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-27779

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 10 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the updated timescale is for delivery of the strategic framework for Scotland’s childcare profession, in light of the document, Best Start: Strategic early learning and school age childcare plan for Scotland 2022-26, stating that it would be published in late 2022.

Question reference: S6W-27784

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its proposals for a human rights incorporation bill, when it plans to (a) publish an initial draft of the legislation and (b) introduce any bill to the Parliament, and whether it will provide an update on whether it anticipates that a bill on this issue will be passed during the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-27877

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the introduction and operation of Carer Support Payment, whether it has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to prevent the accumulation of debt among carers in receipt of Carer's Allowance in Scotland due to (a) delayed investigation and (b) non-investigation of overpayment alerts.

We have taken on board lessons from Carer’s Allowance in designing Carer Support Payment to better prevent overpayments. Information on earnings rules and when to report changes are much clearer. We are making better use of the ability to average out carers’ earnings, and using data from HMRC and scheduled reviews for self-employed carers to check and track carers’ earnings. Our systems use automated decision making for the most straightforward applications, allowing more time and resource to focus on complex cases and earnings processes. We pay Carer Support Payment four weekly in arrears as standard, reducing the potential for overpayments by allowing more time for a change of circumstances to be reported and reflected in a carer’s award. As part of the case transfer process, we also have processes in place to check earnings once carer’s awards are in payment to reduce the risk of inheriting existing overpayments. We are continuing to take feedback from carers and stakeholders to consider how we can continue to improve our earnings processes.

Question reference: S6W-27879

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what work it will undertake with (a) the Department for Work and Pensions and (b) Social Security Scotland during the roll-out of, and process of case transfer to, Carer Support Payment, to increase the level of help and advice available to unpaid carers in Scotland who may have been left in debt due to overpayments of Carer's Allowance.

The Scottish Government has urged the DWP to carefully consider people’s individual circumstances before any recovery of Carer’s Allowance overpayments from carers. It is our established policy that no-one should be placed into hardship as a result of overpayment recovery. Social Security Scotland have in place processes to prevent and identify overpayments as quickly as possible, and will consider an individual’s financial and personal circumstances as far as they are known before recovery is attempted. Social Security Scotland will discuss the best way forward for individuals and anyone affected will be able to seek support and advice before agreeing any repayment plan. Any deductions are set at manageable levels and individuals can seek a redetermination and appeal where a new determination has been made. Discussions are ongoing with the DWP as to potential arrangements for the recovery of any Carer’s Allowance overpayments for carers in Scotland that remain once case transfer is complete and the current Agency Agreement comes to an end.

Question reference: S6W-27880

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reform the threshold element of the Carer Support Payment following the completion of the transfer from Carer's Allowance in Scotland.

As set out in our response to our 2022 public consultation, we are considering options for reform of the earnings threshold as part of longer-term plans for improvements to Carer Support Payment. These include increasing the earnings threshold and introducing a run-on of support to mitigate the earnings ‘cliff edge’, both of which were supported by the majority of respondents to the consultation. Given the range of views on how the earnings rules for Carer Support Payment could work differently from Carer’s Allowance, we are continuing to consider the responses received. We are also considering research, recently published by the DWP in May, on carers’ experiences of claiming and receiving Carer’s Allowance to inform our approach.

Question reference: S6W-27782

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 5 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how any learning from the early adopter community programmes set out in the School Age Childcare Delivery Framework will be used to scale up an improved childcare offer at the national level.

Since October 2022 we have invested £4 million to deliver innovative school age childcare services to around 600 children from 500 families through our Early Adopter Community projects in Glasgow, Inverclyde, Clackmannanshire and Dundee.

On 22 May 2024, the First Minister announced a further £16 million investment over the next two years in the early adopter community projects including expanding delivery to communities in Fife and Shetland. This will enable participating local authorities to increase the number of families supported across these communities, expanding parents’ access to childcare, particularly for those families most at risk of living in poverty.

The early adopter community projects are a key driver for change. They will be a leading source of evidence, data, insights, and evaluation relating to the impact, approach and economic outcomes associated with place-based, people-centred systems of childcare focused on understanding the changes local authorities can undertake to expand access to childcare for those families who need it most, and the difference that can make towards reducing poverty. This work is already informing what system changes are needed at national and local levels to support sustainable delivery of childcare services within communities, and how these link with wider public services which families need.

We are committed to sharing learning across the early adopter community network and with all Local Authorities, to ensure we support future development at a national level. Our independent process evaluation report for the early adopter communities, being carried out by IPSOS Scotland, will be published in September 2024. IPSOS have engaged with project leads, service staff, local delivery partners and families to understand what is working well for them and what could be improved, to support next steps and future investment.

Question reference: S6O-03502

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address food poverty, in light of the recent figures published by the Trussell Trust showing that its network distributed 262,400 emergency food parcels in the last 12 months.

Question reference: S6T-01982

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the Scottish Men's Sheds Association could collapse due to the withdrawal of Scottish Government funding.

Question reference: S6O-03446

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Question reference: S6W-26906

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many people that require social care are currently receiving this support in inappropriate hospital stays or out-of-area placements, and what its position is on whether this reflects the commitment in the Coming Home Implementation programme to greatly reduce delayed discharges and inappropriate out-of-area placements for adults with learning disabilities and complex care needs by March 2024.

Scottish Government continue to implement the actions in the Coming Home Implementation Report, and work with COSLA to seek progress across the country. Local public bodies have the statutory responsibility for this and delivery rests with them – however we know this work takes time. We want people to be supported in a home that is right for them, which often and rightly requires a bespoke design and build, as well as recruitment and training of a care team tailored to the person.

Scottish Ministers are confident that the national work is putting in place improved systems and structures locally which are required to achieve real change. We launched new national Dynamic Support Registers in May 2023, which provide a mechanism for a new national data collection on people with learning disabilities and complex care needs.

This data is collected and published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) with the first report published in November 2023. This is a significant step forward that provides clarity on the number of people with learning disabilities and complex care needs who are in hospital and in out-of-area placements.

The latest Public Health Scotland publication reports on the census point of 28 September 2023. At that time, there were 1,243 people on the Dynamic Support Register of which, there were 86 delayed discharges and 130 out-of-area placements. Given this was the first publication of this data, care needs to be taken in early interpretation as data collection process embed and mature.

A further publication of updated figures taken from a census point of 28 March 2024 will be published by PHS on 28 May 2024.

The full November PHS report is available on the PHS website: Insights into learning disabilities and complex needs: statistics for Scotland - 28 November 2023 - Insights into learning disabilities and complex needs: statistics for Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland .