- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2019
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2019
To ask the Scottish Government how it supports the participation in cultural and tourism-related activities of disabled people and people with long-term health conditions.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2019
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 September 2019
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 October 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the paper that was considered by the Social Security Scotland Executive Advisory Body on 5 March 2019, which stated that the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) would update its "Best Start Grant forecasts for publication at the end of May 2019. If the new SFC forecasts differ from the updated [Scottish Government] forecasts, we will have to make a decision on which forecasts to use for the resource modelling”, and in light of the May 2019 forecasts subsequently differing from those of December 2018, which forecast model is now being used, and whether it has put in place a resource remodelling exercise.
Answer
The latest Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts for Best Start Grant were published in May 2019, increasing their 2019-20 forecasts from £12m to £21m.
The forecasts from the Scottish Fiscal Commission were then used by Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland in resource modelling for Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment. Following Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment being introduced, the Best Start Grant Early Years and School Payment were based on revised estimates.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 30 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government on what date it supplied the social security uprating analytical report to the Scottish Commission on Social Security.
Answer
The social security uprating analytical report was supplied to the Scottish Commission on Social Security on 2 September 2019.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2019
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) headcount and (b) full-time equivalent figure is for contingent workers in each division of the Social Security Directorate, also broken down by the number of quarters that they have been in post.
Answer
There are currently 172 contingent works across each division of the Social Security Directorate. Each contingent worker is appointed on a full-time basis so headcount is directly comparable to FTE. The following table breaks this down by Division and number of quarters.
Divisions | No of quarters in post | |
| | Up to 1 | Up to 2 | Up to 3 | Up to 4 | Up to 5 | Up to 6 | Up to 7 | Up to 8 | Total no of people |
Programme Management & Delivery | 32 | 32 | 12 | 13 | 21 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 121 |
Chief Digital Officer | 1 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 50 |
Policy | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| | | | | | | | | | 172 |
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2019
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) mean, (b) median and (c) (i) lower and (ii) upper (A) full-time equivalent and (B) day-rate salary is for contingent workers in each division of the Social Security Directorate, also broken down by how many are paid a day-rate of (1) less than £250, (2) £250 to £499, (3) £500 to £749, (4) £750 to £999 and (5) £1,000 or more.
Answer
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
[In case further information is helpful, please see the following sources of published information on Social Security and Scottish Government workforce:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-19-00617/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/workforce-information/ ]
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2019
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what proportion of (i) its and (ii) the Social Security Directorate staff recorded (A) short- and (B) long-term absences in each (1) quarter and (2) year since 2016.
Answer
The following tables provides (a) how many and (b) what proportion of (i) its and (ii) the Social Security Directorate staff recorded (A) short- and (B) long-term absences in each (1) quarter and (2) year since 2016, broken down by the number of days lost (1) overall and (2) as a proportion of days worked by staff.
Data for the Directorate for Social Security begins at September 2016.
