scotland to obtain this information. It also means that there is an up-to-date record of the individual’s care and mobility needs, which Social Security Scotland might not otherwise have if the application is not completed until a much later date.

It is clear on the application form, in our communications and guidance that if an applicant has any difficulty completing the application within the six week period, they should tell Social Security Scotland. If the applicant has good reason for not meeting the deadline, Social Security Scotland can extend this time period for up to 52 weeks. If Social Security Scotland does not accept the reasons for the late completion, the individual has the right to request a re-determination in relation to the start date of assistance.

Question reference: S6W-05660

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to the National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy that was announced in its Programme for Government.

Question reference: S6W-05383

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 21 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of the £20 million it has invested in social security advocacy.

The Scottish Government intends to allocate up to £5.1m per annum to cover the costs of the advocacy provision over a four year period. All of the funding is provided for the establishment and operation of the new service. However, this is a demand-led service and until it has been operational over a period of time it will not be possible to develop a detailed breakdown of when funding will be drawn down.

To ensure continuous improvement of the service, and to inform the next procurement exercise, we will monitor demand and review expenditure over the contract period. Subsequently, the contract value will be updated in the Public Contracts Register ahead of any extension or retendering for this contract.

Question reference: S6W-05664

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish monitoring data on the Scotspirit Holiday Voucher Scheme.

This information is not currently available. Our Charity partners were given a deadline of 17 January to return their reports on ScotSpirit Activity processed up until the end of the year (2021). We are still waiting for a few partners to return their data and this is being actively followed up.

I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib 63108)

Question reference: S6W-05384

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects top priority data sets, identified through the Equality Data Improvement Programme, to be published.

Through the Equality Data Improvement Programme, officials recently undertook an audit of datasets used by the Scottish Government to identify the extent to which data on each of the nine protected characteristics are collected and published. The next stage, which is underway, will use this information to produce an equality data improvement plan for each analytical area, identifying immediate improvements to datasets that can be completed by the end of 2022 and longer-term improvements that can be completed by the end of 2025. Stakeholders, including equality organisations, will be consulted to help identify priority datasets in Spring 2022.

Question reference: S6W-05237

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it expects to begin its evaluation of the Winter Support Fund.

Question reference: S6O-00648

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting people working in the cultural and arts sectors.

Question reference: S6O-00615

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to strengthen the legal requirements for dog breeding.

Question reference: S6W-04832

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will increase current Scottish Child Payment bridging payments for children from six years and above, who would be entitled to the Scottish Child Payment under the full roll-out, to bring them into line with the increased payment rate of £20 per week.

This year’s Scottish Budget is a budget of choices and we have chosen to back our national mission to tackle child poverty and strengthen support available for families during the cost of living crisis.

The Budget commits almost £200 million to double the Scottish Child Payment to £20 from April 2022, immediately benefiting 111,000 children under the age of 6.

We remain committed to delivering the Scottish Child Payment for children and young people aged 6-15 by the end of 2022, subject to receipt of the necessary data from DWP, at which point more than 400,000 children will be eligible.

In advance we are supporting as many school age children and young people as possible through our Bridging Payments, worth £520 in 2022. This innovative response, which makes use of the data local authorities have, is delivering immediate support to around 150,000 children.

The Scottish Child Payment remains the best way to provide the support low income families need now which is why we have acted to double the payment from April.

Question reference: S6W-04936

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, with regards to the roll-out of the Child Disability Payment (CDP), what proportion of existing claimants it expects to be in receipt of (a) a greater, (b) the same and (c) a lesser amount of financial assistance under CDP compared with what they receive from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) currently.

When existing Disability Living Allowance for Children (DLA Child) clients have their awards transferred to Child Disability Payment (CDP) they will receive the same payment rate for CDP as they received for DLA Child at the point of transfer. They will continue to receive this amount until their CDP needs to be reviewed. The value of each component of CDP is the same as DLA Child so that we do not create a two-tier system with varying rules whilst Scottish disability benefit clients are transferred to Social Security Scotland.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission is responsible for forecasting spending on DLA Child and CDP. The Commission has not reported a breakdown of the proportion of the CDP clients in receipt of greater, the same, or lesser amount of financial assistance under CDP compared with what they receive from the Department for Work and Pensions.

In forecasting CDP, the Scottish Fiscal Commission assumed that when award reviews occur the proportion of clients that would have had their award increased, maintained, and decreased under DLA Child will be the same as under CDP. While they recognise that the less frequent award reviews for CDP may increase the proportion of awards staying at their existing level for longer, the Commission’s judgement is that the effect on the overall outcome of award reviews on award levels may be cancelled out by an increase in the average initial award length and light-touch award reviews.