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-07684

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 8 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the collection of data on intersectional discrimination.

The Scottish Government currently publishes a range of intersectional equality data, for example Scottish Household Survey data can produce a variety of intersectional breakdowns where sample sizes allow. However, there remain many costs and challenges to collecting, analysing, and reporting this. Despite improvements in recent years, there remain gaps in Scotland’s equality evidence base.

The Scottish Government launched the Equality Data Improvement Programme (EDIP) in April 2021 to address these gaps. The EDIP is aligned with the Scottish Government’s wider Mainstreaming Equality and Human Rights Strategy which is currently under development and aims to make intersectional equality data more wide-ranging and robust, enabling policy makers to develop sound, inclusive policy.

Work is underway to produce equality data improvement plans for each Analytical Service Division (ASD) across the Scottish Government. These plans will be shaped by equality stakeholders and will form the basis of the next iteration of Scotland’s Equality Evidence Strategy. Better data will in turn help identify intersectional discrimination.

To share learning and good practice, the Scottish Government led an evidence review which focused on how to apply the concept of intersectionality to public sector analysis and policymaking. This review showcased examples of how organisations have collected data on intersectional discrimination and was published in March 2022.

Question reference: S6W-07352

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 29 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what data it collects in relation to Child Disability Payment applications that do not progress.

Part 1 of the Child Disability Payment application form gathers key personal details of the client and Part 2 of the application form asks for more details on the impact of the client’s disability. For applications that do not progress to complete Part 2, an application outcome is recorded, which can include denied or withdrawn. Where applicable, a high level reason for an application being denied is also recorded.

Question reference: S6W-07368

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 29 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many Child Disability Payment applicants have (a) already been in receipt of disability living allowance and (b) had their application rejected on this basis.

Question reference: S6W-07367

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 29 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) repeat applications have been made for Child Disability Payment and (b) have been rejected on this basis.

Question reference: S6O-00926

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the action it is taking to tackle the reported staffing shortages within the NHS.

Question reference: S6W-06644

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has allocated to local authorities to support the implementation of the Child Disability Payment for (a) the remainder of 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23, broken down by local authority.

Local Authorities have been provided with New Burdens funding to support new processes for gathering supporting information on behalf of clients applying for disability assistance. These new processes introduced a new requirement for Local Authorities to receive, triage, manage and respond to these requests for information from Social Security Scotland for Child Disability Payment.

The funding provided for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 years is detailed below:

LOCAL AUTHORITY FUNDING ALLOCATIONS FOR CDP NEW BURDENS 2021-22 & 2022-23
APPROVED BY COSLA LEADERS ON 29-10-2021

ORGANISATION	Agreed Funding for 2021-22	Agreed Funding for 2022-23	Total 21-22 & 22-23
Pilot Authorities
Perth and Kinross Council	£31,000.00	£94,000.00	£125,000.00
Dundee	£40,000.00	£121,000.00	£161,000.00
Western Isles	£10,000.00	£29,000.00	£39,000.00	*

Non Pilot Authorities
Aberdeen	£31,000.00	£94,000.00	£125,000.00
Aberdeenshire	£37,000.00	£110,000.00	£147,000.00
Angus	£24,000.00	£72,000.00	£96,000.00
Argyll and Bute	£15,000.00	£44,000.00	£59,000.00
Clackmannanshire	£11,000.00	£33,000.00	£44,000.00
Dumfires and Galloway	£29,000.00	£88,000.00	£117,000.00
East Ayrshire	£22,000.00	£66,000.00	£88,000.00
East Dunbartonshire	£18,000.00	£55,000.00	£73,000.00
East Lothian	£18,000.00	£55,000.00	£73,000.00
East Renfrewshire	£18,000.00	£55,000.00	£73,000.00
Edinburgh	£29,000.00	£88,000.00	£117,000.00
Falkirk	£33,000.00	£99,000.00	£132,000.00
Fife	£83,000.00	£248,000.00	£331,000.00
Glasgow	£152,000.00	£455,000.00	£607,000.00
Highland	£50,000.00	£149,000.00	£199,000.00
Inverclyde	£20,000.00	£61,000.00	£81,000.00
Midlothian	£24,000.00	£72,000.00	£96,000.00
Moray	£15,000.00	£44,000.00	£59,000.00
North Ayrshire	£28,000.00	£83,000.00	£111,000.00
North Lanarkshire	£83,000.00	£248,000.00	£331,000.00
Orkney Islands	£10,000.00	£29,000.00	£39,000.00	*
Renfrewshire	£35,000.00	£105,000.00	£140,000.00
Scottish Borders	£18,000.00	£55,000.00	£73,000.00
Shetland Islands	£10,000.00	£29,000.00	£39,000.00	*
South Ayrshire	£18,000.00	£55,000.00	£73,000.00
South Lanarkshire	£83,000.00	£248,000.00	£331,000.00
Stirling	£13,000.00	£39,000.00	£52,000.00
West Dunbartonshire	£20,000.00	£61,000.00	£81,000.00
West Lothian	£44,000.00	£132,000.00	£176,000.00

TOTAL	£1,072,000.00	£3,216,000.00	£4,288,000.00

*includes island uprating

Question reference: S6W-06646

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what method it is using to distribute funding between the 32 local authorities to support the implementation of the Child Disability Payment, and how much each local authority has received in 2021-22.

The funding allocation is made on the basis of the anticipated level of need to support these processes in each Local Authority. Scottish Government Communities Analysis division have provided forecast estimates for the number of requests for supporting information that each Local Authority may receive.

The estimates for supporting information requests have been created by using actual volumes of applications in Scotland for the DWP equivalent benefit, Disability Living Allowance for Children (DLAC) over the past 5 years as the basis. This data was combined with statistics from the Department for Communities (DfC) which provided a percentage breakdown of cases where additional supporting information was required. This percentage was applied to the Scottish application projections and ratified by Health and Social Care practitioners in Social Security Scotland.

Working with COSLA and the Local Authorities who supported the Child Disability Payment Pilot, the Social Security Programme agreed an appropriate level of funding to support Perth and Kinross Council as a medium sized authority with a mixed urban/rural demographic to act as a median. The funding allocated to all other Local Authorities was based proportionately upon the volume of Supporting Information requests they are expected to receive against the base level of funding agreed for Perth and Kinross Council.

Using this methodology Island Authorities were thought to be unfairly disadvantaged due to the small number of requests they are likely to receive. As such an Island Uprating was agreed to ensure that all organisations received at least £29,000 per annum to adequately resource this new burden. The methodology for funding allocation was approved through the Settlement and Distribution Group and the COSLA Leaders meeting in Autumn 2021.

Question reference: S6W-06638

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring processes it has in place to ensure that money allocated via the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund is adequately and efficiently spent.

It is a condition of grant under the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund that projects are developed in line with the Interim Site Design Guide, published by the Scottish Government in December 2021 to assist in the development of high quality accommodation. Grant offers are being phased, based on tendered costs, to help manage the risks attached to current supply chain issues. Local authorities will report regularly to the Scottish Government on progress and draw down funding in line with evidenced spend on their projects. Plans for learning from and evaluation of the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund include a comparative cost analysis, to improve our understanding of the costs of modern Gypsy/Traveller accommodation.

Question reference: S6W-06635

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government in which local authorities grants from the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund have been awarded since its launch.

Question reference: S6W-06636

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will carry out an evaluation of the impact on Gypsy/Traveller communities of the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund.