- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 September 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what protections it is putting in place to ensure that the Best Start Grant and Scottish Child Payment Invitation to Apply system is not targeted by scammers or phishing schemes.
Answer
Invitations to Apply for benefits take the form of letters from Social Security Scotland. These letters notify clients that they may be eligible for a benefit and ask them to apply through one of our existing secure application channels. Social Security Scotland communications are clear that these are the only official contact points for clients, including that they would never ask for personal or financial details on social media, by SMS or by web chat. As part of our continuous improvement work these letters will be kept under review and wording tested with users.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 September 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28018 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 30 March 2020, when the consultation will begin.
Answer
Work is ongoing to re-plan the Social Security Programme as a result of the significant impacts of Covid 19. The Scottish Government will consider the timescales for a public consultation on Employment-Injury Assistance as part of that re-planning work.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 September 2020
To ask the Scottish Government when the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit Advisory Group last met, and whether the published minutes for the group are up to date.
Answer
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2020
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 30 September 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how its planned disability assistance benefits will support people experiencing the long-term health impacts of COVID-19.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 30 September 2020
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 31 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government when it will begin sending Scottish Child Payment Invitation to Apply letters, in light of applications opening in November 2020 and payments starting by the end of February 2021.
Answer
The launch of the Scottish Child Payment will be supported by a communications and marketing campaign outlining the early application approach. Once Scottish Child Payments start to be made from the end of February, Social Security Scotland will begin the next phase of that campaign promoting all Best Start benefits and the Scottish Child Payment. All communications and marketing activity will build upon what we have learned through the promotion of Best Start payments and wider benefit take up activity.
We will continue to review take up of the Scottish Child Payment and consider what other measures will be needed and when, including invitation to apply, following go-live of the benefit.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 31 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of payments starting by the end of February 2021, what its expenditure on the Scottish Child Payment will be in 2020-21, and how many children will be eligible.
Answer
The Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) will publish an updated forecast of how many children they expect will be eligible and expenditure when the Scottish Child Payment Regulations are laid in parliament in September. The update will account for payments starting from the end of February 2021 and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of COVID-19, the SFC expect there to be more eligible children than previously projected due to the increase in numbers of families applying for qualifying benefits, such as Universal Credit.
As a demand led benefit, the Scottish Government guarantees that all those who are eligible and apply for the payment will receive their entitlement.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the wedding industry regarding the easing of the COVID-19 lockdown to avoid a wave of cancellations.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of marriage and civil partnership to couples and to society more widely. Whilst our priority is public health, we know that the sector has been hit hard and we do not underestimate the crisis created by the pandemic.
The Scottish Government continues to listen to concerns from businesses as we explore how to continue to help during this unprecedented economic crisis. Officials met with representatives from the Association of British Wedding Businesses on 4 August 2020 to hear their concerns and we will consider next steps.
Our total package of support now totals over £2.3 billion.
Depending on the specific business type within the weddings sector, there have been a range of support mechanisms available. Businesses in this sector may have already been able to benefit from:
- Rates relief
- Associated grants of £10k or £25k.
- £30 million Creative, Tourism & Hospitality Fund
- £120 million Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund
- Bounce back loan scheme
- CoronaVirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
- Job Retention Scheme
The Scottish Government will explore options for further support for sectors that that have not to date been able to access sufficient support, for whatever reason. This includes continuing to press the UK Government on this matter.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, what financial support it is providing for wedding venues and wider wedding industry.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of marriage and civil partnership to couples and to society more widely. Whilst our priority is public health, we know that the sector has been hit hard and we do not underestimate the crisis created by the pandemic.
The Scottish Government continues to listen to concerns from businesses as we explore how to continue to help during this unprecedented economic crisis. Officials met with representatives from the Association of British Wedding Businesses on 4 August 2020 to hear their concerns and we will consider next steps.
Our total package of support now totals over £2.3 billion.
Depending on the specific business type within the weddings sector, there have been a range of support mechanisms available. Businesses in this sector may have already been able to benefit from:
- Rates relief
- Associated grants of £10k or £25k.
- £30 million Creative, Tourism & Hospitality Fund
- £120 million Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund
- Bounce back loan scheme
- CoronaVirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
- Job Retention Scheme
The Scottish Government will explore options for further support for sectors that that have not to date been able to access sufficient support, for whatever reason. This includes continuing to press the UK Government on this matter.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-27535 by Shirley- Anne Sommerville on 27 February 2020, in light of the DWP being able to provide such information, for what reason it is unable provide a breakdown by Scottish parliamentary constituency and region of data regarding Carer’s Allowance at and Carer's Allowance Supplement.
Answer
Care’s Allowance statistics are available by Scottish parliamentary constituency and other geographies on DWP’s statxplore tool: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml
We currently publish statistics for Carer’s Allowance Supplement at local authority level as this provides value to a range of users: https://www.gov.scot/collections/social-security-scotland-stats-publications/#carer'sallowanceandcarer'sallowancesupplementstatistics . We will continue to assess users' needs and requests for other geographies when developing future publications in this series.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-30994 and S5W-30996 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 August 2020, what client data fields the DWP supplies for the purposes of sending Invitation to Apply letters.
Answer
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) do not supply data specific for the sole purpose of sending Invitation to Apply letters. The agreement with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is amended as responsibility for administration of each benefit is devolved and Scottish Government cannot give examples of the data fields at this time.
Once the agreement is finalised the Scottish Government and The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will agree a publication date.
