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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-00864

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 March 2022

To ask the First Minister whether she will provide an update on the Scottish Government's plans to replace Carer’s Allowance with a devolved benefit.

Question reference: S6W-06298

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05488 by Ben Macpherson on 28 January 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding how many of these reports have been solved and how many remain unresolved, and for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer.

All reports received via the mygov.scot portal between 24 August 2020 and 30 November 2021 have been analysed, with appropriate actions identified and initiated. Social Security Scotland therefore consider that these information reports are resolved.

Information on fraud is regularly published in our Annual Report and Accounts. Social Security Scotland carefully considers the information on counter fraud activity that can be placed into the public domain to ensure that any information release does not undermine the ability of Social Security Scotland to prevent and detect crime.

Question reference: S6W-06235

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to improve Universal Credit service delivery in order to reduce complaints from service users in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-06237

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to assess demand in Scotland for Universal Credit app-based services.

Question reference: S6W-06234

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it works with the Department for Work and Pensions to monitor the satisfaction and employee retention levels of (a) Universal Credit staff and (b) staff supporting Universal Credit service users in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-06236

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many Universal Credit claimants in Scotland use (a) online and (b) phone-based services.

Question reference: S6W-06233

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it works with the Department for Work and Pensions to monitor feedback and complaints from Universal Credit service users in Scotland.

Universal Credit (UC) is reserved to the UK Government. The Scotland Act 2016 enables the Scottish Parliament to legislate to allow for specific flexibilities in the way Universal Credit is delivered to clients in Scotland, with agreement from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

The Scottish Government works with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in relation to those specific UC flexibilities set out in the 2016 Act. This does not cover feedback or complaints from the DWP service users in Scotland, their preference for channels used in accessing UC, or information regarding DWP staff in Scotland. The DWP does not routinely share information with the Scottish Government regarding any of these issues. They do, however, publish data on the number of overall complaints handled by their staff and the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) on a yearly basis at www.gov.uk/government/collections/complaints-about-the-department-for-work-and-pensions .

Question reference: S6O-00794

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to local authorities to ensure that disabled and partially sighted people are able to participate in the 2022 local government elections.

Question reference: S6W-06101

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the spending allocation for tackling homelessness in Edinburgh, in light of reports that the City of Edinburgh Council will miss out on the equivalent of £9.3 million of funding because funds were administered by the Council directly, rather than through the Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board.

The majority of funding local authorities receive for tackling homelessness is provided through the annual local government finance settlement. The distribution of the local government settlement for 2022-23 was discussed and agreed with COSLA and the City of Edinburgh Council will receive its fair formula share. The Scottish Government remains open to a review of the local government finance distribution formula but any suggested changes must, in the first instance, come from COSLA on behalf of its member councils.

Since March 2020, funding has been provided to NHS boards and integration authorities by the Scottish Government’s health and social care portfolio to support the additional costs of COVID-19. As agreed between COSLA and the Scottish Government, this is temporary financial support to all services delegated to the integration authorities.

The decision of whether or not to delegate responsibility for homelessness services is for the local authority and the health board. The City of Edinburgh Council has not delegated homelessness services to Edinburgh City integration authority and so funding provided to the integration authority cannot be used to tackle homelessness.

Question reference: S6W-05919

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 10 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many domestic abuse court cases have been delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both prior to and throughout the pandemic, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service have prioritised domestic abuse trials. During the pandemic this has included supporting the running of a Specialist virtual Domestic Abuse trial pilot Courts in Inverness and Aberdeen which allowed the re-commencement of trials taking advantage of technological advances. As part of the recovery programming generally to manage the backlog of cases created by the pandemic, 10 additional Summary trials courts have been running since 6 September 2021. Pre-covid the optimal waiting period for domestic abuse trials was eight to ten weeks, but due to the impact of the pandemic this has increased to around thirteen weeks nationally at this time.

The latest statistics published by the Sottish Courts and Tribunals Service on 2 December 2021 indicate that in Q2 (between July to September 2021), domestic abuse cases accounted for 34% of Sheriff Summary trials called and 43% of those Sheriff Summary trials in which evidence was led. Three in every ten, of the 14,286 complaints concluded in court were domestic abuse cases, an increase of 24% compared with Q1 2021-22.