- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 31 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of concerns raised by Young Lives vs Cancer that, currently, there is an average six-month waiting time between a child or young person's cancer diagnosis and their receiving their first disability benefit payment, what action it can take to reduce this.
Answer
We fully recognise that this is a challenging time for families. Importantly, no-one needs a formal diagnosis to apply for Child or Adult Disability Payment; decisions about eligibility are based on the individual’s level of needs, rather than a diagnosis.
Once a decision is made the award will commence from the date of application where the conditions of entitlement were met at this point.
We urge anyone applying on behalf of a terminally ill child to use our fast-tracked route so that they and their family can access the maximum level of financial support they are entitled to – quickly and with dignity.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 31 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of concerns raised by Young Lives vs Cancer that almost half of patients in Scotland finish their cancer treatment before receiving a decision regarding disability benefit claims due to lengthy waits, what assessment it has made of the adequacy of Social Security Scotland’s disability benefits processing times for children and young people with cancer.
Answer
There are a number of factors that impact on how long it takes Social Security Scotland to make a decision on disability benefit applications, including the time taken to gather the supporting information required to make a decision on an application.
Social Security Scotland continues to work with Local Authorities, Health Boards and GP practices across the country to make it faster and easier for them to send supporting information, and is seeing improvements.
The last nine months of official statistics for Child Disability Payment shows Social Security Scotland has made decisions on new applications almost twice as fast as in the previous financial year. The latest official statistics publication can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Child Disability Payment: high level statistics to 31 December 2024.
The latest Adult Disability Payment official statistics publication shows Social Security Scotland has made faster decisions on applications over the last year, with average processing times decreasing significantly in the last ten months, when compared to the previous financial year. Latest Adult Disability Payment statistics can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Adult Disability Payment statistics to 31 January 2025
Social Security Scotland has a dedicated application route for terminally ill children and young people, and anyone in Scotland diagnosed with a terminal illness by their healthcare professional can apply for disability benefits under Special Rules for Terminal Illness. Published data shows that applications under the Special Rules for Terminal Illness are currently processed within three working days for Child Disability Payment and two working days for Adult Disability Payment.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 31 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that children and young people with cancer, and their carers and families, receive clear, timely and accessible communication from Social Security Scotland regarding their disability benefit applications.
Answer
Social Security Scotland continues to review and improve how people access its service, including how the organisation communicates with applicants and clients.
The application forms for Adult and Child Disability Payment were designed and developed in consultation with stakeholders to ensure the values of dignity, fairness and respect were embedded throughout.
The application forms allow clients, and their representatives, to tell the organisation how they would prefer to be contacted. It also asks specific questions to help Social Security Scotland understand and respond to any additional accessibility needs.
Through client feedback surveys and panels, clients have told Social Security Scotland they would like choice in how they are contacted. With the client, or their representative’s permission, Social Security Scotland will automatically acknowledge receipt of an application form and provide updates via text and/or email as the application proceeds through the key stages.
The latest Client Survey shows the majority of Adult and Child Disability Payment respondents said their experience of applying for disability benefits was “very good” or “good”. The full survey results can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Client Survey 2023-2024
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 31 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of any delays in receiving disability benefits on children and young people with cancer, and their families, particularly in respect of (a) financial pressures and (b) emotional wellbeing.
Answer
We fully acknowledge that a cancer diagnosis will be a difficult time. That is why Social Security Scotland continues to prioritise decision-making, with the last nine months of official statistics for Child Disability Payment showing Social Security Scotland has made decisions on new applications almost twice as fast as in the previous financial year.
To date Child Disability Payment has paid out over £1 billion to families with disabled children. 74% of people surveyed in the Social Security Scotland Client Survey: 2023-24 gave a high rating for how much their payment(s) had helped make a difference to their life and helped them pay for what they needed.
There is a dedicated application route for terminally ill children and young people, with previously published data showing that applications are processed in an average of three working days.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the finance secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the allocation of additional funding for health and social care, in light of the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board's reported plans to end funding for its third sector grant programme.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2025
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to provide vehicles and equipment under the Accessible Vehicles and Equipment Scheme, from organisations other than Motability, it has (a) approved and (b) rejected in each of the last five years, and what steps it is taking to broaden the range and scope of such providers, in particular those that are independent businesses or social enterprises.
Answer
The Scottish Government fully accredited one provider (Motability Operations Ltd) under the Accessible Vehicles and Equipment Scheme in 2019 and rejected five providers. One provider withdrew from the process. Four additional providers were offered conditional accreditation in 2023. We are working with these additional providers to include them as part of the Scheme.
We have simplified the accreditation process and have waived the accreditation fee to encourage smaller organisations or social enterprises to apply, subject to meeting the technical security standards necessary. Our intention is to ensure the scheme offers a choice of providers and continues to provide a valuable service for disabled people in Scotland.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the outcomes of the long COVID support service pilot that took place across Edinburgh in 2022-23, including whether it considers it to have been successful.
