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: S6W-16812

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has done with health and social care partnerships to promote the Debt and Mental Health Evidence Form in Scotland.

We recognise the importance of financial wellbeing and understand the impact that debt and money worries can have on mental health and wellbeing and are working with stakeholders to tackle this issue. In our Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan we have committed to further develop a response to those whose mental health has been affected by issues relating to debt. We are working closely with a range of advice organisations, including Citizens Advice Scotland, to better understand and tackle these issues. We will consider the Debt and Mental Health Evidence Form as part of this work and promote to Health and Social Care Partnerships accordingly.

Question reference: S6O-02187

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address antisocial behaviour on public transport.

Question reference: S6W-16611

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-16610

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
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 develop national standards for council tax collection.

Council Tax is a local tax, and each council is financially and administratively accountable to their electorate.

However, we recognise the desirability of the best practice in council tax collection being adopted by all local authorities. I therefore raised the issue of Council Tax Debt and Recovery, including highlighting the recommendations of the Improvement Service and Stepchange Scotland’s May 2022 report on Collaborative Council Tax Collection, with the COSLA President, Vice President and Resources Spokesperson at a meeting of the ‘Joint Working Group on Sourcing of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform’, on 22 March 2023.

Question reference: S6W-16860

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 April 2023
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.

Question reference: S6W-16816

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reduce the period that a person must wait before reapplying for a Minimal Asset Process bankruptcy.

The Scottish Government has no plans to reduce the period that a person must wait before reapplying for a Minimal Asset Process (MAP) bankruptcy. We have made significant changes to MAP eligibility criteria recently, removing the application fee, removing the minimum debt threshold, and increasing the maximum debt level to £25,000. It is important to assess the impact of these changes before considering further reform.

Question reference: S6W-16815

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to remove the threshold for full administration bankruptcy.

Question reference: S6W-16854

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 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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-16814

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to remove the application fee for Minimal Asset Process bankruptcy.

Question reference: S6W-16817

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce legislation to give creditors greater flexibility to reduce the amount of money taken in an earnings arrestment.