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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: S5W-26869

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25151 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 September 2019, whether the costs have changed since the Discovery phase of the Scottish Child Payment design was completed and, if so, whether it will set out these changes.

Question reference: S5W-26867

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20766 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2019, whether it will provide an update regarding what proportion of the processes are (a) automated and (b) manual, and what the staff time is per claim for manual processes for all payments made by Social Security Scotland.

Social Security Scotland is now delivering Best Start Grant including the Food element, Funeral Support Payment and Young Carer Grant. Each benefit requires the verification of evidence prior to processing an application. These verifications are dependent on the information provided by the client, the benefit type and in, specific circumstance, the information provided by other Government Departments or other providers. As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we have delivered further automations to improve the processing of applications. However, the use of these verification’s is dependent on varying factors within each client’s journey. The Agency are not currently gathering the staff time per claim for manual processes for all payments.

Question reference: S5W-26700

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many roles in Social Security Scotland it has advertised for employment in (a) Dundee House, Dundee, (b) High Street, Glasgow, (c) local government sites and (d) other Scottish Government premises.

The data you have requested is not available by office location. However, it is possible to provide information regarding the geographical locations where posts were advertised on the Scottish Government recruitment website.

Between the inception of the Agency on 1st September 2018 and 31 September 2019 Social Security Scotland advertised the following posts:

	Location	Posts
(a)	Dundee only	97
(b)	Glasgow only	265
(c)	Dundee and/or Glasgow	153
(d)	Edinburgh and/or Glasgow	3
(e)	Other Scottish Locations	98

The figures provided above do not include any posts advertised prior to the establishment of the Agency on 1 September 2018. This includes the first rounds of recruitment of over 100 staff into the Dundee Headquarters.

Some roles may have been advertised on more than one occasion or in different ways therefore the total number of posts advertised does not equate to an Agency headcount figure.

Question reference: S5W-26697

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the vacancy rate is in (a) its social security directorate and (b) Social Security Scotland.

There is no industry standard definition of vacancy rate. A reasonable measure is to compare the number of budgeted posts against the number of posts filled, however, there are alternative methods which are recognised as being equally valid, and as such may not be comparable with figures provided by other areas of the Scottish Government.

Social Security Directorate	Budgeted Posts filled
30 November 2019	99.8%

Social Security Scotland	Budgeted Posts filled
30 November 2019	104.9%

Social Security Scotland is required to balance its budget in 2019-20, across all categories of agency expenditure. Current forecasts indicate that the agency will balance its budget in 2019- 20.

Question reference: S5W-26696

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many Social Security Scotland staff are based at (a) Dundee House, Dundee, (b) High Street, Glasgow and (c) other (i) Social Security Scotland and (ii) Scottish Government premises, also broken down by (A) band and (B) grade.

The following information is calculated from the official published statistics which covers the period to the end of September 2019.

Table 1: Social Security Scotland directly employed staff, by location as at end of September 2019

Dundee House

High Street Glasgow

Other Social Security Scotland 1

Other Scottish Government

Total:

Total

225

173

444

Table 2: Social Security Scotland directly employed staff, by location and pay band, as at end of September 2019

	Dundee House	High Street Glasgow	Other Social Security Scotland 1	Other Scottish Government	Total:
Band A	137	32	10	2	181
Band B	78	112	6	22	218
Band C	10	27	0	6	43
SCS	0	2	0	0	2
Total	225	173	16	30	444

Table 3: Social Security Scotland directly employed staff, by location and pay grade, as at end of September 2019

	Dundee House	High Street Glasgow	Other Social Security Scotland 1	Other Scottish Government	Total:
A3	124	27	5	2	158
A4	13	5	5	0	23
B1	40	40	2	1	83
B2	21	37	3	6	67
B2 Fast Stream	0	1	0	0	1
B3	17	34	1	15	67
C1	9	19	0	3	31
C2	1	8	0	3	12
SCS	0	2	0	0	2
Total	225	173	16	30	444

1. ‘Other Social Security Scotland’ relates to Caledonian House, Dundee. At the time of reporting the location had recently been set up on HR systems and staff were in the process of updating their details to Caledonian House.

Question reference: S5W-26699

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many interviews for roles in Social Security Scotland have taken place at (a) Dundee House, Dundee, (b) High Street, Glasgow, (c) Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, (d) St Andrew's House, Edinburgh, (e) Atlantic Quay, Glasgow and (f) other (i) Social Security Scotland and (ii) Scottish Government premises.

Question reference: S5W-26671

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether cold-spell heating assistance will be paid to people who receive universal credit.

We are putting in place robust plans to deliver Cold Spell Heating Assistance from winter 2021. Our priority in taking on full responsibility for all the devolved benefits is a safe and secure transition so that people continue to receive support at the right time and right amount.

Our position paper clearly states that we expect that delivery of Cold Spell Heating Assistance will continue on the basis of existing eligibility.

Question reference: S5W-26688

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 19 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26536 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 December 2019, what the full list of reserved premiums or benefits are, also broken down by the relevant qualifying Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP) component or rate.

Question reference: S5W-26701

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 19 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the maximum backdating period is for the Scottish Child Payment.

Scottish Child Payment regulations will include provisions to allow Scottish Ministers to make a determination without application where an individual been unsuccessful in their application as a result of a qualifying benefit or child responsibility benefit decision.

In these instances, where this was as a result of an incorrect decision being made on a reserved benefit, and the person has since appealed and received a backdated award, the Scottish Child Payment will also be backdated to the point a person first applied for the Payment.

Question reference: S5W-26536

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comments in its paper, A Consultation on Disability Assistance in Scotland, Scottish Government response, which reserved premiums or benefits are contingent on an individual having a disability living allowance (DLA) or personal independence payment (PIP) mobility component.