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-22735

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what proportion of applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund in 2018-19 were subject to a revised assessment, and what action it is taking to minimise the need for revisions.

Question reference: S5W-22732

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the take up has been of the Scottish Welfare Fund, broken down by (a) gender, (b) race and (c) disability, and how this informs policy decisions.

The breakdown of applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund based on data from April 2013 to September 2018 is as follows (these figures include Family Reunion Crisis Grants and Community Care Grants for 18-21 year olds affected by the change to the entitlement for housing costs within Universal Credit):

	Breakdown	Percentage of applications*
Main applicant gender	Male	51%
	Female	49%
	Unknown	<1%
Main applicant ethnicity	White Scottish	35%
	Other British	3%
	Other	6%
	Refused	55%
Does anyone in the household have a physical or mental health condition or illness lasting or expected to last 12 months or more?	Yes	30%
	No	41%
	Refused or unknown	29%

*Percentages do not sum due to rounding.

This data is not currently published as official statistics but is provided to local authorities in a standard quarterly quality assurance pack.

No significant changes have been made to the policy set out in The Welfare Funds (Scotland) Regulations 2016. This information would form part of the evidence base used to consider equalities impacts were such changes to be made.

Question reference: S5W-22733

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve efficiency in reaching final decisions on applications to Scottish Welfare Fund.

The latest published statistics (1 October to 31 December 2018) show that 96% of Crisis Grant applications and 93% of Community Care Grant applications were processed within the timescales required by the Statutory Guidance. The Scottish Government facilitates the sharing of good practice on operational issues between Local Authorities via a quarterly practitioner’s forum and we have provided funding to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, to hold training workshops on decision making for local authority staff.

Question reference: S5W-22734

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on relaxing the eligibility criteria requirements under the Scottish Welfare Fund that are needed to qualify for an emergency or disaster grant.

The Scottish Welfare Fund allows for Crisis Grants to be made to help people cope with unexpected expenses arising out of an emergency or a disaster. The eligibility criteria for these and other payments from the Fund are set out in the Welfare Funds (Scotland) Act 2015 and The Welfare Funds (Scotland) Regulations 2016. We have no current plans to change the eligibility criteria for Crisis Grants.

Question reference: S5W-22739

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of recipients of Scottish Welfare Fund crisis grants in 2017-18 were in employment.

Question reference: S5W-22731

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the Scottish Welfare Fund has had on the percentage of people who use food banks.

Question reference: S5O-03124

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what support is given to breastfeeding mothers when attending court.

Question reference: S5W-22122

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 27 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-21774 and S5W-21775 by Jamie Hepburn on 8 March and 5 March 2019 respectively, and, in light of there being no monitoring yet in place, whether it will publish the agreement that confirms service levels can be maintained on reduced funding.

Question reference: S5W-22124

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 27 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21773 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 March 2019, how many households are currently in receipt of carers' benefits.

National Statistics on Carer’s Allowance are published as part of DWP’s benefits statistics collection: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistical-summaries .

Scottish recipients of Carer’s Allowance may also be eligible to receive Carer’s Allowance Supplement (CAS), which is paid twice yearly to those in payment of Carer’s Allowance on the relevant eligibility dates. Official statistics on Carer’s Allowance Supplement for the first eligibility data in April 2018 were published in February 2019: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Social-Welfare/SocialSecurityforScotland .

Question reference: S5F-03223

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 March 2019

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will consider bringing forward the introduction of an income supplement, in light of two recent reports predicting an increase in child poverty.