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: S5W-09089

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-07548 by Jeane Freeman on 24 April 2017, whether it will make the information requested regarding the feasibility study on increasing carers allowance available for MSPs by placing it in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) and, if so, whether it will do so before Carers Week commences on 12 June 2017.

Question reference: S5W-09091

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 11 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-08876 by Derek Mackay on 28 April 2017, how many of (a) its and (b) its agencies' staff have advised that they have caring responsibilities in each year since 2011.

Scottish Government introduced a system to allow staff to record their caring status in 2014. Table 1 shows the numbers each year from then.

Table 1. Number of directly employed staff who reported having caring responsibilities in each of the years, since the flag was introduced in April 2014

Year	SG Core	Agencies/NDPBS/Other Bodies
2014	18	9
2015	54	25
2016	238	69
2017	263	83

Question reference: S5W-09115

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 11 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-08876 by Derek Mackay on 28 April 2017, how many of (a) its and (b) its agencies' staff have made a request to take carers leave in each year since 2011 and how many requests were granted, also broken down by the number of days taken.

We use our E-HR system to capture data on staff taking carers leave. This system captures data after the leave has been approved, it does not capture requests.

Table 1 shows the number of staff taking carers leave.

Table 1. The number of directly employed staff taking cares leave in each year since 2011 and the total number of days.

Year¹	Organisation	Number of employees	Number of Days Taken
2011	Agencies/NDPBS/OtherBodies	16	41
	SG Core	45	78
2012	Agencies/NDPBS/OtherBodies	14	36
	SG Core	39	80.5
2013	Agencies/NDPBS/OtherBodies	21	38
	SG Core	57	204.5
2014	Agencies/NDPBS/OtherBodies	38	97
	SG Core	59	141
2015	Agencies/NDPBS/OtherBodies	23	59.5
	SG Core	59	116.5
2016	Agencies/NDPBS/OtherBodies	31	64.5
	SG Core	86	152.5
2017	Agencies/NDPBS/OtherBodies	16	31
	SG Core	46	77

Question reference: S5W-09088

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it having had the power to do so since September 2016 and the commitment made in its programme for government, when it will increase carers allowance, and whether the first payment will be backdated to that date.

It would not have been feasible to implement the increase from September 2016. UK Regulations, which transfer competence for Carer’s Allowance to the Scottish Parliament, will not come into force until later this month. Scottish legislation will then need to be introduced, scrutinised and agreed by the Scottish Parliament.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-00812 on 29 June 2016. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5O-00982

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of the impact that an increased carers allowance would have on disability poverty.

Question reference: S5W-09090

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether delivering increases in carers allowance in lump sums would minimise administrative costs.

Increasing Carer’s Allowance to the same level as Job Seeker’s Allowance is one of the key commitments we have made in respect of our new social security powers and reflects the recognition we give to carers who make such an important contribution to our society. We are in active discussions with the Department for Work and Pensions to assess options for delivery, and we are in the process of reviewing the administrative costs in respect of these options.

Question reference: S5W-08877

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 5 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what pilots of carers' leave it has commissioned.

Employment rights, including statutory leave, are generally reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government funds the Carer Positive scheme which encourages employers in Scotland to support their employees who are carers to balance employment and their caring role through, for example, flexible working hours, carers' leave or staff support networks. As of March 2017, there were 72 employers in Scotland recognised as Carer Positive, covering almost 270,000 employees. Full details of the Carer Positive Scheme including the latest list of employers is available at http://www.carerpositive.org/

Question reference: S5O-00937

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the remit and timescale of its proposed review of personal and social education.

Question reference: S5W-08876

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 28 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what carers' leave (a) it and (b) its agencies offers to staff.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting staff with caring responsibilities. For staff on Scottish Government Main and Scottish Government Marine terms and conditions and members of the Senior Civil Service we offer up to five days paid carers leave for staff who have a regular and substantial caring responsibility for someone who has a long-term illness, is very frail or has a disability.

Question reference: S5W-07548

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 24 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it received the feasibility study on carers allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions, and whether it will put this in the public domain.

The feasibility study on increasing carers allowance was received from DWP on the 11th January 2017.

An FOI request and subsequent review in relation to the DWP feasibility report were also received and have been dealt with in line with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) to determine whether the document will be put into the public domain.

The review process has concluded that, in fact, the feasibility report is not held by the Scottish Government for the purposes of FOISA because the report has been received in confidence from the UK Government. This means that, under the terms of section 3(2)(a)(ii) of FOISA, we are unable to disclose the information or put it in the public domain.