- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2023
To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the potential impact of the roll-out of the Carer Support Payment on the national mission to tackle poverty and reduce inequality.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2023
- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
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Current Status:
Initiated by the Scottish Government.
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with the decarbonisation of rail services.
Answer
I can confirm that excellent progress is being made with the Scottish Government’s rolling programme of electrification. The Glasgow to Barrhead line will see electric services operating on the route from December 2023. Indeed Network Rail and its contractors have recently successfully completed a six week programme of key installation work to facilitate the electrification works and changes at various stations along the line of route. I would like to thank passengers for their patience during these works.
I can also confirm that I have now approved full funding for the delivery of the East Kilbride Enhancement Project. This will deliver electrification of the route, a relocated station at Hairmyres, a new accessible station at East Kilbride, accessibility works at other stations and a 1.4km extension of the Hairmyres double track section to enhance operational resilience and flexibility of service on the route. This project represents a further £139.8m commitment from this Government which will contribute to our wider net zero objectives and will enable the introduction of electric services on the route from December 2025.
Both of these projects were priorities of our Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan which was published in July 2020. In line with commitments for review within the Action Plan a refresh will be published later this year reflecting current progress and the expected budgetary position.
- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 4 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) which local authorities use the BASRiS form to fast-track applications from terminally ill people for housing adaptations.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold information regarding which local authorities use the BASRiS form to fast-track applications from terminally ill people for housing adaptations.
We know that there can sometimes be issues with the way in which adaptations are accessed and delivered locally. I have asked my officials to work with COSLA and representatives from the housing sector to consider how the process can be streamlined and improved for people who need adaptations, including those living with terminal illness.
- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards the introduction of speed awareness courses, among other diversion schemes for driving offences, as an alternative to prosecution.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2023
- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 August 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Carer's Allowance Supplement, how many carers in the East Kilbride constituency (a) it estimates will receive a payment in the current financial year and (b) received a payment in each financial year from 2018-19 to 2022-23, and what the annual value is of these payments.
Answer
The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish forecasts of the number of people receiving payments and spending for Carer’s Allowance Supplement. Those figures are on a national level and not at a constituency geography. The latest published forecasts estimated spending forecast for Carer’s Allowance Supplement for 2023-24 is £49 million with an estimated 91,000 people receiving payments.
The Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts at May 2023 can be found at: Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts – May 2023 – Scottish Fiscal Commission .
To note, payments are made twice a year and while most people will receive two payments there may be some people only eligible at one of the payment windows.
Social Security Scotland publish statistics for total number of carers eligible for Carer’s Allowance Supplement, in each financial year by local authority area, as well as the value of payments at each eligibility date by local authority area.
The official statistics for Carer’s Allowance Supplement can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Summary statistics for Carer's Allowance Supplement to April eligibility date 2023
The latest published number of carers paid and value of payments for the Local Authority area of South Lanarkshire, which includes East Kilbride, are as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Number and value of Carer’s Allowance Supplement payments in South Lanarkshire for each financial year.
Financial year | Total eligible carers | Value of Payments |
2018-19 | 6,255 | £2,526,000 |
2019-20 | 6,325 | £2,636,000 |
2020-21 | 6,510 | £4,163,000 |
2021-22 | 6,560 | £4,180,000 |
2022-23 | 6,00 | £2,981,000 |
- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 August 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Carer's Allowance Supplement, how many carers (a) it estimates will receive a payment in the current financial year and (b) received a payment in financial year 2022-23, and what the annual value is of these payments, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish forecasts of the number of people receiving payments and spending for Carer’s Allowance Supplement. The latest published forecasts show the estimated spending for Carer’s Allowance Supplement for 2023-24 is £49 million with an estimated 91,000 people receiving payments.
The Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts at May 2023 can be found at: Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts – May 2023 – Scottish Fiscal Commission
To note, payments are made twice a year and while most people will receive two payments there may be some people only eligible at one of the payment windows.
Social Security Scotland publish statistics for total number of carers eligible for Carer’s Allowance Supplement in each financial year by local authority area, as well as the value of payments at each eligibility date by local authority area.
