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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-13141

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 13 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which councils it is still to meet regarding co-locating services for devolved social security.

Question reference: S5O-01598

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to create targets with specific deadlines to reduce the disability employment gap.

Question reference: S5O-01572

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many and what proportion of the IBM UK staff involved with the Low Income Benefits Agile Service Design are disabled.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government is committed to the delivery of high quality public services, through fair work practices. This includes promoting equality of opportunity and developing a workforce which reflects the population of Scotland in terms of characteristics such as age, gender, and disability. In order to ensure the highest standards of service quality in our contracts, we expect suppliers including IBM to take a similarly positive approach to fair work practices.

Question reference: S5W-12993

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 5 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK Parliament scheduling the second reading of the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Bill on 23 February 2018, by what date it will lodge its Organ and Tissue Donation Bill.

The First Minister confirmed in the 2017-18 Programme for Government that legislation for a soft opt out system of organ and tissue donation will be introduced during this Parliamentary year.

The Scottish Government is committed to introducing a workable soft opt out system that will add to the improvements already being delivered through A Donation and Transplantation Plan For Scotland 2013-2020. It is important that we take the time to get the system right. It needs to be developed in a way which will do no harm to trust in the NHS or to the safety of donation and we are working with stakeholders to achieve this.

Question reference: S5W-12165

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress its is making on its commitment as part of the Developing the Young Workforce implementation plan to deliver (a) a “new work experience model for young disabled people introduced and improved approach to careers services for young disabled people implemented [in 2016-17]" and (b) the “Introduction of supported work placement programme for young disabled people [in 2017-18]”

In September 2015 Education Scotland published new quality standards to which underpin how work placements are provided in school. These standards relate specifically to career education, through an improved approach to careers services, the Career Education Standard 3-18 and to work experience, through a new Work Placements Standard. These standards were developed with representatives from equality groups and set out universal entitlements for all young people, including young people with disabilities. (Alongside the standards, the school-employer partnership guidance refers to the importance of incorporating an equality and diversity perspective into partnerships.)

Through our Inspiring Scotland 14-19 Fund we have continued to support ENABLE Scotland's Stepping Up service which delivers a tailored support package to young people with learning disabilities to improve their employability while at school. This includes a workplace skills qualification at Level 3 alongside 150 hours of work experience. Through this over 1,500 young people have been supported with over 1,750 work placements being delivered.

We are currently exploring options with Education Scotland to enhance the promotion of this model as well as considering how this approach could be further developed to include a wider range of disabilities, allowing more young people with disabilities access to good quality work experience across Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-12164

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in implementing the actions recommended in A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People.

Good progress is being made across Government in delivering key actions in our Plan. For example, on increasing the participation of disabled people in our democratic processes; support provided through our Access to Elected Office Fund saw 15 disabled candidates elected to 12 local authorities.

On the employment front, earlier in the year we launched a new marketing campaign targeting SMEs with positive messages about the benefits of employing disabled people; and we have also seen the launch of a second phase of the extremely successful NHS Professional Careers Programme for disabled graduates.

Our proposals for a new social security system are well advanced and the way in which we are engaging disabled people in this process was one of the issues singled out for positive comment by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disability as was our accessible transport framework.

And, as the member will be aware given his specific interest in this topic, our first ever National Action Plan on British Sign Language was published last week.

Question reference: S5W-12163

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with the aim in A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People, to "at least halve the disability employment gap", and whether it will consider setting targets.

The Scottish Government is committed to halving the disability employment gap in Scotland. We do not underestimate the very significant challenge this ambition presents - achieving it will require action across a range of partners.

We are already taking steps in a number of areas to support more disabled people into work in line with our commitments in A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People.

This includes:-

the implementation of transitional employment services in 2017-2018 and the letting of contracts to providers for Fair Start Scotland which will run from April 2018. Disabled people are a priority group for both services;
the implementation of the highest level of Modern Apprenticeship funding until the age of 30;
Delivering a successful campaign to business during the summer to highlight the benefits of employing people with disabilities, showcasing case studies and videos and an updated information on the Scottish Government’s Employability in Scotland website detailing support available to employers; and
meeting our commitment to deliver a disability internship programme in the third and public sector and in politics.

We are working with stakeholders to develop the further actions to be taken to achieve our ambitions for disability employment and will set these out in more detail at the major congress on disability, employment and the workplace planned for early 2018.

Question reference: S5O-01366

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to encourage people from deprived communities to get involved in sport and physical activity.

Question reference: S5W-11368

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 28 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government where the (a) 5,500 core directorate, (b) 6,200 agency and (c) 3,600 non-ministerial department staff referred to in Public Sector Employment Statistics for 2nd Quarter 2017 are located.

The Scottish Government only holds location information for those organisations to which it provides an HR service. Data is available for all Core Directorates, most Agencies and some Non-Ministerial departments. Location information is not collected for other organisations which contribute to the Public Sector Employment statistics.

Scottish Government Core Directorates, Q2 2017

Aberdeen City	259
Aberdeenshire	85
Angus	4
Argyll & Bute	49
City of Edinburgh	3806
Dumfries & Galloway	32
Dundee City	21
Eilean Siar	28
Falkirk	47
Fife	2
Glasgow City	785
Highland	109
Moray	14
Orkney Islands	20
Outwith Scotland	9
Perth & Kinross	115
Renfrewshire	1
Scottish Borders	43
Shetland Isles	16
South Ayrshire	50
South Lanarkshire	28
West Lothian	19
Total	5542

Note:

1. The total headcount for Scottish Government Core Directorates is the same from the Scottish Government HR and Public Sector Employment data sources.

Agencies, Q2 2017

Aberdeen City	8
City of Edinburgh	355
Dumfries & Galloway	1
Dundee City	22
Fife	9
Glasgow City	763
Highland	5
North Ayrshire	136
Scottish Borders	305
Shetland Isles	1
West Lothian	66
Total	1671

Notes:

1. The total headcount for Agencies in the above table is not the same as the total in the Public Sector Employment publication as the Scottish Government HR data source only includes those agencies for which the Scottish Government provides an HR service.

2. Agencies included: Accountant in Bankruptcy, Disclosure Scotland, Education Scotland, Student Awards Agency for Scotland, Scottish Public Pensions Agency, Transport Scotland.

Non-ministerial Departments, Q2 2017

Aberdeen City	109
Aberdeenshire	13
Angus	3
City of Edinburgh	452
Dumfries & Galloway	21
Glasgow City	49
Moray	2
North Ayrshire	4
North Lanarkshire	3
Perth & Kinross	9
Renfrewshire	7
South Ayrshire	3
Stirling	10
Total	685

Notes:

1. The total headcount for non-ministerial departments in the above table is not the same as the total in the Public Sector Employment publication as the Scottish Government HR data source only includes those departments for which the Scottish Government provides an HR service.

2. Non-ministerial departments included: Food Standards Scotland, National Records of Scotland, Revenue Scotland, Scottish Fiscal Commission, Scottish Housing Regulator.

Question reference: S5W-11035

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the value of discretionary housing payments to cover the so-called bedroom tax is for mixed aged couples who would otherwise be exempt if they were claiming pension credit.