Table 1. Number of directly employed SG Core staff who had at least one period of short term sickness or long term sickness during a rolling year period ending in each quarter. Including the total number of scaled sick days and the percentage of working days lost
Year to quarter end | Short Term Sick | Long term sick | Total No. of Staff |
No. of staff | % of staff | Total Scaled Sick Days | % working days lost | No. of staff | % of staff | Total Scaled Sick Days | % working days lost |
Mar-19 | 4,039 | 55.8% | 24556.8 | 1.8% | 356 | 4.9% | 21951.5 | 1.6% | 7,243 |
Dec-18 | 3,958 | 56.4% | 23699.8 | 1.8% | 352 | 5.0% | 22261.4 | 1.7% | 7,014 |
Sep-18 | 3,902 | 58.0% | 23117.9 | 1.8% | 355 | 5.3% | 22101.7 | 1.7% | 6,722 |
Jun-18 | 3,878 | 58.8% | 22428.5 | 1.7% | 367 | 5.6% | 22049.7 | 1.7% | 6,596 |
Mar-18 | 3,828 | 59.8% | 22016.7 | 1.7% | 335 | 5.2% | 20366.0 | 1.6% | 6,396 |
Dec-17 | 3,712 | 59.5% | 21351.7 | 1.7% | 315 | 5.1% | 19101.2 | 1.5% | 6,234 |
Sep-17 | 3,615 | 59.0% | 20430.1 | 1.7% | 300 | 4.9% | 19010.7 | 1.6% | 6,127 |
Jun-17 | 3,611 | 60.3% | 20690.1 | 1.7% | 284 | 4.7% | 17768.7 | 1.5% | 5,991 |
Mar-17 | 3,576 | 60.4% | 20517.0 | 1.7% | 301 | 5.1% | 18653.9 | 1.6% | 5,919 |
Dec-16 | 3,548 | 60.5% | 20213.7 | 1.7% | 310 | 5.3% | 18769.3 | 1.6% | 5,861 |
Sep-16 | 3,473 | 59.5% | 19373.0 | 1.6% | 308 | 5.3% | 18426.7 | 1.6% | 5,841 |
Table 2. Number of directly employed Directorate for Social Security staff who had at least one period of short term sickness or long term sickness during a rolling year period ending in each quarter. Including the total number of scaled sick days and the percentage of working days lost
Year to quarter end | Short Term Sick | Long term sick | Total No. of Staff |
No. of staff | % of staff | Total Scaled Sick Days | % working days lost | No. of staff | % of staff | Total Scaled Sick Days | % working days lost |
Mar-19 | 146 | 46.2% | 885.9 | 1.6% | * | * | * | * | 316 |
Dec-18 | 138 | 49.3% | 790.7 | 1.5% | * | * | * | * | 280 |
Sep-18 | 134 | 54.3% | 723.4 | 1.6% | * | * | * | * | 247 |
Jun-18 | 140 | 48.6% | 756.8 | 1.4% | 13 | 4.5% | 776.6 | 1.5% | 288 |
Mar-18 | 126 | 51.9% | 616.9 | 1.4% | 11 | 4.5% | 535.3 | 1.2% | 243 |
Dec-17 | 104 | 47.5% | 512.9 | 1.3% | 11 | 5.0% | 570.7 | 1.5% | 219 |
Sep-17 | 78 | 41.3% | 399.4 | 1.2% | 8 | 4.2% | 494.5 | 1.5% | 189 |
Jun-17 | 66 | 51.2% | 319.3 | 1.3% | 8 | 6.2% | 427.6 | 1.7% | 129 |
Mar-17 | 49 | 49.5% | 247.4 | 1.3% | 9 | 9.1% | 438.7 | 2.4% | 99 |
Dec-16 | 33 | 47.8% | 208.1 | 1.5% | 5 | 7.2% | 230.0 | 1.7% | 69 |
Sep-16 | 29 | 51.8% | 179.3 | 1.6% | * | * | * | * | 56 |
* Numbers of 1-4 are supressed for disclosure reasons.
Scaled sick days are the number of working days absence in the last 12 months, i.e. calculations exclude weekends and public and privilege holidays from the period of sickness. A weighting is also applied to spells over 125 working days to account for annual leave not taken and subtract this, pro rata, from the number of days off sick (assumes a working year of 225 days). Includes all lengths of absence.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2019
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government how much it spends on the young carer grant, from development and conception to delivery.
Answer
Young Carer Grant forms part of Wave One social security delivery. Information on the cost of delivering Social Security will be set out in the Programme Business Case, which will be published around the time of the Scottish Budget.
For anticipated benefit expenditure please also refer to Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts . For information on Scottish Government Spending plans refer to the Medium Term Financial Strategy and the Scottish Budget . Information on Social Security Scotland expenditure will be available in the annual report and accounts to be published in the Autumn.
Links
http://www.fiscalcommission.scot/publications/scotlands-economic-and-fiscal-forecasts/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-fiscal-outlook-scottish-governments-medium-term-financial-strategy-2019/
https://www.gov.scot/budget/ .
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2019
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22957 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 May 2019, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of the Social Security Programme Management and Delivery Division staff recorded (i) short- and (ii) long-term absences in each (A) quarter and (B) year since 2016, broken down by the number of days lost (1) overall and (2) as a proportion days worked by staff in the programme.