The latest official statistics for Carer’s Allowance Supplement can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Summary statistics for Carer's Allowance Supplement to April eligibility date 2023
The latest statistics show in total 94,460 carers received a payment in the financial year 2022-23, with a value of payments of £42.7 million.
- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 August 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils in each school in the G74 and G75 postcode areas (a) will receive from August 2023 and (b) received in the last school year, universal free school meals provision, and what the average saving per child is for these families due to this policy.
Answer
Universal free school meals are available to all children in Primaries 1 to 5, and to all pupils in special schools, saving families £400 per eligible child per year.
We are committed to the expansion of free school meals, with the next phase of this being to children in Primary 6 & 7 whose families are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment.
The following table shows the number of pupils at each school in the G74 and G75 postcode areas who were registered for universal free school meals at the time of our September 2022 Pupil Census.
School Name | Post Code | Total Pupils Registered for Universal Free School Meals |
Kirktonholme Primary School | G74 1DJ | 259 |
St Kenneth's Primary School | G74 1PU | 356 |
St Hilary's Primary School | G74 2AX | 115 |
Blacklaw Primary School | G74 2BP | 117 |
Mount Cameron Primary School | G74 2EX | 118 |
Mount Cameron Primary School Gaelic Unit | G74 2EX | 54 |
Sanderson High School | G74 2LP | 111 |
Maxwellton Primary School | G74 3DP | 125 |
Greenburn School | G74 3DP | 64 |
Long Calderwood Primary | G74 3QT | 115 |
St Leonard's Primary School | G74 3YA | 167 |
Hunter Primary School | G74 3YB | 127 |
Halfmerke Primary School | G74 4BU | 147 |
West Mains School | G74 4BU | 63 |
Our Lady Of Lourdes Primary School | G75 0AG | 238 |
Murray Primary School | G75 0JP | 142 |
St Louise's Primary School | G75 0NF | 120 |
Heathery Knowe Primary School | G75 0NG | 185 |
Canberra Primary School | G75 8HD | 118 |
East Milton Primary School | G75 8LG | 137 |
Mossneuk Primary School | G75 8XQ | 357 |
Crosshouse Primary School | G75 8ZY | 269 |
St Vincent's Primary School | G75 9DG | 248 |
Castlefield Primary School | G75 9DH | 100 |
Auldhouse Primary School | G75 9DT | 36 |
South Park Primary School | G75 9DU | 124 |
Greenhills Primary School | G75 9JD | 156 |
- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 August 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government, as it relates to public health in Scotland, regarding measures to ensure that pets brought into Scotland under the Pet Travel Scheme do not carry infectious diseases and parasites, including tapeworm and non-native tick species.
Answer
The Scottish Government has regular discussions with the UK Government regarding pet travel rules through a number of forums. The rules require all dogs entering the UK to be treated against Echinococcus multilocularis (tapeworm) unless they are entering from a tapeworm free country. Risk assessments are undertaken for zoonotic diseases, including tick-borne diseases, to ensure pet travel disease prevention measures remain relevant in protecting public and animal health.
- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much Pupil Equity Funding each school in the G74 and G75 postcode areas (a) received in 2022-23 and (b) will receive in 2023-24, broken down by school.
Answer
Pupil Equity Funding allocations are updated and published annually to take into account new, closed and merged schools of that year. The 2023-24 Pupil Equity Funding allocations are currently being finalised and will be communicated to local authorities shortly with publication in due course thereafter. All previous allocations can be found here: Pupil attainment: closing the gap - Schools - gov.scot (www.gov.scotwww.gov.scot) .
For 2022-23, over £130m of Pupil Equity Funding was to allocated to 97% of schools in Scotland, schools in South Lanarkshire Council received over £8.9m, and of which £1,916,375 was allocated to schools in the G74 and G75 postcodes. The breakdown of 2022-23 allocations for these schools can be found in the following table.
