- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 February 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2013
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that local authorities comply with the Disabled Persons' Parking Places (Scotland) Act 2009.
Answer
Compliance of the Disabled Persons’ Parking Places (Scotland) Act 2009 is a matter for local authorities, not the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 February 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with COSLA regarding the provision of resources to enable local authorities to carry out their duties under the Disabled Persons' Parking Places (Scotland) Act 2009.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13108 on 8 March 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 February 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what resources it currently allocates to each local authority to enable them to carry out their duties under the Disabled Persons' Parking Places (Scotland) Act 2009.
Answer
The Scottish Government is providing local government in Scotland with almost £11 billion in 2012-13. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 March 2013
To ask the Scottish Government whether the draft regulations for passported benefits will cover all who currently qualify for these.
Answer
The Regulations relating to income based passported benefits are designed to allow claimants on the Universal Credit pathfinder scheme, which begins in the Greater Manchester area later this year, to be able to claim income based passported benefits in the situation that any such claimants move to Scotland. This will have no impact on people who currently qualify for passported benefits. The Regulations relating to disability related passported benefits maintain passporting arrangements in Scotland to the National Concessionary Travel Scheme (NCTS), the Blue Badge Parking Scheme and Exemption from Repayment for Student loans for Higher Education.
We expect the numbers of people who will be entitled to Personal Independence Payments will be fewer than those who received Disability Living Allowance, therefore, we are putting in place transitional protections for those people who may no longer be able to passport to the NCTS and the Blue Badge Scheme. Further information on the impacts of these new passporting arrangements is available in my letter of 22 February 2013 to the Convener of the Welfare Reform Committee. It is available at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_Welfare_Reform_Committee/papers_05032013.pdf.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 March 2013
To ask the Scottish Government how much it costs to provide passported benefits to people who might lose their entitlement to these because of the proposed welfare reforms, also broken down by local authority.
Answer
It is unclear how many people might lose either wholly or in part their eligibility for benefits as a result of the UK Government’s welfare reforms.
However there is enough data to allow us to estimate what the impact of moving from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payments might be for the Blue Badge Parking Scheme and the National Concessionary Travel Scheme. These are set out in my letter of 22 February 2013 to the Convener of the Welfare Reform Committee. It is available at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_Welfare_Reform_Committee/papers_05032013.pdf.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 March 2013
To ask the Scottish Government how many people currently qualify for passported benefits, broken down by benefit.
Answer
The latest figures available for take up of passported benefits are shown on the following table:
| Benefit | Latest Numbers Held |
| Legal Aid | 2011-12 - 137,000 legal assistance cases (to nearest 1000). |
| Court Fee Exemptions | 2011-12 - 838 exemptions as a result of passported benefits, from 29,000 total exemptions. |
| Free School Lunches | 2012 - 130,477 children and young people in Scottish schools were registered to receive a free school lunch. This figure includes a small number of children in P1-P3, who might not meet the eligibility criteria prescribed in statue, but are registered to free school lunches as part of local initiatives designed to promote healthy eating in the early years. [Source: Summary statistics for attainment, leaver destinations and healthy living, No. 2: 2012 Edition, published June 2012] |
| Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) | 2011-12 - 34,390 young people received an EMA. |
| Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) | 2011-12 54,082 individuals funded learning using an ILA account. |
| NHS Optical Vouchers | Year ending March 2012 - 340,258 voucher claims processed for the provision of glasses/contact lenses for those on a passported benefit. However, this is a demand led service with information collected on the number of claims processed in respect of eligible people who have received a voucher towards the cost of glasses/contact lenses. An individual may receive more than one voucher a year if it is considered necessary. |
| Free NHS Dental Treatment | No figures are published. This is a demand led service which those in receipt of a passported benefit access as needed. Claims are submitted and counted for individual courses of treatment, not for individuals, and an individual may receive more than one course of treatment in a year if necessary. |
| NHS Patient Travel | This information is not collected centrally. |
| Blue Badge Parking | 125,534 out of a total of 263,045 Blue Badges on issue at 31 March 2012 were awarded to individuals who passported automatically (without further assessment) to a Blue Badge. The 125,534 includes individuals in receipt of: the Higher Rate Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance (HRMCDLA; a War Pensioners Mobility Supplement; a lump sum (at tariffs 1-8) of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme; blind or registered blind people. We are unable to extract from the total number of badges issued automatically how many were to individuals in receipt of HRCMDLA. [Source: Scottish Transport Statistics 2012] |
| Concessionary Travel | 283,650 people in Scotland are eligible for the higher rate of the mobility component of disability living allowance or the higher or middle rate of the care component of disability living allowance and could therefore apply for the National Concessionary Travel Scheme. Please note that this is the number for eligibility, not take up of the Scheme. [Source: DWP, Feb 2012] |
| Student Loans Exemptions | 2011-12 (academic year) under 50 borrowers were affected. |
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 March 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what current benefits will be covered by the draft regulations for passported benefits.
Answer
The passported benefits covered by the regulations are: Legal Aid, Court Fee Exemptions, Free School Lunches, Education Maintenance Allowance, Individual Learning Accounts, NHS Optical Vouchers, Free NHS Dental Treatment, NHS Patient Travel Costs, Blue Badge Parking, Concessionary Bus Travel and Student Loan Exemptions.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 8 March 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to (a) provide extra GPs and (b) increase the capacity of surgeries in deprived areas.
Answer
The Bill on integration of adult health and social care being introduced to parliament before summer, will ensure that statutory partners, both Health Boards and Local Authorities, jointly plan and design services based on the needs of the population. The Bill will ensure that statutory partners are held equally and jointly accountable for the effective delivery of adult health and social care services. Our approach will ensure a focus on person- centred care, which will be of particular benefit in deprived areas.
The Scottish Government is in regular contact with the Deep End group of practices that are situated in the most deprived areas of Scotland whilst delivery models for the future are being informed through pilot work in deprived areas, including the 17c Reducing Inequalities Pilot Programme and the Scottish Government sponsored Links Project.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 8 March 2013
To ask the Scottish Government when it last collected data on the (a) number and (b) geographical distribution of GPs and what the data show.
Answer
Headcount numbers of GPs working in general practice in Scotland are routinely collected and are published annually at:
http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/General-Practice/GPs-and-Other-Practice-Workforce/.
The published figures currently run from 1988 to 2012 inclusive and include the geographical breakdown of headcount by NHS Board and Community Health Partnership.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 March 2013
To ask the Scottish Government when it will introduce the draft regulations on passported benefits and for what reason this has been delayed.
Answer
The Welfare Reform (Consequential Amendments) Scotland Regulations 2013 and the Education (School Lunches) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2013 were laid before the Scottish Parliament on 25 February 2013. The Welfare Reform (Consequential Amendments) (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2013 were laid before the Scottish Parliament on 27 February 2013.
This enables the regulations to come into force at the same time as the regulations for Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payments.