Answer
Information on the outcomes of the long COVID pilot project undertaken by Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, Pogo Digital Healthcare and NHS Lothian is not held centrally. This is a matter for those organisations.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the outcomes of the £10 million that it designated in 2023-24 to support people with long COVID, including how this was spent.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s £10 million long COVID Support Fund was announced in September 2021 and resource has been allocated from the fund from the financial year 2022-2023 onwards. The following table provides an overview of funding recipients from the start of the financial year 2022-23 to 28 February 2025. Allocations to NHS boards are made in tranches across the financial year to account for any slippage in programme delivery. It is anticipated that further allocations will be made to NHS boards from the fund before the end of this financial year, and in the financial year 2025-26.
The 2025-2026 budget outlines £7.586 million for the ‘Long Covid, ME, Chronic Fatigue and other similar conditions’ budget line. This represents a £4.5m uplift to the 2024-2025 long COVID budget line.
Organisation | Purpose | Funding allocated 2022-2023 | Funding allocated 2023-2024 | Funding allocated 2024-2025 (as of 28 Feb 2025) |
NHS Ayrshire and Arran | Assist provision of healthcare support to people with long-term effects of COVID-19. | £131,288 | £143,152 | £131,288 |
NHS Borders | £35,509 | £50,727 | £38,319 |
NHS Dumfries and Galloway | £55,598 | £55,598 | £55,598 |
NHS Fife | £124,636 | £124,636 | 124,636 |
NHS Forth Valley | £99,414 | £133,896 | £99,414 |
NHS Grampian | £178,393 | £254,847 | £178,393 |
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde | £416,618 | £583,446 | £416,618 |
NHS Highland | £83,749 | £167,586 | £117,310 |
NHS Lanarkshire | £320,007 | £320,007 | £224,005 |
NHS Lothian | £260,551 | £378,412 | £268,168 |
NHS Orkney | £14,716 | £14,716 | £10,301 |
NHS Shetland | £9,573 | £9,573 | £9,573 |
NHS Tayside | £194,620 | £194,620 | £138,330 |
NHS Western Isles | £19,988 | £19,988 | £13,992 |
NHS National Services Scotland | Operation of National Strategic Network for long COVID. | £101,498 | £180,916 | £126,641 |
NHS National Services Scotland | Procurement of C-19 YRS digital tool. | 0 | 0 | £124,781 |
NHS National Services Scotland | Clinical safety assessment of C-19 YRS digital tool. | 0 | £49,728 | 0 |
NHS National Services Scotland | Evaluation of data gathered through C-19 YRS digital tool. | 0 | £62,500 | 0 |
Smarts | Production and editing of NHS inform case study videos. | £5,112 | £5,676 | |
Progressive Partnership | Recruitment of participants for NHS inform user experience research and case study videos. | £9,450 | | |
Leith Agency | Development of creative brief and options for potential marketing campaign | £9,174 | | |
Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland | Integration of long COVID support application within Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland’s case management system. | £28,904 | | |
Covid Aid | Delivery of long COVID advertising and signposting activity, development of mobile phone application for Covid Aid Support Community, delivery of Covid Aid/ Let’s Get on With it Together (LGOWIT) Self-Management Programme, development of online support community for people with long COVID | £144,095 | | |
Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland | Delivery of long COVID Support Groups within Glasgow City and West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership areas. | £13,345 | | |
Long Covid Scotland | Investment in systems and equipment required to widen organisation’s impact. Administrative capacity to support development of educational resources. | £25,000 | | |
Scottish Ballet | Delivery of the ‘Emerge’ programme. | £3,035 | | |
Scottish Opera | Expanding course capacity on the ‘Breathe Cycle II’ project. | £86,892 | | |
Thistle Foundation | Delivery of a ‘Good Conversations’ training programme for healthcare staff and expansion of national Self-Management and Rehabilitation programme. | £106,343 | | |
Total | | £2,477,508 | £2,750,024 | £2,077,367 |
An analysis of Patient Reported Outcome Measure (PROM) data provided by 701 patients accessing NHS long COVID support showed they reported that they got somewhat better in symptoms and abilities over the first six months. Despite improvements, many reported that they still had major health issues compared to before having COVID.
The report notes that long COVID can be a fluctuating condition, meaning there is not necessarily a linear trend of improvement or deterioration in the symptom burden, functional disability, and overall health of patients. Therefore, care needs to be taken in drawing any conclusions changes in PROM scores, particularly when over a short space of time. The full report is accessible at NHS Scotland Service Evaluation of Long-COVID Services – Long COVID.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what support is currently in place for people with long COVID.
Answer
Since April 2022, we have allocated over £6.2 million to territorial NHS boards to supplement core funding and support their responses to meeting the healthcare needs of people with long COVID. This has supported boards to undertake a range of activities including the development of long COVID rehabilitation pathways and providing additional capacity to existing services supporting people with symptoms resulting from long COVID.
Care and support for people with long COVID is being provided across the full range of services delivered by our NHS. This includes assessment in a setting close to home by local primary care teams, and referral to community-based rehabilitation services or secondary care settings for further investigation of specific complications where clinically appropriate.
Scotland’s national health information service NHS inform has a dedicated long COVID microsite containing information and advice on common signs and symptoms associated with long COVID and when to seek further advice from a healthcare professional. This is accessible at Long-term effects of COVID-19 | NHS inform.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to propose scheduling time for a parliamentary debate on the fishing industry.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2025