Answer
The following table provides (a) how many and (b) what proportion of the Social Security Programme Management and Delivery Division staff recorded (i) short- and (ii) long-term absences in each (A) quarter and (B) year since 2016, broken down by the number of days lost (1) overall and (2) as a proportion days worked by staff in the programme.
Data for the Directorate for Social Security begins at September 2016.
Table 1. Number of directly employed Programme Management and Delivery staff who had at least one period of short term sickness or long term sickness during a rolling year period ending in each quarter. Including the total number of scaled sick days and the percentage of working days lost.
Year to quarter end | Short Term Sick | Long Term Sick | Total No. of Staff |
No. of staff | % of staff | Total Scaled Sick Days | % working days lost | No. of staff | % of staff | Total Scaled Sick Days | % working days lost |
Mar-19 | 88 | 44.7% | 532.7 | 1.5% | 10 | 5.1% | 401.2 | 1.2% | 197 |
Dec-18 | 85 | 50.9% | 502.0 | 1.6% | 10 | 6.0% | 502.0 | 1.6% | 167 |
Sep-18 | 71 | 53.8% | 400.2 | 1.6% | 7 | 5.3% | 515.1 | 2.1% | 132 |
Jun-18 | 53 | 45.7% | 288.5 | 1.3% | 8 | 6.9% | 562.6 | 2.5% | 116 |
Mar-18 | 48 | 44.9% | 193.3 | 1.2% | 6 | 5.6% | 337.3 | 1.8% | 107 |
Dec-17 | 46 | 43.0% | 193.3 | 1.1% | 5 | 4.7% | 333.6 | 1.9% | 107 |
Sep-17 | 29 | 30.2% | 126.3 | 0.9% | 5 | 5.2% | 326.8 | 2.3% | 96 |
Jun-17 | 27 | 45.0% | 113.7 | 1.0% | * | * | * | * | 60 |
Mar-17 | 15 | 39.5% | 49.6 | 0.8% | * | * | * | * | 38 |
Dec-16 | 8 | 36.4% | 67.0 | 1.7% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 22 |
Sep-16 | 11 | 50.0% | 54.7 | 1.4% | * | * | * | * | 22 |
* Numbers of 1-4 are supressed for disclosure reasons.
Scaled sick days are the number of working days absence in the last 12 months, i.e. calculations exclude weekends and public and privilege holidays from the period of sickness. A weighting is also applied to spells over 125 working days to account for annual leave not taken and subtract this, pro rata, from the number of days off sick (assumes a working year of 225 days). Includes all lengths of absence.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2019
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government how many Social Security Programme Management and Delivery Division staff there were in 2018-19.
Answer
The following table provides the number of directly employed staff in the Social Security Programme Management and Delivery Division in 2018-19.
Headcount of directly employed staff in Programme Management and Delivery Division
Snapshot date (end of the month) | Headcount |
Mar-19 | 188 |
Dec-18 | 161 |
Sep-18 | 126 |
Jun-18 | 113 |
Mar-18 | 104 |
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2019
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 19 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22957 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 May 2019, what reasons were given for the absences, broken down by the percentage for each reason category.
Answer
The following table provides a breakdown of the reasons given for short term absences, broken down by number of spells and the percentage for each reason category, within the Programme Management and Delivery Division from April 2018 to March 2019.
Programme Management and Delivery Division short term absences April 2018 to March 2019, directly employed staff.
Reason for Absence | Number of Spells | % of Spells |
Respiratory system (inc. colds) | 70 | 32.4% |
Symptoms ill-defined | 43 | 19.9% |
Infections and parasites | 23 | 10.6% |
Mental disorders | 23 | 10.6% |
Nervous systems (inc. headaches) | 15 | 6.9% |
Unknown | 10 | 4.6% |
Digestive systems (inc. food poisoning) | 7 | 3.2% |
Pregnancy complications | 6 | 2.8% |
Musculoskeletal system | 6 | 2.8% |
Other | 13 | 6.0% |
All | 216 | |
For disclosure purposes it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the reasons for long term absences within the Programme Management and Delivery Division during the year 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019.
