Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-16595

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans on working collectively with the UK Government and local authorities to develop a system of automation to consider the complexities of eligibility for benefits, in order to shift the burden of responsibility from the individual.

As part of our rights-based approach to social security, we are committed to minimising as far as possible any burden on clients. Where we have been able, we are already working with the UK Government to automate some of our payments for that very purpose.

Most eligible people already receive Child Winter Heating Assistance and Carer’s Allowance Supplement automatically based on qualifying benefits. Also, throughout February and March almost 400,000 low-income households will have automatically received the £50 Winter Heating Payment, providing support towards their energy bills for this winter.

Alongside DWP, we have developed a successful case transfer process which ensures people continue to receive the right payments at the right time – automatically transferring their awards from UK Government benefits onto the appropriate Scottish payment without them having to re-submit the information they provided in their original application.

In line with our commitment to maximise the take-up of Scottish benefits, we will continue to explore further opportunities for automation – including further appropriate and proportionate data-sharing across the range of systems that support Scotland’s population.

Question reference: S6W-16853

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average time is for claimants to receive a decision following an application for the Adult Disability Payment.

Official statistics covering processing times for Adult Disability Payment are published as a part of the regularly scheduled quarterly publication. The latest Adult Disability Payment statistical publication was published on Tuesday 14 March 2023 and the next publication will be published in June 2023. Information on the average processing time by month is included in table 9. This publication is available from

https://www.gov.scot/collections/social-security-scotland-stats-publications/#benefitsforcarersanddisabilityassistance .

Question reference: S6W-16851

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it plans to have with (a) the UK Government and (b) energy suppliers regarding the potential impact in Scotland of the introduction of a discounted energy tariff for families with disabled members to help mitigate the cost of lifesaving equipment at home.

Although energy retail policy is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government remains concerned at the disproportionate impact the high cost of energy prices combined with inflation is having on vulnerable consumers, including those living with disabilities.

We were disappointed that the UK Government did not answer our calls to extend the Energy Bills Support Scheme as part of its Spring Budget Statement. The removal of the support scheme means a typical household’s annual bill will increase by around 19%. That is why the First Minister recently announced that our Fuel Insecurity Fund will be increased to up to £30 million in the next financial year to support the most vulnerable households in Scotland. In addition, our new winter heating payment is providing a stable and reliable annual £50 payment to around 400,000 low-income individuals. This benefit is an investment of over £20m each year which is more than double the £8.3m provided on average by the UK Government in each of the last 7 years.

Following the progress made at the Scottish Government energy summits held last year, we continue to work with energy suppliers to explore ways to mitigate the impact of rising energy costs on those who are struggling to pay their bills and heat their homes.

I will of course be meeting with UK Government Ministers over issues concerning fuel poverty and mitigation of the cost of powering life-saving medical equipment will feature in those discussions.

Question reference: S6W-16613

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to support local authorities to forgive the individual school meal debt of pupils and their families as they move into a new school year and/or a new school setting.

We recognise that rises in the cost of living are putting a huge strain on some families and they are facing unforeseen challenges.

The management of debt is an issue for education authorities and their finance departments. Councils have the power to make discretionary offers of free school meals to families, where they are experiencing financial hardship due to exceptional circumstances, who do not meet the regular eligibility criteria.

COSLA, working with partners from across Local Government, have developed a set of good practice principles for the management of school meal debt, which were published on 20 February 2023. The intended audience for these principles is local authority staff across a range of departments (including education, catering, finance and debt collection) as well as Head Teachers, class teachers and other school staff. The principles can be accessed through the following link: COSLA Publish Good Practice Principles for Managing School Meal Debt - 20th February 2023 | COSLA .

Question reference: S6W-16806

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many households Connecting Scotland has reached since the programme was launched.

Question reference: S6O-02120

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether older people and social security are priority policy areas, in light of the decision not to include these in ministerial titles in the recent round of ministerial appointments.

Question reference: S6W-16593

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has sought clarity from energy companies on what current actions are being taken to address the disproportionate impact that fuel costs have on people in Scotland with disabilities.

The high cost of energy prices combined with inflation is having a disproportionate impact on vulnerable consumers, including those living with disabilities.

We were disappointed that the UK Government did not answer our calls to extend the Energy Bills Support Scheme as part of its Spring Budget Statement. The removal of the support scheme means a typical household’s annual bill will increase by around 19%. That is why the First Minister recently announced that our Fuel Insecurity Fund will be increased to up to £30 million in the next financial year to support the most vulnerable households in Scotland. In addition, our winter heating payment has been launched, providing a stable and reliable annual £50 payment to around 400,000 low-income individuals. This benefit is an investment of over £20m each year which is more than double the £8.3m provided on average by the UK Government in each of the last 7 years.

Following the progress made at the Scottish Government energy summits held last year, we continue to work with energy suppliers to explore ways to mitigate the impact of rising energy costs on those who are struggling to pay their bills and heat their homes.

Question reference: S6W-15996

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will offer to help people over 50 re-enter the workforce.

We continue to do all we can within our current powers to enable the over 50’s workforce to return to or remain in employment for as long as they wish. Increasing participation in fair and sustainable work will ensure that prosperity is shared more equally across Scottish society, including for the over 50s, and will help to tackle poverty, inequality, and exclusion. Our Fair Work action plan: becoming a leading Fair Work nation by 2025 published on 9 December 2022 includes actions and initiatives to address labour market inequalities for specific groups who are disadvantaged in the labour market, including the over 50’s workforce. This builds on our 2019 publication, A Fairer Scotland for Older people: framework for action .

One of these initiatives is the Workplace Equality Fund, now in its fifth year, which supports private and public sector employers to improve their policies and practices to remove labour barriers for certain priority groups including the over 50s. Projects funded this year include those focused on flexible working, women’s health and the menopause, which is particularly relevant for the over 50s workforce who are known to have greater caring responsibilities and are more likely to face health issues or be experiencing the menopause.

In addition, our Woman’s Health Plan, published August 2021, articulates our menopause and menstrual health workplace policy, and we continue to promote it across the public, private and third sector

Further support is provided through our flagship devolved services No One Left Behind, Fair Start Scotland, which take a person-centred approach to supporting people of all ages into sustainable employment recognising and addressing any specific challenges faced.

Question reference: S6W-15954

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to issue revised guidance to local authorities, regarding the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013, to ensure that the definition of high hedges specified in the Act, which includes “a hedge which is formed wholly or mainly by a row of 2 or more trees or shrubs”, is used by local authorities, rather than the definition in the current guidance, issued in 2019, which requires that, for trees and shrubs to be considered as a “high hedge”, they must first be considered to form a hedge.

Question reference: S6W-15582

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how much of the £10 million fund to install Changing Places toilets has been distributed to date, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government is committed to investing in Changing Places Toilets during this parliamentary term, in order to increase the number of these facilities across the country and to support mobile Changing Places Toilets to allow people easier access to events and outdoor venues.

We have already published a Changing Places Toilets: Planning Guide to support communities to develop their initial plans and funding will be provided during this parliamentary term.

Chamber and committees