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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-09796

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the projected (a) audience and (b) reach has been for the young carers benefit social media and digital uptake campaign, which was launched during Carers Week 2017.

The audience for this activity was young carers in Scotland. There are an estimated 49,000 young carers in Scotland, of whom more than 7,000 are estimated to be eligible for Carer’s Allowance. The campaign’s reach and performance is in the following table. The campaign was delivered by Young Scot and the figures cover the period of Carers' Week, 12-18 June.

Young Scot channel

Target

Actual

Performance

Facebook

- Reach (total)

130,000

173,844

+33.7%

Facebook videos

- Views (total)

- Reach (total)

18,200

80,000

21,274

110,977

+16.9%

+38.7%

Twitter

- Reach

800,000

864,212

+8.0%

Snapchat

- Views (total)

- Completion rate (average)

10,600

91%

13,000

88.5%

+22.6%

- 2.7%

Instagram

- Views (total)

4,200

4,349

+ 3.5%

The Scottish Government’s Social Security Twitter account, launched on the first day of the Young Carers Benefit Take Up campaign, achieved reach of 27,165.

Note these figures cover Young Scot and Scottish Government social media channels only. They do not include the reach of stakeholders and partners who posted supporting content.

Question reference: S5W-09800

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) of its directorates, (b) of its agencies, (c) carers organisations, (d) advertising agencies and (e) other stakeholders were involved in the design of the young carers benefit social media and digital uptake campaign, which was launched during Carers Week 2017.

Question reference: S5W-09806

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it last conducted an audit of the concessionary travel for carers provided by (a) it and (b) local government.

The Scottish Government has not conducted an audit of the concessionary travel for carers provided by (a) it and (b) local government.

The National Concessionary Travel Scheme does not contain an eligibility criterion for carers. As a result we do not conduct audits on how many carers benefit from the Scheme.

The Scottish Government does not hold any information on concessionary travel for carers provided by local authorities.

Question reference: S5W-09807

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it last considered providing concessionary travel for carers.

On 29 March 2017 my officials confirmed to the Public Petitions Committee that the Scottish Government is not considering including carers in the National Concessionary Travel Scheme. This was in response to Petition PE01632 which is currently before the Committee.

However, there is a range of support available to carers in Scotland funded by the Scottish Government and local authorities.

Although the National Concessionary Travel Scheme does not contain specific eligibility criteria for carers, eligible disabled people can apply for a companion concessionary travel card which allows the card holder and a companion (who may be a carer) to travel together free of charge for the same bus journey.

In addition, a substantial number of carers qualify for free bus travel under the National Concessionary Travel Scheme because they are aged 60 or over. Younger carers may also benefit from the National Concessionary Travel Scheme for Young People, which provides discounts on bus and rail travel for all young people living in Scotland aged 16 to 18 and full time volunteers up to age 25.

Question reference: S5W-09654

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 23 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is for the campaign to encourage young carers to find about out their entitlement to Carer's Allowance, including when the campaign will close.

Question reference: S5W-09689

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 23 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the current disability employment gap is and when it will publish the timetable of its plan to reduce this by half.

The current disability employment gap is 39.9 percentage points. 41.7% of disabled people (Equality Act defined) are in employment compared to 81.5% of non-disabled people.

Our commitment to halve the disability employment gap is long term and challenging. We recognise we cannot achieve this alone. Change is required across all levels of Scottish society to enable more disabled people to enter and sustain employment.

In the coming months we will engage with partners across Scotland and we will work closely with them to develop a plan which we intend to publish in due course.

Question reference: S5W-09901

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-09900

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-09487

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide a substantive answer to question S5W-06833, which recieved a holding response on 2 March 2017, and what the reason is for the delay.

Our records show that that the answer to question S5W-06833 was provided to Parliament on 7 March 2017. The original answer has been replicated below.

In 2016-17 Scottish Government funding in the region of £40 million of will be made available for two distinct purposes:

specific project funding to support the provision of independent advice to individuals on income maximisation and the exercising of civil rights. In
2016-17 £22,110,310 of funding is being provided for 169 providers for advice-related projects and to Scottish Health Boards for development of Carer Information Strategies. A list of funded organisations and the amounts received in 2016-17 has been lodged with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 58524).

payments to solicitors to deliver legal advice on civil matters through the statutory Advice and Assistance (A&A) provision, a form of Legal Aid. This advice includes advising whether there is a legal case to take forward, negotiating a settlement, and writing letters on the applicant’s behalf. A&A will not usually cover representation in court although a type of A&A - ‘Assistance By Way of Representation’ (ABWOR) is available in some circumstances to allow a solicitor to represent their client in proceedings. For Civil Advice and Assistance, budget provision of £20 million has been made in 2016-17. This is a demand-led budget so it is not yet possible to say what the total actual expenditure for 2016-17 will be. However, actual expenditure for 2014-15 and 2015-16 has been set out in the following table for comparative purposes.

Actual Expenditure

2014-15

2015-16

Civil Advice and Assistance	£13,576,000	£13,488,000
Assistance By Way of Representation	£ 4,815,000	£ 5,104,000
Total	£18,391,000	£18,592,000

Investment in the provision of advice services is made across the Scottish Government as part of a strategic commitment to build a fairer nation and tackle deprivation, poverty and inequality. The information provided above is the best available at this time drawn from a review that the Scottish Government is currently undertaking of its support to advice services. The review to date has collated information on spending in 2016-17 but has not sought historical information.

Budgets for 2017-18 are still being finalised therefore no further information on future spending can be provided at this time.

Question reference: S5W-09277

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many young carers there are in Scotland, and how many of these it estimates will receive the young carers allowance.

We used the Scottish Health Survey to estimate that there are around 15,000 young carers aged 16-18, and around 29,000 young carers aged under 16. This gives a total estimate of 44,000 young carers aged under 18. The Scottish Government committed to considering the introduction of a Young Carer’s Allowance to provide extra support for young people with significant caring responsibilities. We are currently developing a package of support for young carers, and once the details have been confirmed we will be in the position to estimate how many will receive Young Carer's Allowance.