Chamber and committees

The table below shows the Scottish Government funding provided to Show Racism the Red Card and Show Bigotry the Red Card for the financial years 2012-15:

Previously in 2011-12 Show Racism the Red Card and Show Bigotry the Red Card received combined funding of £120,000.

The funding for the 2012-15 period was agreed with Show Racism the Red Card. It is essential that the Scottish Government ensures best value for money from the project funding it administers. The staggered reduction of funding was in line with Scottish Government policy on future sustainability of projects, encouraging partnerships, collaborative working and mainstreaming of such work to reduce dependency on Scottish Government funding and ensure the maximum impact of resources to deliver the best outcomes for our communities. Full feedback on the reasons for the level of funding awarded, were provided to Show Racism the Red Card at the time the decision was made in 2012.

Support for pensioners is long overdue and we will be carefully monitoring the impact of the changes announced in the 2014 Budget on pensioners in Scotland. Whilst the changes will introduce greater flexibility for people with private pensions, it is not yet clear whether they will benefit those who are struggling to save for their retirement.

Given the high concentration of life insurance and pensions services in the country, we will also be monitoring the impact on, and opportunities for, the Scottish financial services sector.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-17591 on 29 October 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government entered into a partnership with Bauer Media to promote the Scottish Welfare Fund to both people who may need to use the fund, and to others who work with people who may need to use it. This was a week of activity in November 2013 across the network's 11 stations which reached an average 1.2 million people living in Scotland. The cost was about 0.1% of the funding that we gave to local authorities to administer the Scottish Welfare Fund.

There is no such restriction. Guidance on the review arrangements for the Scottish Welfare Fund can be found in our guidance at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/welfarereform/scottishwelfarefund/scottishwelfarefuindguidance.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-17593 on 29 October 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

We published our communication plan for the Scottish Welfare Fund on our webpages on 8 March 2013. It can be found from this link:

http://scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/welfarereform/socialfund/scottishwelfarefundcommsplan.

Nicola Sturgeon wrote to the Convenor of the Welfare Reform Committee on 13 October 2013 to advise about changes to the official guidance for the Scottish Welfare Fund. You can find the letter from this link;

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_Welfare_Reform_Committee/20131013_NS-MM_changes_to_SWF_guidance.pdf.

On 6 March 2014 the Department for Work and Pensions announced their intention to continue with the closure of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) by the end of June 2015.

To date, we have not received formal notification and further information, including a revised financial settlement. This will be considered along with the analysis of the recent Scottish Government ILF consultation. This will form the decision of Scottish Ministers on the ILF and an announcement will be made in due course.