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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-07352

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 29 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what data it collects in relation to Child Disability Payment applications that do not progress.

Part 1 of the Child Disability Payment application form gathers key personal details of the client and Part 2 of the application form asks for more details on the impact of the client’s disability. For applications that do not progress to complete Part 2, an application outcome is recorded, which can include denied or withdrawn. Where applicable, a high level reason for an application being denied is also recorded.

Question reference: S6O-00926

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the action it is taking to tackle the reported staffing shortages within the NHS.

Question reference: S6W-06646

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what method it is using to distribute funding between the 32 local authorities to support the implementation of the Child Disability Payment, and how much each local authority has received in 2021-22.

The funding allocation is made on the basis of the anticipated level of need to support these processes in each Local Authority. Scottish Government Communities Analysis division have provided forecast estimates for the number of requests for supporting information that each Local Authority may receive.

The estimates for supporting information requests have been created by using actual volumes of applications in Scotland for the DWP equivalent benefit, Disability Living Allowance for Children (DLAC) over the past 5 years as the basis. This data was combined with statistics from the Department for Communities (DfC) which provided a percentage breakdown of cases where additional supporting information was required. This percentage was applied to the Scottish application projections and ratified by Health and Social Care practitioners in Social Security Scotland.

Working with COSLA and the Local Authorities who supported the Child Disability Payment Pilot, the Social Security Programme agreed an appropriate level of funding to support Perth and Kinross Council as a medium sized authority with a mixed urban/rural demographic to act as a median. The funding allocated to all other Local Authorities was based proportionately upon the volume of Supporting Information requests they are expected to receive against the base level of funding agreed for Perth and Kinross Council.

Using this methodology Island Authorities were thought to be unfairly disadvantaged due to the small number of requests they are likely to receive. As such an Island Uprating was agreed to ensure that all organisations received at least £29,000 per annum to adequately resource this new burden. The methodology for funding allocation was approved through the Settlement and Distribution Group and the COSLA Leaders meeting in Autumn 2021.

Question reference: S6W-06644

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has allocated to local authorities to support the implementation of the Child Disability Payment for (a) the remainder of 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23, broken down by local authority.

Local Authorities have been provided with New Burdens funding to support new processes for gathering supporting information on behalf of clients applying for disability assistance. These new processes introduced a new requirement for Local Authorities to receive, triage, manage and respond to these requests for information from Social Security Scotland for Child Disability Payment.

The funding provided for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 years is detailed below:

LOCAL AUTHORITY FUNDING ALLOCATIONS FOR CDP NEW BURDENS 2021-22 & 2022-23
APPROVED BY COSLA LEADERS ON 29-10-2021

ORGANISATION	Agreed Funding for 2021-22	Agreed Funding for 2022-23	Total 21-22 & 22-23
Pilot Authorities
Perth and Kinross Council	£31,000.00	£94,000.00	£125,000.00
Dundee	£40,000.00	£121,000.00	£161,000.00
Western Isles	£10,000.00	£29,000.00	£39,000.00	*

Non Pilot Authorities
Aberdeen	£31,000.00	£94,000.00	£125,000.00
Aberdeenshire	£37,000.00	£110,000.00	£147,000.00
Angus	£24,000.00	£72,000.00	£96,000.00
Argyll and Bute	£15,000.00	£44,000.00	£59,000.00
Clackmannanshire	£11,000.00	£33,000.00	£44,000.00
Dumfires and Galloway	£29,000.00	£88,000.00	£117,000.00
East Ayrshire	£22,000.00	£66,000.00	£88,000.00
East Dunbartonshire	£18,000.00	£55,000.00	£73,000.00
East Lothian	£18,000.00	£55,000.00	£73,000.00
East Renfrewshire	£18,000.00	£55,000.00	£73,000.00
Edinburgh	£29,000.00	£88,000.00	£117,000.00
Falkirk	£33,000.00	£99,000.00	£132,000.00
Fife	£83,000.00	£248,000.00	£331,000.00
Glasgow	£152,000.00	£455,000.00	£607,000.00
Highland	£50,000.00	£149,000.00	£199,000.00
Inverclyde	£20,000.00	£61,000.00	£81,000.00
Midlothian	£24,000.00	£72,000.00	£96,000.00
Moray	£15,000.00	£44,000.00	£59,000.00
North Ayrshire	£28,000.00	£83,000.00	£111,000.00
North Lanarkshire	£83,000.00	£248,000.00	£331,000.00
Orkney Islands	£10,000.00	£29,000.00	£39,000.00	*
Renfrewshire	£35,000.00	£105,000.00	£140,000.00
Scottish Borders	£18,000.00	£55,000.00	£73,000.00
Shetland Islands	£10,000.00	£29,000.00	£39,000.00	*
South Ayrshire	£18,000.00	£55,000.00	£73,000.00
South Lanarkshire	£83,000.00	£248,000.00	£331,000.00
Stirling	£13,000.00	£39,000.00	£52,000.00
West Dunbartonshire	£20,000.00	£61,000.00	£81,000.00
West Lothian	£44,000.00	£132,000.00	£176,000.00