Seed Code | LA Name | School Name | Post Code | 2022-23 PEF Allocation |
8531323 | South Lanarkshire | Kirktonholme Primary School | G74 1DJ | £ 63,700 |
8520038 | South Lanarkshire | St Andrew's and St Bride's High School | G74 1NL | £ 104,125 |
8532125 | South Lanarkshire | St Kenneth's Primary School | G74 1PU | £ 42,120 |
8532028 | South Lanarkshire | St Hilary's Primary School | G74 2AX | £ 26,950 |
8530521 | South Lanarkshire | Blacklaw Primary School | G74 2BP | £ 29,400 |
8531625 | South Lanarkshire | Mount Cameron Primary School | G74 2EX | £ 19,600 |
8534527 | South Lanarkshire | Mount Cameron Primary School Gaelic Unit | G74 2EX | * |
8525749 | South Lanarkshire | Sanderson High School | G74 2LP | £ 71,050 |
8530033 | South Lanarkshire | Calderglen High School | G74 2LP | £ 161,700 |
8531528 | South Lanarkshire | Maxwellton Primary School | G74 3DP | £ 42,875 |
8534144 | South Lanarkshire | Greenburn School | G74 3DP | £ 72,275 |
8531420 | South Lanarkshire | Long Calderwood Primary | G74 3QT | £ 55,125 |
8532222 | South Lanarkshire | St Leonard's Primary School | G74 3YA | £ 60,025 |
8531226 | South Lanarkshire | Hunter Primary School | G74 3YB | £ 37,975 |
8531021 | South Lanarkshire | Halfmerke Primary School | G74 4BU | £ 66,150 |
8534543 | South Lanarkshire | West Mains School | G74 4BU | £ 73,500 |
8531927 | South Lanarkshire | Our Lady Of Lourdes Primary School | G75 0AG | £ 72,275 |
8531722 | South Lanarkshire | Murray Primary School | G75 0JP | £ 71,050 |
8532427 | South Lanarkshire | St Louise's Primary School | G75 0NF | £ 29,160 |
8531129 | South Lanarkshire | Heathery Knowe Primary School | G75 0NG | £ 69,825 |
8530629 | South Lanarkshire | Canberra Primary School | G75 8HD | £ 42,875 |
8530823 | South Lanarkshire | East Milton Primary School | G75 8LG | £ 61,250 |
8533229 | South Lanarkshire | Mossneuk Primary School | G75 8XQ | £ 39,200 |
8533431 | South Lanarkshire | Duncanrig Secondary School | G75 8ZT | £ 193,550 |
8534225 | South Lanarkshire | Crosshouse Primary School | G75 8ZY | £ 95,550 |
8532524 | South Lanarkshire | St Vincent's Primary School | G75 9DG | £ 80,850 |
8530726 | South Lanarkshire | Castlefield Primary School | G75 9DH | £ 52,920 |
8530025 | South Lanarkshire | Auldhouse Primary School | G75 9DT | £ 9,800 |
8532621 | South Lanarkshire | South Park Primary School | G75 9DU | £ 50,225 |
8530920 | South Lanarkshire | Greenhills Primary School | G75 9JD | £ 121,275 |
Total | £ 1,916,375 |
* The allocation for Mount Cameron Primary School Gaelic Unit has been redacted and replaced with a *, as revealing the allocation level may be disclosive to individuals.
- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding social security in Scotland, whether it will provide the (a) total value in the 2022-23 financial year and (b) estimated value in the current financial year of (i) expenditure on payments, (ii) funding provided through the Fiscal Framework and (iii) value of additional Scottish Government funding.
Answer
The most recent Scottish Fiscal Commission forecast, published on 25 May 2023, shows Social Security expenditure of £4.2 billion in 2022-23, and forecast to be £5.3 billion in 2023-24. The SFC highlight that the OBR have forecast the Block Grant Adjustment for Social Security to be £4.4 billion in 2023-24, with the Scottish Government investing £756 million above the level of funding received through the Block Grant Adjustment, which includes funding for new payments only available in Scotland.
The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s May 2023 publication can be found at: https://www.fiscalcommission.scot/download/2023/06/Scotland_s-Economic-and-Fiscal-Forecasts-May-2023-full-report-revised-June-2023.pdf .
