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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-21105

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitored the use of funding for preparations for the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 in 2017-18; how it is monitoring the use of funding for implementation of the Act in 2018-19, and what outcomes it is measuring.

We have funded a range of public and third sector bodies to deliver support and resources to build capacity for implementing the Carers Act during this period, including thirteen pilots across local authorities and health boards in 2017-18 to test implementation of different provisions in the Act. We have monitored this work through a combination of written reporting, management meetings, reporting to the Carers Act Implementation Steering Group and reviewing the resources delivered.

We also funded a programme of small grants in 2018-19 for local third sector carer support organisations, to improve their capacity to deliver carer support under the Act. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations which delivered the grant programme will provide an evaluation report based on information from grant recipients.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. The vast majority of the revenue funding, including the funding to support the continued implementation of the Carers Act, is provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate their total financial resources available to them. Individual local authorities’ allocation of funding should be on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations (including under the Carers Act) and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. Local authorities notify the Scottish Government of their expenditure on the various services they provide and this information is published in the annual Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics publication.

The new ‘Carers Census’ is monitoring take-up of adult carer support plans, young carer statements and carer support under the Carers Act since it took effect last April. The first collection from April – September 2018 is currently running with the second collection, from October 2018 – March 2019 due to be submitted in May. The Carers Act Monitoring and Evaluation Group has identified a number of outcomes for monitoring progress and is considering which data sources and academic research will be necessary alongside the Carers Census in order to monitor progress towards these outcomes, as published in the evaluability assessment of the Act: https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0052/00524798.pdf

Question reference: S5W-21106

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to each local authority in its draft Budget for the second year of funding for implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016.

£40 million has been included directly in the 2019-20 Local Government budget settlement to support the continued implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 and extending free personal care to under 65s, as set out in the Programme for Government. This is in addition to the £66m included in the 2018-19 Local Government budget settlement to be used for social care pressures including Carers Act implementation. The Scottish Government estimates that the additional cost of implementing the Carers Act for Local Authorities in 2019-20 will be £10.5 million – this is based on cost estimates set out in the Financial Memorandum to the Carers Bill. Given the aforementioned funding is part of the overall budget settlement for Local Authorities there are no separately identifiable budget allocations for Carers Act implementation at Local Authority level.

Question reference: S5W-21107

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it is communicating to local authorities the level of funding in the draft Budget for implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016; whether this will be provided to local authorities as a package of funding with other initiatives, and how the use of these allocations will be monitored.

The level of provision for the Carers Act for 2019-20 was confirmed by the Scottish Government as part of a package of overall support to local government of £11.1 billion in the Scottish Budget: 2019-20 published on 12 December 2018 and in the corresponding Local Government Finance Circular 8/2018 published on 17 December 2018. This overall package of support includes £40 million to extend free personal care to under 65s as set out in the Programme for Government and for the continued implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, estimated at £10.5 million. Local authorities notify the Scottish Government of their expenditure on the various services they provide and this information is published in the annual Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics publication.

Working with COSLA, the Carers Scotland Act Finance Group is continuing to consider the financial implications of implementing the Carers Act, including developing and improving data collection in respect of Carers related activity and establishing a clear understanding of the key financial risks associated with implementing the Act.

Question reference: S5W-21263

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanism it will use to verify that a young carer is 18 and still at school in order to check their eligibility for a young carer grant, and how this mechanism will differ for young carers who attend independent schools.

Question reference: S5W-21104

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 31 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to each local authority in its draft Budget for implementation of the real living wage for social care.

The 2019-20 Scottish Government Budget includes £120 million to be transferred from the health portfolio to Local Authorities in-year for investment in integration, including delivery of the living wage and uprating free personal care, and school counselling services.

This is in addition to £66m which was included in the 2018-19 Local Government budget settlement to be used for social care pressures including the real living wage commitment for adult social care staff and extending the commitment to sleepovers.

The funding for implementation of the real living wage for adult social care workers is included as part of an overall Local Government settlement to cover health and social care integration and social care. There are no separately identifiable budget allocations for real living wage implementation at Local Authority level.

Question reference: S5O-02872

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of the proposed closure of the Cumbernauld Village Surgery.

Question reference: S5O-02838

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage young people to consider careers in the film sector.

We recognise the importance of young talent in growing the screen sector and a range of our agencies contribute to promoting careers in film. In addition to the qualifications relating to media offered by SQA, Skills Development Scotland has launched a Foundation Apprenticeship in Creative and Digital Media. Creative Scotland supports work-based training on productions such as Outlander -currently open for applications - and on programmes such as Screen Nets and the PACT Indie Diversity training scheme. Screen Scotland has launched a £300,000 Film Education Partnerships Fund and will develop an action plan on Film Education, working with Skills Development Scotland to promote career pathways.

Question reference: S5W-20877

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 24 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to questions S5W-20555, S5W-20556 and S5W-20558 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 January 2019, whether its statement that the policy “is a fully reserved benefit the Scottish Government has have no control over and cannot change” refers to the two-child benefit cap in particular or universal credit generally, and whether it considers that the statement reflects its powers over universal credit flexibilities or to top up reserved benefits.

The Scottish Government has very limited administrative flexibilities over Universal Credit. These are laid out in the Scotland Act 2016, giving Scottish Ministers the power to change when and to whom Universal Credit is paid, and to vary the amount of housing costs included in the award. We have used these to good effect by introducing the Universal Credit Scottish choices. This does not, however, change the fact that Universal Credit remains reserved to the UK Government and with it the two child limit policy which we do not have the power to remove.

Having top up powers doesn’t mean we can change the benefit. The two child limit and rape clause will remain in place because these are the policy choices the UK Government has made and it is only right that they are the ones to take action to fix this.

Question reference: S5W-20878

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 24 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20555 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 January 2019, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding what (a) discussions it has had with and (b) information it has sought from the UK Government regarding mitigation of the two-child benefit cap, and for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer.

Question reference: S5W-20879

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 24 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20556 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 January 2019, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding when it requested access to DWP data for the purposes of mitigating the two-child benefit cap, and for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer.