Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-16791

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16462 by Shona Robison on 17 May 2018, in light of (a) paragraph 71 of its document, Guidance for SG Staff on Scottish Parliamentary Questions, which states that "Where a question relates to operational matters, it should be referred to the relevant Chief Executive to prepare the substance of the response" and (b) commitment at paragraph 1.3(d) of the Scottish Ministerial Code that "Ministers should be as open as possible with the Parliament and the public, reflecting the aspirations set out in the Report of the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament", whether it will ask NHS Lanarkshire to provide the information that was requested regarding whether it will consult local residents regarding the restoration of the primary care out-of-hours service in the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth constituency.

Question reference: S5W-16740

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16458 by Shona Robison on 16 May 2018, in light of (a) paragraph 71 of its document, Guidance for SG Staff on Scottish Parliamentary Questions, which states that "Where a question relates to operational matters, it should be referred to the relevant Chief Executive to prepare the substance of the response" and (b) commitment at paragraph 1.3(d) of the Scottish Ministerial Code that "Ministers should be as open as possible with the Parliament and the public, reflecting the aspirations set out in the Report of the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament", whether it will ask NHS Lanarkshire to provide the information that was requested regarding what the budget has been for the (i) Airdrie and (ii) Hamilton primary care out-of-hours service in each year since 2015.

Question reference: S5W-16738

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16455 by Shona Robison on 16 May 2018, for what reason this information is not held centrally, and, in light of the commitment at paragraph 1.3(d) of the Scottish Ministerial Code that "Ministers should be as open as possible with the Parliament and the public, reflecting the aspirations set out in the Report of the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament", whether it will ask NHS Lanarkshire to provide the information that was requested regarding how many times the (a) Airdrie and (b) Hamilton primary care out-of-hours service has been closed, suspended or unavailable in each year since 2015.

Question reference: S5W-16739

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16456 by Shona Robison on 16 May 2018, for what reason this information is not held centrally, and, in light of the commitment at paragraph 1.3(d) of the Scottish Ministerial Code that "Ministers should be as open as possible with the Parliament and the public, reflecting the aspirations set out in the Report of the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament", whether it will ask NHS Lanarkshire to provide the information that was requested regarding what the FTE staffing levels have been at the (a) Airdrie and (b) Hamilton primary care out-of-hours service in each month since April 2017.

Question reference: S5W-16862

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16576 by Jeane Freeman on 23 May 2018, when the Social Security Programme Board last discussed the anticipated date by which Social Security Scotland would approach steady state, and what that anticipated date is.

The Scottish Government is implementing social security in a phased and controlled way to ensure safe and secure transition to the 1.4 million people who rely on this support. Our plans for delivery of the first wave of benefits and the establishment of the agency are on track and we have made good progress, as recognised by the recent Audit Scotland report.

The Social Security Programme Board have endorsed our approach to delivery and progress is discussed at all Board meetings. Delivery dates for further benefits will be announced in due course.

Question reference: S5W-16863

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16576 by Jeane Freeman on 23 May 2018, whether it will publish its timetable for bringing Social Security Scotland to steady state.

The Scottish Government is implementing social security in a phased and controlled way to ensure safe and secure transition to the 1.4 million people who rely on this support. Our plans for delivery of the first wave of benefits and the establishment of the agency are on track and we have made good progress, as recognised by the recent Audit Scotland report.

The 13% increase through the Carers Allowance Supplement will be delivered this year and Best Start Grant and Funeral Expense Assistance by Summer 2019. We have started recruitment for the staff of our new agency Social Security Scotland, both at the headquarters in Dundee and locally.

This staged approach to implementation will continue for the delivery of the rest of the devolved benefits. Delivery dates for further benefits will be announced in due course.

Question reference: S5W-16776

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has asked the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for an incident report relating to its reported IT failure on 26 March 2018 and any impact that this may have had on people in Scotland, and whether the Scottish Government's reuse of DWP payment and customer information systems could be affected by this failure.

The Scottish Government is focussed solely on delivery of safe and secure payments to Scottish citizens when we take responsibility for payments of Carers Allowance Supplement via our existing system, Scottish Government Enterprise Accounting System (SEAS), in Autumn 2018 and re-use of DWP’s Central Payment System (CPS) for Best Start Grant payments in Summer 2019.

The incident on 26 March 2018 involved staff access issues with CPS within a specific Datacentre however full service was restored within the same working day. Consequently no payments were delayed as a result of the incident contrary to initial reports that suggested less than 250 British people living overseas may have had a payment delay of one day.

Given the limited scale of the issue and that the Scottish Government are not currently using the CPS, the Scottish Government did not request to be involved in the incident closure process. The CPS is a highly resilient system. However to ensure citizens are not impacted by any potential outage once CPS makes payments for the Scottish Government. We are working with the DWP to agree joint incident management processes, service continuity arrangements and sight of the forward schedule of change to ensure payments are made on time.

Question reference: S5W-16813

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it or the UK Government will have responsibility for (a) administering and collecting benefit overpayments and (b) prosecuting suspected fraudulent benefit claims in cases where the incident occurred (i) before and (ii) both before and after the devolution of the benefit.

In line with regulation 5 of the Scotland Act 2016, responsibility for the existing debt associated with each of the benefits will transfer to the Scottish Government at the point at which executive competence for the benefit transfers. The responsibility for prosecuting offences in relation to all benefit claims in Scotland, whether the benefit is reserved or devolved, lies with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Question reference: S5W-16802

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 31 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what limit it has set regarding the number of (a) temporary, (b) seconded and (c) employment agency staff that each of its (i) directorates and (ii) agencies can hire.

Question reference: S5W-16804

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 31 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many advertisements have been placed with external recruitment companies by each of its (a) directorates and (b) agencies in each month since April 2017, and how many staff were hired as a result of each.

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