Chamber and committees

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: S6W-13742

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10720 by Christina McKelvie on 20 September 2022, when it will publish its refreshed Disability Equality Strategy.

We continue to work closely with the steering group, made up of Disabled People’s Organisations, to co-design the new Disability Equality strategy. The group met several times in 2022 and are focused on listening to the challenges and obstacles disabled people face and finding the solutions that can be delivered.

The group last met in November 2022 and a further meeting is planned for the end of February 2023. It is anticipated that the strategy will be published in Spring 2023 subject to the conclusion of the co-design process.

Question reference: S6W-13374

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to spend on (a) Facebook, (b) Instagram, (c) Twitter, (d) YouTube and (e) Tik Tok in relation to its Winter Heating Payment advertising campaign.

Social Security Scotland posted on its Twitter and Facebook accounts to raise awareness of Winter Heating Payment. There has been no spend to date on Winter Heating Payment advertising through social media channels. This will be part of further advertising planned for early this year. Social Security Scotland's budget breakdown by channel is still to be confirmed and will be based on insight, taking advice from their media buying agency.

Question reference: S6W-13373

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will detail the associated costs for its Winter Heating Payment advertising campaign, including a breakdown of spend by advertising method.

Advertising for Winter Heating Payment was initially planned for January 2023 to allow for the associated regulations to have completed the parliamentary process. Due to the low temperatures experienced across Scotland during the early part of December 2022, some of the planned advertising for Winter Heating Payment was brought forward to raise awareness of the changes and to allow people to plan accordingly.

This included:

National radio campaign - total cost including VAT £10,456.98.
National print advertising campaign - total cost including VAT £8,743.30.

Information was also shared through a media release and through Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland social media channels including Twitter and Facebook and with stakeholders.

The priority for this recently paid for advertising push, was reaching digitally excluded prospective clients that we are not able to reach through messages shared through Social Security Scotland, Scottish Government and stakeholder social media channels.

Further advertising is planned for this year and Social Security Scotland will select channels based on insight, taking advice from its media buying agency.

Question reference: S6O-01787

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to support businesses in key sectors of Glasgow's economy.

Question reference: S6W-13393

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on track to meet its commitment to introducing a national 24/7 thrombectomy service by 2023.

Work is ongoing to establish the most effective means of further expanding access to thrombectomy, including how the increased budget will be best used in recruiting staff to maximise the number of patients able to benefit from this treatment.

We are also in discussions with National Services Division, to ensure that decisions taken on potential expansions of the thrombectomy service consider the wider access requirements of patients across Scotland and ensure access is as equitable as possible.

Question reference: S6W-13391

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reverse any planned reductions to thrombectomy funding for the current year.

The Scottish Government remains committed to introducing a high quality and clinically safe thrombectomy service in Scotland. As a result of the Emergency Budget Review, the thrombectomy service was not reduced, rather the expansion of the service was paused.

The budget for thrombectomy and development of a refreshed stroke improvement plan has been increased from £8.6 million for 2022-23 to £12.5 million in 2023-24. Prior to the 2023/24 budget announcement, the delivery of a national thrombectomy service had already received over £16 million of investment.

Question reference: S6W-13392

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to continued thrombectomy funding in its draft Budget 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-13015

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 9 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set out how it calculated that the extension of Scottish Child Payment amounts to £1,300 per eligible child.

Question reference: S6W-13010

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 9 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the process is for Social Security Scotland to refer clients to VoiceAbility advocacy service.

Question reference: S6W-13013

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 9 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the projected response time is for handling claims for Scottish Child Payment as of December 2022.

Official Statistics on Scottish Child Payment are published every quarter. The last publication was on 29 November 2022 and provided information on processing times up to 30 September 2022: Scottish Child Payment: high level statistics to 30 September 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The next release of Official Statistics, covering the period to the end of December 2022, is due to be published on 28 February 2023.

Social Security Scotland received a high volume of applications for Scottish Child Payment when it extended to under 16 year olds on 14 November. Initial management information indicates that from Monday 14 November 2022 to Sunday 11 December 2022, the total number of applications received was 123,000.

Social Security Scotland are working hard to process payments as quickly as possible and tens of thousands of eligible of clients will receive their payment before Christmas. The remaining eligible clients will receive payment in early 2023 and have been contacted to make them aware of this so they are able to plan accordingly.

If eligible, all payments will be calculated from the day that the client applied or submitted a change of circumstances to add an extra child, so nobody should lose out financially.