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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5F-01565

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2017

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5F-01536

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2017

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5F-01510

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 September 2017

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5F-01468

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2017

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-10477

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in implementing each of the recommendations of the report, Shifting the Curve, which was published by the First Minister’s Independent Advisor on Poverty and Inequality in January 2016.

The Scottish Government has made considerable progress in the implementation of the recommendations made by the Independent Advisor, Naomi Eisenstadt, in her 'Shifting the Curve' report.

A report detailing progress on each of the 15 recommendations was published on
3 July 2017 and is available through the Scottish Government website via the following link; http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/07/2537.

Question reference: S5W-09672

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 27 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Employability Support Service will (a) collect and publish equality data and (b) monitor whether its services meet the needs of BME people who are long-term unemployed or at risk of becoming so.

The Scottish Government requires providers to collect equality information as part of the delivery of our employment services, Fair Start Scotland (from April 2018), Work First Scotland and, managed by SDS, Work Able Scotland. Part of the rationale for collecting this information is to help ensure that equalities groups are benefitting from the services, but we will also be undertaking evaluation activity to better understand if and how participants’ needs are being met.

Question reference: S5W-09463

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the report that it commissioned from yellow book ltd, Barriers to community engagement in planning: a research study.

Question reference: S5F-01192

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2017

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government will take to ensure that older people receive the free personal care payments that they are entitled to, in light of research by Age Scotland, which suggests that thousands are missing out due to delays in assessing and arranging care.

Question reference: S5W-08271

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 13 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether an independent Scotland in the EU would have the current VAT exemptions that the UK has negotiated.

Question reference: S5W-08138

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to (a) fill evidence gaps on (i) how and (ii) to what extent people from minority ethnic groups are accessing benefits to which they are entitled and (b) ensure that all anti-poverty policy and programme areas are fully impact-assessed for equality.

The Race Equality Framework committed the Scottish Government to fill the gaps in current knowledge on how and to what extent minority ethnic people are accessing the benefits they are entitled to. The Framework covers the period 2016-2030, and we have already taken some action on this front.

During the social security consultation, we spoke directly to minority ethnic groups and listened closely to what they told us in terms of the issues they faced of access and culture with a view to ensuring that the delivery of our social security system understands and can support action to overcome these barriers.

The benefit take up campaign launched in March 2017 was the first phase of our work in this area. This work will be developed over the course of the parliamentary term. We will continue to listen to and take views from a range of equality organisations on how best to increase take up amongst groups that are currently under represented as part of this process. We remain absolutely committed to working with our partners to ensure that all groups and communities access what they are entitled to.

More widely social security Experience Panels will ensure that those in receipt of benefits are involved in designing the social security system in a meaningful way. By sampling from DWP lists of current recipients, and by having separate panels for each benefit (or group of benefits) each panel will be representative of people in Scotland currently receiving the devolved benefits. The sample has been drawn using the National Record of Statistics postcode list for Scotland so will cover all areas of Scotland. We will also work closely with key organisations to ensure that minority ethnic communities are fully represented on the panels.

An initial equality impact assessment was published as part of the social security consultation with a request for respondents to help develop this further for publication alongside the Social Security Bill.