TOTAL	£1,072,000.00	£3,216,000.00	£4,288,000.00

*includes island uprating

Question reference: S6W-06641

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding in total it has given to local authorities to support the administration of the self-isolation support grant in each month since its launch, broken down by local authority.

Local authorities have received a total of £3,056,147 in administration funding to process Self-isolation Support Grant (SISG) applications since it was launched in October 2020 until end December 2021.

In addition to a fixed sum for administration start-up costs, the administrative funding was distributed using Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). In September 2021 local authority leaders accepted a recommendation from COSLA to change to a unit cost for actual applications received by each local authority.

Local Authority Total

December 2020 (£906,500)

April

2021

(£801,855)

August 2021 (£823,662)

December 2021 (£524,130)

Total

(£3,056,147)

Question reference: S6W-06640

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide further funding to local authorities in relation to support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving through the national transfer scheme.

Question reference: S6W-06633

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the number of hotels that are currently being used as accommodation for asylum seekers.

Asylum is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes provision of asylum accommodation to people who require it while awaiting the outcome of their asylum application.

I have written to the Home Secretary and the UK Immigration Minister to express my concerns about the use of hotels to accommodate people seeking asylum. Three letters I have issued are published on the Scottish Government website: Use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers: correspondence with UK government - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Home Office procures asylum accommodation through private sector contracts. Mears Group is the current contract holder in Scotland. The Scottish Government has no control of asylum accommodation and support and do not have access to Home Office systems or to operational systems run by their contractors.

The Scottish Government is aware that the Home Office has procured hotels as contingency initial asylum accommodation in Scotland and understands that five hotels are currently in operation for this purpose in Scotland. We are also aware that Mears Group has retained use of a hotel in Glasgow as contingency accommodation to enable people who have presented in Glasgow to undertake Covid quarantine prior to moving into dispersal accommodation in the community.

Question reference: S6W-06634

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund have been successful since it was launched.

Question reference: S6W-06639

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to local authorities to accommodate and support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving through the national transfer scheme.

The Scottish Government works closely with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to support local authorities to accommodate and support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) arriving in Scotland through the National Transfer Scheme (NTS).

In light of the unprecedented rise in UASC arrivals the Scottish Government has provided additional revenue funding of £0.5 million to local authorities and funded extra age assessment training for local authority staff.

I wrote to the Home Secretary on the 25 of November ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/mandatory-participation-in-national-transfer-scheme-letter-to-the-home-secretary/ ), and jointly with the Welsh Government on 14 December ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/nationality-and-borders-bill-joint-letter-to-the-home-secretary/ ) setting out the serious concerns of the Scottish Government regarding the decision to mandate Scottish local authorities to participate in the NTS and calling for urgent additional financial support.

The Scottish Government continues to press the Home Office to provide the necessary financial support. Work is ongoing to monitor UASC arrival numbers in Scotland and the need for additional financial assistance is being kept under review.

Question reference: S6W-06628

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on the development of a temporary accommodation standards framework.

Following our consultation in 2019, a short-life working group, chaired by Jim Hayton, was established in October 2021 and has met five times to date. So far, the working group has considered:

Amendments required to the existing advisory standards and how the new standards can be incorporated into a temporary accommodation standards framework.
What the processes are to ensure the framework is implemented by local authorities.
Whether legislative changes are needed to implement the framework.
What the timescales are for the framework implementation.
The support local authorities may require to fully implement the standards framework and to ensure compliance.
How the standards will be assessed.
How the standards framework can be monitored and regulated.
Whether sanctions are necessary and, if so, how they will be enforced.

The working group aims to produce a temporary accommodation standards framework later in 2022.