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-23222

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 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many finance-related positions in the social security programme are vacant.

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.

Question reference: S5W-23206

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 how it will monitor and report on the cost of fully implementing all devolved welfare benefits, and how it will inform the Parliament regarding progress with this.

The Social Security Finance team is embedded within the Social Security Programme to ensure robust financial management, monitoring and reporting are in place. Financial management, monitoring and reporting are integral to the programme governance structure and costs are reported to and scrutinised by the Financial Reporting Board.

Budgets and costs will be presented to the Scottish Parliament as part of the usual budget processes.

Question reference: S5W-23137

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it provides to coastal local authorities for economic and land development, and from what budget line this is drawn.

The Scottish Government has provided substantial funding to local coastal authorities through various funding schemes including the European Maritime & Fisheries Fund(EMFF) and Coastal Communities Fund . In particular, the Coastal Communities Fund has funded, on average, £152,000 per year to local authorities since the CCF was agreed in 2012.

Part of the European Maritime & Fisheries Fund (EMFF) is allocated to 8 Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAG’s) around Scotland, these are all run by local authorities. £6.5m (£4.8m EU & 1.7m SG) is allocated to this, FLAGs set their own local priorities & consider applications. Local authorities themselves can make applications to this funding stream.

The Scottish Government is delivering a funding package of £11.2 billion for local authorities in 2019-20, a real terms increase of £310 million or 2.9 per cent for essential public services in Scotland.

However, the Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of the revenue funding is provided by means of a block grant to each local authority. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Question reference: S5W-23140

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent each year in raising awareness among local authorities about the Coastal Communities Fund.

The Scottish Government has delegated decision making and communication activity for the Coastal Communities Fund to the National Lottery Community Fund (NCLF) which includes an agreed fee for administration, including communications activity. The amount spent on raising awareness is decided by the NCLF.

The NCLF promote the CCF on their website and via social media and when a project that is currently being funded in round 4 has a significant event, the NCLF promote the events on social media.

https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/coastal-communities-fund .

The NCLF is delivering the Coastal Communities Fund on behalf of the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations. We are committed to supporting the current Coastal Communities Fund projects in Scotland through to completion.

Question reference: S5W-23214

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 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the number of temporary contractors working on the social security programme in favour of permanent staff.

The Programme’s use of contractors is in line with expectations for a programme of this size and stage. The Programme will continue to utilise a mix of permanent, seconded and contractor staff across grades, since a number of posts will not be required on a permanent basis or beyond the life of the Programme.

The Programme has required to date, and will continue to require, specialist resources that are not currently available in the Scottish Government, and where external skills are in short supply across the UK, for example digital, technical and architecture skills.

Question reference: S5W-23220

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 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the delivery of digital infrastructure for the social security programme represents good value for money.

The social security programme has well established governance procedures in place to ensure that affordability and value for money are key considerations throughout the decision making process.

The Social Security Finance team is embedded within the Social Security Programme to ensure robust financial management, monitoring and reporting are in place and that the decision making process is rooted in sound financial advice. Financial management, monitoring and reporting are integral to the programme Governance Structure. Costs are reported to and scrutinised by the Financial Reporting Board before going to the Programme where spending decisions are made.

Question reference: S5W-23209

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 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the Executive Advisory Board of Social Security Scotland is fully included in the decision-making process.

Question reference: S5W-23210

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 21 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how, in light of the report by the Auditor General, Social Security: Implementing the Devolved Powers, what steps have been taken to ensure that timescales are in place to allow enough time for procurement activities to be carried out to a sufficient standard.

Procurements with significant risk, or value greater than £5m, fall within the remit of the Technology Assurance Framework (TAF)*.

This ensures that independent assessors follow a robust process to test the contracting and procurement strategy and that the contractual and commercial risks are understood.

The Framework is intended to improve delivery and ensure that the lessons learned from previous experience are reflected and embedded in future practice.

Procurements falling outside of the TAF are also subject to a governance framework, including guidelines, assistance and review so that close liaison is maintained with the delivery and procurement teams.

* The Technology Assurance Framework is publicly available at: https://resources.mygov.scot/standards/technology-assurance-framework/

Question reference: S5O-03273

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the primary school system is fit for purpose.