- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what key performance indicators it uses to measure the performance of VoiceAbility in assisting with Scottish Social Security claims.
Answer
The Key Performance Indicators (KPI) used in monitoring the performance of VoiceAbility are provided below:
No | Key Performance Indicator |
1 | All requests for support received must be processed and allocated to appropriate advocacy representation within 2 working days. |
2 | Initial appointments with individuals should be arranged within 3 working days of the referral to the advocacy worker or service partner. |
3 | Acknowledge receipt of complaint/concern within 2 working days of receipt and provide a formal response within 5 working days of receipt (copied to the Scottish Government contract manager for information). |
4 | Any complaints which cannot be resolved by Service Provider regarding the system or services must be sent to Scottish Government contract manager within 6 working days of receipt. |
5 | Serious issues to be escalated to the Scottish Government within 24 hours. |
6 | Service Provider must issue satisfaction survey to 100% of individuals within two days of their service requirements ending. |
7 | Service Provider must make payment to any sub-contractors within 30 days of receipt of a valid invoice |
VoiceAbility are also contractually obliged to adhere to the Social Security Advocacy Service Standards – set by the Scottish Ministers in regulations as required by section 11 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. These standards set out the following six core principles framing delivery of the Social Security Independent Advocacy Service: Definition of Advocacy, Independence, Person Centred, Accessible, Trained and Quality Assurance.
We will also assess performance of the service through an evaluation exercise, which will consider both KPIs and wider quantitative and qualitative measures.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the response to Freedom of Information request FOI/202100264794, which stated that, at the end of September 2021, only 41 out of 1,478 Social Security Scotland staff had returned to the office on a regular basis, whether it will provide updated figures for how many Social Security Scotland staff (a) there currently are and (b) have now returned to the office on a regular basis.
Answer
Social Security Scotland directly employed 3,976 staff (headcount) as at December 2022. There were 3,566 directly employed staff who work in Social Security Scotland's central buildings in Dundee and Glasgow.
Social Security Scotland has adopted hybrid working in its central buildings. All colleagues based in Dundee and Glasgow are expected to spend part of their working week in an office.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to downsize the Social Security Scotland headquarters, in light of the reported increased number of people working from home since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answer
Social Security Scotland operates three buildings, forming its headquarters in Dundee: Agnes Husband House, Enterprise House and a part of Dundee House. Social Security Scotland analysis has determined that estates capacity could be reduced, providing a saving to the public purse while continuing to meet the employment commitment made to the city of Dundee.
On this basis, the decision was made to not renew the Occupation Agreement with Dundee City Council for space at Dundee House. From 31 May 2023 Social Security Scotland will occupy Agnes Husband House and Enterprise House. There are currently no plans to reduce the estate further in Dundee.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 25 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken with (a) COSLA and (b) local authorities to (i) advertise and (ii) raise awareness of (A) Council Tax Reduction and (B) council tax rebate schemes.
Answer
The Scottish Government are working with COSLA through the ‘Joint Working Group on Sources of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform’ to encourage the adoption of best practice on debt collection and advice.
Additionally, the Scottish Government promotes the take-up of the Council Tax Reduction (CTR) scheme, as part of Citizens Advice Scotland's Money Talk Team service, which offers free, confidential and holistic advice – from debt advice, benefit take up and council tax reduction, to switching utility providers and reducing household energy costs.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many people are currently still to be transferred from the Personal Independence Payment to the Adult Disability Payment, and what its position is on whether the target of full case transfer by 2025 is still achievable.
Answer
As of January 2023, there were around 319,000 people in Scotland receiving Personal Independence Payment according to the Department for Work and Pensions.
Case transfer is a joint programme with the Department for Work and Pensions. We are relying on DWP to provide us with the right information at the right time and our top priority is maintaining a transfer that is both safe and secure. We continue to aim to complete case transfer for all people in Scotland who receive disability and carer benefits by the end of 2025.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking in response to reported statistics stating that 86% of redeterminations for the Child Disability Payment have been made in favour of the client.
Answer
Social Security Scotland’s priority is to get decisions right first time and an extremely low number of re-determinations are carried out. The re-determination request rate for Child Disability Payment decisions made by Social Security Scotland is 4.6%, which indicates that the vast majority of clients are happy with the initial decision.
Re-determinations are an important part of the decision-making process as they give clients the opportunity to ask Social Security Scotland to look at their application afresh before lodging an appeal.
Child Disability Payment decisions are usually changed at re-determination stage because the client provides additional information that was not available when the initial decision was made. Social Security Scotland staff now make additional contact with clients at the initial decision stage. While this may add to overall processing times, it will help ensure that such information is available first time round.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many Social Security Scotland staff are currently employed on (a) fixed-term and (b) permanent contracts.
Answer
Social Security Scotland directly employed 3,976 staff (headcount) as at December 2022. Of this amount, 69 were fixed term, fixed term student placements and modern apprentices. The remaining 3,907 staff were permanent.
Information on Social Security Scotland’s workforce are published quarterly with the most recent statistics from December 2022 published 14 March 2023, published workforce statistics .
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce trauma-informed practice training for all public sector staff who work with people in relation to debt issues.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s ambition, shared with COSLA, is for a trauma-informed workforce and services across Scotland. Since 2018, we have invested over £6 million in a National Trauma Training Programme, which provides freely available, evidence-based trauma training resources developed by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and informed by experts by experience.
A trauma-informed approach has been incorporated into all learning plans for Social Security Scotland colleagues including recoveries officers. In addition to this, all recoveries officers undertake bespoke learning on understanding the potential impact of bereavement and having sensitive conversations. Specialist training in relation to vulnerability and debt collection has also been commissioned from Money Advice Scotland.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for the Scottish Child Payment that have been submitted since it expanded to children under 16 in Nov 2022 are currently yet to be processed.
Answer
Official Statistics covering the number of Scottish Child Payment applications received and processed are published as part of the regularly scheduled quarterly publication. The latest Scottish Child Payment statistical publication was released on 28 February 2023.
The next publication will be published on 30 May 2023 and will include information on the number of applications received and processed by the end of March 2023. Official Statistics for Scottish Child Payment can be found at: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/statistics/social-security-scotland-statistics-publications
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to address any regional disparities in the success of welfare applications.
Answer
Social Security Scotland’s Local Delivery service has teams based in every Scottish Local Authority, and in many cases are co-located with existing services to make sure that they bring support to places that people currently go. This localised approach to support also means that visibility of the service is tailored to meet the demands and demographics of each Local Authority area.
Through analysis of their data, Social Security Scotland are able to identify areas with low take-up or high rates of unsuccessful applications. This evidence can then be used to target engagement with local stakeholders to raise awareness of Scottish benefits and effectively support people to take up their entitlements.
