Chamber and committees

The intention is to submit the charter for Parliamentary approval by the end of the year.

In line with Ministers’ legal duty to co-design the charter with the people of Scotland, people with lived experience of the system will have the primary role in deciding what it should contain. A core group of experience panel members has been recruited for this purpose and will oversee the development of the charter from beginning to end.

A separate stakeholder group, chaired by Dr Sally Witcher, has also been convened to provide advice and feedback to this core group. As with all experience panel research, a paper setting out the full findings and methodology will be published following the completion of this work.

Officials leading on the design and delivery of staff training are being kept closely informed of progress on developing the charter and will put in place any necessary additional training as quickly as possible. For example, links are already being made with key stakeholders and other relevant third sector organisations to gain access to bespoke training modules and wider expertise for this purpose.

Following its approval by Parliament the charter will apply to recipients of Carer’s Allowance Supplement. In the meantime, agency procedures and staff training are being designed to closely align line with the social security principles that the charter is legally required to reflect. This includes e.g. training focussed on dignity, respect, equality and human rights – all matters that Ministers expect to feature prominently in the charter.

An interim charter was suggested as a possible means of extending the timeline for developing the charter in discussion with the Disability and Carer’s Expert Advisory Group in March. Ministers considered this unnecessary given the intention to submit a charter for Parliamentary approval by the end of the year.

In addition, the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 places detailed legal requirements on Ministers in relation to the development, content and publication of the charter, together with robust arrangements for redress, reporting and accountability, including Parliamentary approval. These legislative requirements would not apply to an interim charter.

All Social Security Scotland staff will receive training on the purpose, legislative background and practical use of both the social security principles and charter prior to handling applications.

Once the content of the charter is finalised and approved by Parliament, staff will receive further training on any specific additional commitments it contains where that is necessary.

Ministers continue to believe that an interim charter is unnecessary for the reasons noted in answer to question S5W-17720 on 2 August 2018. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-17258 on 3 July 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at

http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Western Ferries (Clyde) Ltd received a development grant of £398,400.36 from Argyll and Islands Enterprise for improvements to the infrastructure at Hunter’s Quay, Dunoon involving the construction and installation of a new linkspan, improved passenger facilities and enhanced marshalling area.

Details of the Argyll and Islands Enterprise development grant funding are as follows:

The undernoted table details the harbour dues paid by Cowal Ferries Ltd (to June 2011) and Argyll Ferries Ltd (from June 2011) in respect of the Gourock-Dunoon ferry service.

The Scottish Government publishes statistics on affordable housing completions each quarter. The latest set of figures was published on 13 March in the Quarterly Housing statistics update, and covered activity over the time period up to end December 2017.

The published figures show that 7,280 new build affordable homes have been completed between April 2016 and December 2017. This figure includes new build homes only; rehabilitations and off-the-shelf purchases are not included.

The next quarterly update, which will cover the quarter from January to March 2018 and therefore will provide complete coverage of the 2017-18 period, is planned to be published on 12th June 2018.