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-22515

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many social security (a) client and (b) official errors it has recorded, and how many of the official errors were the result of (i) staff, (ii) technical issues with IT systems and (iii) erroneous data provided by another government department.

To meet disclosure control requirements the following numbers have been rounded to the nearest five observations.

Between 1 September 2018 and 5 April 2019 the Agency recorded less than five client errors and around 10 official errors from over 60,000 payments that have been made.

Of the official errors recorded, around five were from either staff error or as a result of an IT system error and around five are currently subject to investigation in order to be classified.

Question reference: S5W-22533

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comments by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People at the meeting of the Social Security Committee on 4 October 2018 (Official Report, col.6), what progress has been made to ensure that video recordings of face-to-face disability assessments are provided for deaf people and BSL users.

Question reference: S5W-22220

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its comment that “for Disability Assistance for Children and Young People, and Disability Assistance for Older People, it is our intention to make decisions about entitlement using existing supporting information only and not through face-to-face assessments”, whether it has identified exceptional circumstances under which it would expect such assessments should be carried out and, if so, what these are, and for what reason it considers that these would make a face-to-face assessment necessary.

Page 23 of the consultation on Disability Assistance sets out our intended approach to the decision making process for children, young people and older people. Policy development regarding face-to-face assessments for children, young people and older people will be informed by consultation responses.

The consultation can be found at: https://consult.gov.scot/social-security/improving-disability-assistance/

Question reference: S5W-22264

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people will be required to apply for DWP-delivered personal independence payment instead of disability assistance following its decision not to open eligibility for new applicants aged 16 or over.

The Disability Assistance consultation sets out the Scottish Government’s proposed policy approach to replacements for Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Attendance Allowance (AA). The consultation document states that Scottish Government does not intend to open eligibility to new DACYP applicants age 16 or over due to the potential disruption involved with applying for the benefit then being required to apply for a working age benefit sooner after.

Stat-Xplore provides a guided way to explore DWP benefit statistics, currently holding data relating to 16 different benefits/programmes. Information on the volumes of PIP claims currently in payment to Scottish 16 and 17 year olds is publically available via this website.

Question reference: S5W-22299

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its statement that it "will establish a timescale of between 40 and 60 working days for a re-determination of Disability Assistance", what its response is to the answer to written question 232059 lodged at the UK Parliament, which states that, between June and October 2018, the median number of calendar days for a personal independence payment mandatory reconsideration to be cleared was between 32 and 36.

Re-determinations and DWP mandatory reconsiderations involve different processes. In our system, a re-determination means that Social Security Scotland will make a fresh determination carried out by a different officer, taking any new evidence into account, which replaces the earlier determination.

The Scottish Government is focused on building a fairer, rights based appeals system that responds to the needs and views of people who receive benefits. Short-term Assistance will be available where a continuing entitlement has been reduced or stopped and that decision is subject to a re-determination or appeal. This will ensure that individuals will not have to manage on a reduced income for a period. We are currently consulting on the timescales for re-determinations for disability assistance and will review our position in light of the responses to the consultation.

Question reference: S5W-22240

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its consultation on disability assistance, what consideration it has given to a person electing to apply under a system of automatic entitlement to assistance.

Question reference: S5W-22300

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22087 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 March 2019, what the working age client data was.

Question reference: S5W-22098

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comments in its disability assistance qualifying periods policy position paper, what advice it received to support the assertion that "There is also a risk that, should eligibility rules diverge significantly from current DWP rules, Disability Assistance may not continue to be recognised as ‘like for like’ for passporting purposes"; how this related to changing the qualifying periods for disability assistance; who provided this advice, and whether it will publish it.

Question reference: S5W-22342

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 29 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22084 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 March 2019, whether the proportion of face-to-face assessors trained to conduct the assessments for individuals whose primary disabling condition is a mental health condition or learning disability will be equivalent to the same proportions of the current caseload, which has those primary disabling conditions.

Question reference: S5W-22304

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 29 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22100 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 March 2019, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding whether, during the discussions, the DWP advised that change would threaten eligibility for reserved passported benefits, and, if so, on what date.