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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: S5W-14939

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports in Third Force News on 20 February 2018, whether it has audited the ongoing viability of the contracts issued under its Fair Start programme.

Question reference: S5W-14937

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports in Third Force News on 20 February 2018, what information it has on which subcontractors that were originally contracted to help deliver its Fair Start programme are no longer involved in it.

Question reference: S5W-14566

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14074 by Jeane Freeman on 8 February 2018, when it agreed with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that some payments of social security assistance will be made through the DWP Central Payments System.

Question reference: S5W-14565

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14074 by Jeane Freeman on 8 February 2018, which payments of social security assistance will be made through the Department for Work and Pensions Central Payments System.

Question reference: S5O-01888

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when details of the fund to support parents of premature babies in hospitals will be announced.

Question reference: S5W-14564

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14074 by Jeane Freeman on 8 February 2018, when it will stop making payments of social security assistance through the Department for Work and Pensions Central Payments System.

Question reference: S5W-14377

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13763 by Jeane Freeman on 22 January 2018, whether the provisions in the Universal Credit (Application, Advice and Assistance) Bill 2017-19 would apply in Scotland, in light of its powers under sections 29 and 30 of the Scotland Act 2016.

Private Members Bills in Westminster are not published until around the time of the second reading, which will be 16 March 2018 in this case. As a result, it is not yet clear what the scope and extent of the Bill will be.

The overlap between what the Bill sets out to do and what the Scottish Government have already done, with the implementation of the UC Scottish Choices, does not in principle prevent the Bill applying in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-14364

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of comments by the Minister for Social Security in the Daily Record on 24 January 2018, whether the “once-for-Scotland” approach referred to would entail no face-to-face assessment for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), in the event that this is not required by the Scottish Ministers for the purposes of assessing for disability assistance.

Question reference: S5W-14351

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-01753 by Jeane Freeman on 31 January 2018, which stated that it will "reduce the need for face to face assessments", whether this is consistent with the comments by the Minister for Social Security in the Daily Record on 24 January 2018 that "rather than have two people do two assessments, they could have all the information we have as their core assessment for ESA, with maybe some additional elements they need".

Question reference: S5W-14350

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 27 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-01753 by Jeane Freeman on 31 January 2018, which stated that it will “reduce the need for face to face assessments” in respect of devolved disability assistance, and in light of comments by the Minister for Social Security in the Daily Record on 24 January 2018, whether it will publish a policy paper detailing the “once-for-Scotland” approach proposed.

The Scottish Government remains committed to reducing the need for face to face assessments for disability benefits and is working closely with the Disability and Carers' Benefits Expert Advisory Group, our experience panels and relevant stakeholder groups to identify appropriate evidence identification and gathering systems and protocols to support the intention to significantly improve decision making. Our assessment for disability benefits could potentially be used as a starting point by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), if it wished, in making an assessment for Employment Support Allowance (ESA). However, we would be clear that this would only be with the agreement of the individual and the necessary data protection measures in place.