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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-27819

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government which of the recommendations in the British Sign Language Interpreting in Scotland: A Landscape Review 2019 it has adopted.

The ‘ BSL Interpreting in Scotland: Landscape review ’ was commissioned by the Scottish Government to identify steps that could strengthen the BSL/English interpreting profession in Scotland, arising from a commitment in the BSL National Plan.

It is worth noting that some of the report’s recommendations are for the Scottish Government to consider, whilst others are for the wider BSL interpreting sector to take forward.

An initial gathering of key stakeholders (registration bodies, membership associations, training providers & the national BSL/English interpreting union) took place in November 2019 to directly consider the recommendations; further collaborative work will be undertaken in 2020.

Question reference: S5W-27822

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the statement in the British Sign Language Interpreting in Scotland: A Landscape Review 2019 that "one specialist BSL agency... was perceived by some as being unethical in winning contracts, and caring about profit before staff well being or the BSL community", and "has a monopoly on contracts and service level agreements for various public bodies".

Question reference: S5W-27821

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has requested that Queen Margaret University publishes (a) the interview data and transcripts and (b) a statistical summary of the characteristics of participants for the British Sign Language Interpreting in Scotland: A Landscape Review 2019.

Question reference: S5W-27792

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what modelling or assessment it conducted to determine the viability of the National Carer Organisations' recommendation that Carer's Allowance should be a qualifying benefit for the Job Start Payment.

The purpose of the Job Start Payment is to provide support with the costs of starting work to young people who have been out of paid employment for at least six months and who may otherwise struggle with the costs to take up a job offer. The purpose of the qualifying benefits is to enable an applicant to demonstrate, and to enable Social Security Scotland to verify, that the applicant meets that criterion. That is why Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit were chosen as qualifying benefits. Including other benefits provided to people with caring responsibilities or for other reasons would not enable that to be demonstrated.

Question reference: S5W-27793

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response was to the recommendation by the National Carer Organisations that Carer's Allowance should be a qualifying benefit for the Job Start Payment.

Question reference: S5O-04294

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-27647

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many Best Start Grant applicants have had their application refused in cases where they have had a universal credit adjusted amount greater than £0 but have not paid anything because of other deductions, as noted by the President of the Social Security Chamber in Decision Report 5.

Universal Credit has been a qualifying benefit for the Best Start Grant since its introduction in December 2018.

When assessing an application for Best Start Grant, Social Security Scotland considers the adjusted amount of any Universal Credit award, before deductions or reductions, in order to establish eligibility. An adjusted universal credit award of more than £0 before such deductions or reductions is classed as a qualifying benefit.

We have no plans to update application guidance, internal information or regulations following the publication of Decision Report 5.

Question reference: S5W-27648

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is updating (a) application guidance, (b) internal information and (c) regulations to take account of the observations of the President of the Social Security Chamber in Decision Report 5.

Question reference: S5W-27620

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20328 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 December 2018, how it has evaluated the Universal Credit Scottish choices, and when it will publish its findings.

The Scottish Government is committed to evaluating how the Universal Credit Scottish choices are understood and experienced by people in Scotland. We have been working with the Department for Work and Pensions since 2018 to determine how the Scottish Government, and its researchers, can securely access the relevant client data. The DWP has determined that this would require new data sharing agreements, and its timeline to deliver these has led the Scottish Government to decide upon an alternative approach. An invitation to tender, commissioning qualitative research to inform the evaluation, was advertised on 5 March 2020. We intend to publish the evaluation’s findings in late 2020.

Question reference: S5W-27566

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 5 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-27328 by Jamie Hepburn on 21 February 2020, when each cohort improvement activity plan commenced, and whether it will publish these plans.