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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-10874

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how the information collected from experience panels is being (a) collected, (b) reported and (c) used to inform policy development.

How information is being collected from Experience Panels depends on the research design. Taking part might include completing short surveys, or taking part in interviews and workshops. Activities can be carried out face-to-face, on the phone and online.

The information collected from both the "About Your Benefits and You" survey and focus groups will be used to develop a programme of work in collaboration with the Experience Panels that reflects what is important to our panel members.

Experience Panels research will be analysed and reported by Scottish Government researchers working on Social Security. The findings of Experience Panels research will be shared with Experience Panel members, and published as part of the Scottish Government’s social research publication series. Links to all publications will be made available at www.gov.scot/socialsecurity.

It is crucial that Experience Panel members - all of whom are unpaid volunteers - are able to see how their knowledge and direct, personal experience is shaping the new Social Security system for Scotland, So we will be communicating with them regularly, giving updates on the research programme and how the results are being used.

Question reference: S5W-10873

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many experience panel meetings have been held, broken down by the number of attendees.

Scottish Government researchers are now working on the next stage of the Experience Panels process, the ‘About Your Benefits and You’ research. This will help us understand in a bit more detail what panel members think works well in the current system, and where there is room for improvement. This research involves a survey of panel members, as well as a series of focus groups around Scotland.

The survey element closed on 1 September 2017 and over 1,000 people have responded. The final respondent count will be made available in due course. Alongside this, in July and August, Scottish Government researchers held a total of 34 focus sessions across Scotland as part of this work, involving over 250 participants. A variety of morning, afternoon and evening sessions were held. The Table in the background notes provides a breakdown of the number of sessions held.

Question reference: S5W-10875

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what expenses scheme is in place for people who attend experience panel meetings, and what the timescale is for reimbursement.

Question reference: S5W-10872

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many claims for expenses from members of experience panels it has (a) received and (b) processed, and how many claims have been reimbursed.

We are determined that there should be as few barriers as possible to participation, and are therefore reimbursing panel members for travel and childcare costs incurred as part of their contribution to designing and building a new Social Security system for Scotland.

We minimised travel costs and the time that people were away from home by holding sessions across Scotland. We offered to cover expenses to all participants who took part in Experience Panels focus groups. However, some participants did not need to claim, for example, they were pre-booked taxis or had bus passes.

Up until the 27 August 2017, we received 58 completed expenses claims as part of the About Your Benefits and You research. Five claims did not include bank details and these are being followed up; the rest have been processed and paid.

Question reference: S5W-10876

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it offers experience panel respondents travel vouchers or upfront assistance to meet travel costs of attending meetings.

We are determined that there should be as few barriers as possible to participation, and are therefore reimbursing panel members for travel, subsistence and childcare costs incurred as part of their contribution to designing and building a new Social Security system for Scotland.

As part of registering for the event, participants were asked to provide details of how they intended to travel to the focus group. The Experience Panels expenses process covers all receipted travel costs covering all forms of transport (for example rail, air, tram, bus, taxi, ferry, motor mileage). As the Scottish Government has contracts in place with Edinburgh and Glasgow taxis, for sessions in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the Scottish Government arranged taxis for participants when required. Where participants used taxis elsewhere, they were reimbursed for their costs using the standard Experience Panels expenses claim form.

Question reference: S5W-10878

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff in its Social Security directorate have been seconded from (a) the Department for Work and Pensions and (b) other UK Government departments.

Question reference: S5W-10877

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff from each of its other directorates have been (a) transferred and (b) seconded to its Social Security Directorate.

Question reference: S5W-10879

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff its Social Security directorate has employed each month.

Social Security Directorate was established in July 2016. The following table provides the relevant information from that period onwards. Full time equivalent staff in Social Security Directorate (directly employed - permanent & fixed term, modern apprentice & inward loan).

	FTE staffing
31 July 2016	51.8
31 August 2016	52.1
30 September 2016	54.1
31 October 2016	59.1
30 November 2016	65.1
31 December 2016	66.7
31 January 2017	77.8
28 February 2017	89.8
31 March 2017	96.1
30 April 2017	106.0
31 May 2017	114.8
30 June 2017	125.8
31 July 2017	153.3

Question reference: S5W-11109

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether is has commissioned the Department for Work and Pensions to produce a Scotland-only version of the Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2015/16 statistics.

The Scottish Government has not requested the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to produce a Scotland-only version of the take-up statistics.

DWP emphasise a number of data quality issues in the methodology note accompanying these statistics, including challenges around matching survey and administrative data. For this reason, DWP provide range as well as point estimates for take-up. These challenges would be greater if attempting to replicate this methodology with Scotland-only data.

The Scottish Government continues to make relevant data requests to DWP in relation to devolved benefits.

Question reference: S5F-01542

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2017

To ask the First Minister what financial support the Scottish Government offers to parents of premature babies whose child is in hospital.