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-19467

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13171 by Jeane Freeman on 21 December 2017, whether the commitment to extend Winter Fuel Payments to families with disabled children on the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance will be dependent on the higher rate of the care component, mobility component, either component or both, and, in light of the reference in the answer, when the ongoing policy development process on this proposal began, including direct engagement with engagement panels.

Question reference: S5W-19468

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-13172, S5W-13171 and S5W-13158 by Jeane Freeman on 21 December 2017, when direct engagement with the experience panels regarding (a) extending Winter Fuel Payments to families with disabled children on the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance and (b) winter fuel payment policy development, began, and for what reason this research project is not listed in the Experience Panels Research Plan 2018-19.

Question reference: S5W-19466

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13172 by Jeane Freeman on 21 December 2017, at what rate Winter Fuel Payments will be made to families with disabled children on the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance, and, in light of its commitment to consult the experience panels, and according to the Experience Panels Research Plan 2018-19, for what reason this has not yet commenced.

The rate of Winter Fuel payments is currently the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-13172 on 21 December 2017 and S5W-19465 on 14 November 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5W-19716

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has made of any infrastructure and capacity implications for transplantation services arising from the implementation of an opt-out organ donation system, and what plans it has to address these.

Question reference: S5W-19715

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that there is sufficient investment in healthcare infrastructure to deliver the planned increased supply of organs for transplantation following any changes in organ donation legislation.

The proposals in the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill will contribute to the wider package of measures already in place or underway to increase donation and transplantation under the Donation and Transplantation Plan for Scotland.

The rationale and investment required for the healthcare infrastructure to meet an increase in the supply of organs for transplantation following the proposed change in legislation is set out in the Financial Memorandum http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Bills/Human%20Tissue%20(Authorisation)%20(Scotland)%20Bill/SPBILL32FMS052018.pdf and the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment to the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill https://beta.gov.scot/publications/human-tissue-authorisation-scotland-bill-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/ .

Question reference: S5W-19692

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what Social Security Scotland's staffing costs were in (a) September and (b) October 2018.

Question reference: S5W-19666

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people applied to be on Social Security Scotland's Executive Advisory Body, and how many had a protected characteristic, broken down by characteristic.

Social Security Scotland received 41 applications for positions on its Executive Advisory Body. The following tables reflect what candidates have declared in our Equalities Monitoring forms in relation to protected characteristics.

Please note that counts of less than 5 have been suppressed and shown as * to prevent the possible disclosure of information about individuals. Secondary data suppression has also been necessary to prevent the calculation of the suppressed values by differencing (also shown as *)
‎

Age Group:

16-29	30-39	40-49	50-54	55-59	60+	Prefer not to Say
0	*	8	*	12	12	1

Disability Statistics:

Yes	No	Unknown
16	19	6

Ethnic Group:

White	Ethnic Minority	Prefer not to say
*	*	1

‘White’ group includes Scottish; Other British; Irish; Gypsy/Traveller; Polish; Other White.

‘Ethnic Minority’ group includes Mixed or Multiple Ethnic Groups; Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British; African, Caribbean or Black; Other Ethnic Group.

Religion :

None	Christian	Other	Prefer not to say	Unknown
17	17	*	1	*

‘Christian’ includes Church of Scotland; Roman Catholic; Other Christian.

‘Other’ includes Muslim; Buddhist; Sikh; Jewish; Hindu; Another religion.

Gender Statistics:

Female	Male	Prefer not to say
20	20	1

Sexual Orientation:

LGBTI	Heterosexual	Prefer not to say	Unknown
*	36	*	*

Question reference: S5W-19404

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has instructed the DWP, under its agency agreement, not to recover, fine or prosecute a recipient of carer's allowance whose earnings have breached the earnings threshold.

Question reference: S5W-19086

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been paid in service fees to Fair Start Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-19403

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will instruct the DWP, under its agency agreement, to increase the carer's allowance earnings threshold to match the (a) national living wage at 16 hours per week or (b) real living wage at 16 hours per week while the agreement remains in place.

In order to raise the level of Carer’s Allowance to Job Seeker’s Allowance, we introduced Carer's Allowance Supplement as a temporary measure until Carer’s Assistance is being fully delivered by the Scottish Government. This required us to take Executive Competence for Carer’s Allowance, whilst it is delivered under the terms of an Agency Agreement with DWP. The terms of this Agency Agreement stipulate that it will be delivered in Scotland consistently with its delivery in England and Wales. This means that the earnings threshold will remain the same in Scotland as it is in England and Wales in 2019-2020.

We will continue to work with stakeholders and our Experience Panel members to ensure that when Carer’s Assistance is fully delivered in Scotland, that it meets the needs of our carers and those they support.