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-23218

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what provision has been made in the social security programme budget to provide for in-house disability-related assessments.

The 2019-20 Social Security budget includes £77.8 million to support the programme of delivery. This includes provision to support the delivery of disability assessments, including the recent contract awarded to Deloitte. That contract is worth £2.3 million over 2 years, and will focus on the design of the assessment centre network across Scotland, including working with users to look at what major improvements on the current UK system are necessary.

Question reference: S5W-23223

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has cost to acquire third-party pieces of coding and software for the social security programme.

Question reference: S5W-23208

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that decisions made through the social security programme are appropriately escalated or reported to the programme's board.

We can confirm, and as stated by the Auditor General the Public Affairs and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee meeting held 16 May 2019, that the Social Security Programme has well established and robust governance structures, processes and mechanisms in place to support decision making and facilitate the escalation of risks and issues as when appropriate.

The Programme continues to show a commitment to improving its governance, reflecting on its progress and learning lessons.

Question reference: S5W-23221

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the cost of implementing the delivery of digital infrastructure for the social security programme.

As detailed in the letter sent to the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee (copied to the Social Security Committee) on 7 December 2017, please see the following table setting out current estimated IT costs for the social security programme, inclusive of VAT and the relevant levels of optimism bias.

Current Expected IT Costs

Component	Estimate Cost (£m)
Case Management Solution	33.3m
Telephony Solution	0.4m
Document Handling Solution	3.6m
Corporate Accounting Solution	0.9m
Payment Handling and Reconciliation Solution	42.1m
Knowledge Management Solution	0.4m
Identity Management Solution	7.2m
Reporting and Statistical Modelling Solution	0.3m
Data Feeds and Exchanges	4.5m
Online Presence	0.3m
Digital Access Solution	10.1m
Scottish Government IT On-boarding	15.0m
Scottish Government IT Infrastructure	17.1m
Development Environment	0.8m
Test Environment	18.0m
Protective Security	36.0m
Data Hosting	0.4m
Total	190.4m

Question reference: S5W-23228

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many hours overtime have been worked by (a) permanent, (b) temporary and (c) contract staff in the social security programme.

The following table shows hours of overtime claimed by permanent staff directly employed by the Scottish Government. We pay contractors a daily rate and therefore overtime does not apply. No overtime was claimed by temporary staff. The data provided is from May 2018 onwards which is from the first overtime claim we have recorded.

Month claim refers to	Hours and minutes claimed
May 18	6.12
June 18	50.54
July 18	27.36
August 18	119.54
September 18	112.12
October 18	150.18
November 18	92.00
December 18	147.12
March 19	20.00
April 19	15.00

Monday to Saturday overtime claims for programme management and delivery division directly employed permanent staff.

Month claim refers to	Hours and minutes claimed
May 18	5.60
June 18	8.42
July 18	11.12
August 18	18.24
September 18	8.18
October 18	37.48
November 18	2.00
December 18	21.18
January 19	27.00
February 19	4.42
April 19	5.00

Sunday overtime claims for programme management and delivery division directly employed permanent staff.

Permanent includes permanent, fixed term appointments with fair and open competition and modern apprentices.

Month claim refers to	Hours and minutes claimed
September 18	16.12
November 18	10.42

Public and Privilege overtime claims for programme management and delivery division directly employed permanent staff.

Question reference: S5W-23212

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that Social Security Scotland staff are adequately supported in their roles.

Social Security Scotland aims to recruit a diverse workforce, to ensure a positive induction process, and to provide ongoing learning and development opportunities.

Before an employee takes up a post, Social Security Scotland identify any adjustments which may be required to support an individual in their employment.

Social Security Scotland employs people on Scottish Government terms and conditions and aligns with Scottish Government People policies, ensuring a full range of employee support is available that reflects our values of dignity, fairness and respect.

Question reference: S5W-23213

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Social Security Scotland is staffed by an adequate number of permanent employees.

When considering our location(s) of our offices in Dundee and Glasgow, the Scottish Government undertook comprehensive analysis, part of this analysis was to consider the labour market and the ability to recruit for permanent posts within each location.

Social Security Scotland engage with third sector organisations and employability stakeholders across Scotland to raise awareness of their recruitment campaigns.

This has delivered successful outcomes in not only filling vacancies advertised, but also created some reserve lists for future recruitment campaigns.

Question reference: S5W-23229

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that staff in the social security programme can access appropriate mental health support.

All Programme Management and Delivery staff have access to the Scottish Government Employee Assistance programme (EAP). The programme provides professional support and guidance to those experiencing emotional, practical, health and social problems. Includes support via telephone, face to face and mail and includes one to one counselling services as well as 24 hours a day, 365 days a year access to confidential helplines for all staff.

The EAP provides a Health and Wellbeing zone for all staff and family members – including; stress management solutions, health and nutrition advice and access to wellness regimes.

The EAP is sign posted via our internal intranet pages to all staff and also to new recruits during the Directorate specific induction. Staff are also directed to the following sources of support.

People and Advice Wellbeing team (part of SG People Directorate)
People Advice and Wellbeing Counsellor (part of SG People Directorate)
Trade Unions
Mental Health First Aiders
Mental Health and Wellbeing network
Charity for Civil Servants
HR Helpdesk

There is a rolling series of learning events available to all programme staff including sessions on:-

mental health awareness
mental health awareness for managers
identifying stress and building resilience for managers
building personal resilience
handling sensitive conversations with confidence.

Question reference: S5O-03292

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the recruitment of GPs in rural communities.

Question reference: S5W-23216

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the £308 million that is to be spent up to April 2023 on the social security programme will be allocated, including how this will link to (a) programme plans, (b) delivery timescales, (c) the award of contracts and (d) other key programme decisions, and what account this takes of the cost of the use of contractors.