Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-22995

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many children in the East Kilbride constituency it expects will receive support from the Child Winter Heating Payment in the current financial year.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish estimates and forecasts of the number of people receiving payments for Child Winter Heating Assistance. The Scottish Fiscal Commission do not publish estimates and forecasts for the number of people receiving payments by area within Scotland. In their May 2023 publication it was forecast that a total of 29,000 people will receive payments in the financial year 2023-24.

Social Security Scotland publish statistics for the number of historic payments for Child Winter Heating Assistance by Local Authority but not at constituency level. Statistics for 2023-24 are not yet available. In the South Lanarkshire Local Authority, 1,955 payments for Child Winter Heating Assistance were made in the Winter of 2022-23.

Internal Scottish Government analysis using the Social Security Scotland statistics, in combination with published population data, suggests an estimate of 500 payments were made in East Kilbride in the Winter of 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-22998

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people it expects will receive support from the Winter Heating Payment in the current financial year, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish estimates and forecasts of the number of people receiving payments for Winter Heating Payment. The Scottish Fiscal Commission do not publish estimates and forecasts for the number of people receiving payments by area within Scotland. In their May 2023 publication it was forecast that a total of 403,000 people will receive payments in the financial year 2023-24.

Social Security Scotland publish statistics for the number of historic payments for Winter Heating Payment by Local Authority. Statistics for 2023-24 are not yet available.

Table 1: Number of payments for Winter Heating Payment made in Winter 2022-23 by Local Authority area

Local Authority	Number of issued payments
Total	394135
Aberdeen City	12075
Aberdeenshire	10465
Angus	7280
Argyll & Bute	5595
City of Edinburgh	27145
Clackmannanshire	4110
Dumfries & Galloway	11270
Dundee City	13765
East Ayrshire	10635
East Dunbartonshire	4670
East Lothian	5835
East Renfrewshire	4095
Falkirk	10960
Fife	25265
Glasgow City	70790
Highland	14275
Inverclyde	8240
Midlothian	5745
Moray	5055
Na h-Eileanan Siar	1830
North Ayrshire	13305
North Lanarkshire	30430
Orkney Islands	1075
Perth & Kinross	8010
Renfrewshire	13975
Scottish Borders	6630
Shetland Islands	985
South Ayrshire	8630
South Lanarkshire	24860
Stirling	5030
West Dunbartonshire	9295
West Lothian	12800
Unknown	5

Source: Social Security Scotland Statistics - Publications

Question reference: S6W-22997

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in the East Kilbride constituency it expects will receive support from the Winter Heating Payment in the current financial year.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish estimates and forecasts of the number of people receiving payments for Winter Heating Payment. The Scottish Fiscal Commission do not publish estimates and forecasts for the number of people receiving payments by area within Scotland. In their May 2023 publication it was forecast that a total of 403,000 people will receive payments in the financial year 2023-24.

Social Security Scotland publish statistics for the number of historic payments for Winter Heating Payment by Local Authority but not at constituency level. Statistics for 2023-24 are not yet available. In the South Lanarkshire Local Authority, 24,860 payments for Winter Heating Payment were made in the Winter of 2022-23.

Internal Scottish Government analysis using the Social Security Scotland statistics, in combination with published population data, suggests an estimate of 6000 payments were made in East Kilbride in the Winter of 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-23495

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 4 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the next paper in the Building a New Scotland series will be published.

The Scottish Government continues to deliver on its commitment to give people the information they need to make an informed choice about their future, and I’m pleased to confirm that we are publishing Social security in an independent Scotland on 6 December 2023.

This is the ninth paper in the Building a New Scotland series. It explains why the UK approach to social security needs urgent reform and identifies the early changes this Scottish Government would prioritise with independence.

I can also confirm that we intend to bring the matters raised in this publication forward for a debate in the Chamber when Parliamentary time is available.

Building a New Scotland: Social security in an independent Scotland will be available to view on the Scottish Government website from 6 December at www.gov.scot/newscotland .

Question reference: S6W-22996

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many children it expects will receive support from the Child Winter Heating Payment in the current financial year, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish estimates and forecasts of the number of people receiving payments for Child Winter Heating Assistance. The Scottish Fiscal Commission do not publish estimates and forecasts for the number of people receiving payments by area within Scotland. In their May 2023 publication it was forecast that a total of 29,000 people will receive payments in the financial year 2023-24.

Social Security Scotland publish statistics for the number of historic payments for Child Winter Heating Assistance by Local Authority. Statistics for 2023-24 are not yet available.

Table 1: Number of payments for Child Winter Heating Assistance made in Winter 2022-23 by Local Authority area

Local Authority	Winter 2022-2023
Aberdeen City	670
Aberdeenshire	870
Angus	525
Argyll & Bute	370
City of Edinburgh	1655
Clackmannanshire	285
Dumfries & Galloway	720
Dundee City	895
East Ayrshire	575
East Dunbartonshire	415
East Lothian	445
East Renfrewshire	450
Falkirk	845
Fife	1965
Glasgow City	3820
Highland	1055
Inverclyde	480
Midlothian	655
Moray	385
Na h-Eileanan Siar	50
North Ayrshire	730
North Lanarkshire	2125
Orkney Islands	60
Perth and Kinross	745
Renfrewshire	800
Scottish Borders	380
Shetland Islands	90
South Ayrshire	425
South Lanarkshire	1955
Stirling	375
West Dunbartonshire	620
West Lothian	1095
Other Scottish Address	5
Non-Scottish UK Address	25
Unknown	15
Total	26555

Source: Social Security Scotland Statistics - Publications

Question reference: S6O-02833

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the constitution secretary last met the UK Government, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6F-02511

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to alleviate poverty in Scotland, in light of reports that the UK is in violation of international law in relation to poverty levels.

Question reference: S6W-22061

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on embedding equality and human rights in social care services, including for accountability purposes and complaints by service users.

The Scottish Government is committed to advancing equality and furthering the realisation of human rights in Scotland. Social Care support is provided by Local Authorities and we are working closely with local government to further advance equality and realise human rights for supported people and staff. This includes recent updates to Self-Directed Support guidance, which was developed in participation with a wide range of stakeholders and is grounded in a human rights-based approach to social care. We are also co-designing Getting It Right For Everyone (GIRFE), a national practice model for health and social care, with pathfinders across Scotland and people with lived experience. Respect, dignity, kindness, and human rights are integral to the GIRFE approach, which seeks to put what matters to a person at the heart of the decision-making which impacts their own life.

The Scottish Government is also working to establish a National Care Service (NCS) to provide national oversight and accountability to locally delivered care support, community health and social work. We are committed to developing the NCS with human rights at its heart and ensuring that the voices of lived experience are central to our decision making. As part of our human rights-based approach to the development of the NCS, the NCS National Board will be underpinned by robust and effective complaints processes that deliver accountability for people accessing social care support, social work and community health services.

Question reference: S6O-02710

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of the Strathclyde Pension Fund and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6O-02568

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with Network Rail and what was discussed.

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