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: S5W-22045

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether light-touch reviews will be part of the assessment process for disability assistance for older people.

The Consultation on Disability Assistance in Scotland, which launched on 5 March 2019, set out our policy proposals around Disability Assistance for Older People, light-touch reviews and assessments.

We do not intend to conduct face to face assessments for Disability Assistance for Older People, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Across the different forms of Disability Assistance, we will use an approach that is supportive, person-centred and minimises stress and anxiety. It is anticipated that light-touch reviews will be carried out by Social Security Scotland without having to see the person in the majority of cases.

Question reference: S5W-22080

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statements in its position paper on devolved social security transfer that "no-one will be subject to a face to face re-assessment by DWP when new claims for PIP/Disability Assistance for Working Age People are open", whether anyone will be subject to a face to face re-assessment by Social Security Scotland when new claims for this assessment are open.

We remain committed to significantly reducing the number of assessments and reassessments carried out for individuals making a new application for Disability Assistance for Working Age People (DAWAP). The detailed design of DAWAP is ongoing and will aim to ensure that individuals will only be required to attend a face to face assessment or reassessment when there is no other practicable way to obtain the information required to make a decision.

Question reference: S5W-22082

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statement in its Social security case transfer: policy position paper, that "We expect to complete the case transfer by 2024... This will be subject to DWP agreeing to match our pace", whether the expected 2024 completion date is liable to delay if the DWP does not agree to its case transfer proposal; when it first sought the DWP's agreement to the 2024 completion date, and when it expects to reach agreement with the DWP.

The Scottish Government has been discussing the arrangements for safe and secure case transfer with DWP since June 2018. We are committed to working with existing benefit recipients and stakeholder organisations to ensure that we do not repeat the mistakes of previous benefit transfers. We will conduct further research with those with lived experience of the benefits system and with stakeholders and will use this to inform joint work between both governments on our overall approach to case transfer. The delivery of devolved social security is a joint project between Scottish Government and UK Government. It is critical that DWP is able to match our pace of delivery in order to achieve the delivery dates announced in our recent Wave 2 statement, including case transfer.

Question reference: S5W-22071

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement in its position paper on Cold Spell and Winter Heating Assistance (WHA) that "We propose this WHA payment is consistent with the current Winter Fuel Payments made by the UK Government at £200", whether WHA will only be paid at a rate of £200.

Question reference: S5W-22079

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of statements in its Social security case transfer: policy position paper, on what date discussions with the DWP on case transfer commenced.

Question reference: S5W-22241

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what questions it has put to the social security experience panels regarding automatic entitlement to disability assistance, and what responses it has received.

Research was undertaken with Experience Panel members regarding automatic entitlement in July and August 2018. The findings were published on 29 November 2019 and can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/social-security-experience-panels-award-duration-automatic-entitlement/ . A visual summary is also available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/social-security-experience-panels-award-duration-automatic-entitlement-visual-summary/ .

Question reference: S5W-22093

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comments in its duration of awards and automatic entitlement for disability assistance policy position paper, what the minimum review period will be for a person's live case to be transferred from the DWP.

The Scottish Government will use feedback from the current Disability Assistance consultation to inform its approach to case transfers. The Scottish Government is undertaking specific consultation with the Experience Panels in relation to case transfers and will set out its approach in relation to each form of Disability Assistance in due course. This approach will seek to cause minimal disruption for clients and to balance the transfer of clients at pace with delivering their benefits safely and securely. We will honour award levels and durations of current awards to ensure that clients are not made to undergo unnecessary award reviews when their benefit transfers.

Question reference: S5W-22219

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether disability assistance case managers will be trained to (a) have specialist knowledge regarding a single or small number of conditions or (b) take a generalist approach with a knowledge of a wide number of conditions.

Question reference: S5W-22132

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21923 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 March 2019, how much the agency arrangements will cost each year, broken down by (a) benefit and (b) the methodology used to calculate this, and on what date the formal discussions with the DWP regarding these costs began.

Question reference: S5W-22057

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statements in its position paper on Short Term Assistance, for what reason it decided to use the civil legal test of "balance of probabilities" to determine whether to reduce or stop an individual's payments during a fraud investigation, and whether it considered using the criminal legal test as part of this decision.