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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6F-00593

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 December 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2021

To ask the First Minister what discussions she has had with COSLA regarding the local government funding settlement for 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-04375

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities categorise military compensation as income in relation to applications for benefits for (a) housing and (b) council tax reduction.

(a) As per the guidance on Discretionary Housing Payments and the guidance on the GOV.UK webpage, anyone receiving Industrial Injuries Benefit (and equivalent payments made as part of a War Disablement Pension or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme) are exempt from the benefit cap. Therefore, all local authorities should disregard this payment as income when assessing applications for housing related benefits.

(b) The Council Tax Reduction Regulations instruct that armed forces independence payments should be fully disregarded as income in the calculation of council tax reduction. Therefore, all local authorities should disregard these payments as income in relation to applications for council tax reduction.

Question reference: S6W-04370

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to applications to Social Security Scotland for means-tested devolved benefits, whether military compensation is exempt from being categorised as income, and if this is not the case, under what circumstances could military compensation be categorised as income.

Question reference: S6W-04371

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has the power to exempt military compensation as normal income from benefits that are primarily “passported” from reserved benefits.

Question reference: S6W-04372

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has the power to compensate veterans who are in receipt of benefits and who are being financially disadvantaged as a result of receiving military compensation, by topping up their benefits or providing a discretionary payment.

The Scottish Government is not aware of existing scenarios where veterans would be financially disadvantaged as a result of military compensation payments reducing or removing reserved benefit entitlements.

As such, there has not been any examination of whether the Scottish Parliament's existing powers could be used for top-ups or discretionary payments. In scenarios where veterans were being disadvantaged as a result of compensation payments it would be appropriate for this to be remedied at source by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Defence.

Question reference: S6W-04369

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 30 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many veterans are in receipt of Social Security Scotland devolved benefits.

Question reference: S6W-04373

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 30 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many veterans in Scotland are in receipt of Universal Credit.

Universal Credit, alongside other reserved benefits including Employment and Support Allowance, are fully reserved to the UK Government and as such the Scottish Government does not hold the data relevant to this question.

The Department for Work and Pensions provides the data confirming the number of people in receipt of both of these benefits, however it does not record information relating to an individual’s past employment or if they are a veteran.

Question reference: S6W-04374

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 30 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many veterans are in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance.

Question reference: S6W-04273

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the geographical breakdown is of the 22,660 renewable energy industry jobs that have reportedly been created.

Research carried out by the Fraser of Allander Institute found that Scotland’s renewable activities support 22,660 full-time equivalent jobs in Scotland 2019.

https://www.scottishrenewables.com/assets/000/001/718/2021_FAI_Economic_Impact_of_Scotland_s_Renewable_Energy_Sector_original.pdf?1622564058 ).

No data is available to provide additional geographic breakdowns below the Scotland level at this time.

Question reference: S6O-00439

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it will support the cultural sector in Aberdeen to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.