Chamber and committees

Social Security Scotland has grown in scale since its launch in September 2018. It currently employs around 400 staff - mainly across its Dundee head office and second Glasgow site. Once fully operational, that will grow further to in excess of 1,900 people. The staffing and structure will continue to grow and change as new functions, local face-to-face delivery and further devolved benefits are launched.

Table 1 shows the number of individuals who have self-selected the disability category as of 31 December 2018. It is necessary to take caution when interpreting these figures, as this question is not mandatory. Therefore, it may not give an accurate picture of the true number of disabled people that are employed by Scottish Government or its agencies. For example, Social Security Scotland, was established around three months before this snapshot was taken.

Furthermore, primary suppression has been applied to columns where only 1-4 individuals have self-identified as disabled. In order to prevent the disclosure of these figures by process of elimination, secondary suppression has been applied to columns which may have considerably more than four individuals self-identifying as disabled.

The Scottish Government will publish a Recruitment and Retention Plan this year. The plan will reiterate our commitment to our disabled employees, and outline the action SG will take to ensure that they are supported to progress within the workplace and that we become an employer of choice for disabled people in Scotland.

We are working closely with Audit Scotland on the Annual Report and Accounts audit process. That process remains on schedule to table the first set of Accounts for Social Security Scotland in line with our legislative requirements.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission provides independent and official forecasts of all devolved social security expenditure, to inform the Scottish Budget. This will include the Scottish Child Payment. We have made the Commission aware of the Scottish Child Payment and provided our initial assessment of its expected costs and impacts.

Finances for the Scottish Child Payment will be set out in full in the Scottish Budget later this year. The Scottish Fiscal Commission will provide independent forecasts of expenditure in line with their statutory duties.

The service design of the Social Security Scotland (a) desk-based and (b) face-to-face healthcare professional assessment function was tendered as one contract.

A total of four tenders were received by the tender return date of 11 March 2019 from the following companies:

1. Deloitte LLP

2. Capgemini UK PLC

3. Ent Serv UK Ltd

4. Sopra Steria Limited

The modelling undertaken to assess the expected impacts of the Scottish Child Payment was based on an assumed take-up rate of 83% to allow us to make a more realistic assumption on take-up for the payment when an application is required. This is the take-up rate of Child Tax Credits, and used as the closest comparator to the Scottish Child Payment.

This information was set out in a Scottish Child Payment position paper, published alongside the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan first progress report, and is available on the Scottish Government’s website:

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/publication/2019/06/
scottish-government-position-paper-scottish-child-payment/documents/
scottish-government-position-paper-scottish-child-payment/
scottish-government-position-paper-scottish-child-payment/govscot%3Adocument/
scottish-government-position-paper-scottish-child-payment.pdf

As a wholly new benefit, take-up will depend on a number of factors. In keeping with our duties under the Social Security (Scotland) Act, we will ensure we promote and maximise take-up of the Scottish Child Payment, and it will be referenced as part of our forthcoming benefit take-up strategy.

The estimated cost of £180 million refers to the demand-led costs of the Scottish Child Payment – the total amount of payments which are expected to be made to recipients in 2023-24. The total establishment cost of the new payment to the end of this parliament, including implementation and administration, is estimated to be in the region of £32.5 million (across 2019-20 and 2020-21).

These costs and further details were set out in a letter to the Convenor of the Social Security Committee, issued at the same time as the announcement on the Scottish Child Payment. A copy of this is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website:

https://www.parliament.scot/S5_Social_Security/General%20Documents/
20190626_CabSecSSOP_to_Convener_on_Scottish_Child_Payment.pdf .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-23863 on 26 July 2019. 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.

ScottishPower Renewables Limited applied to Scottish Ministers on 12 February 2019 for consent to construct and operate the electricity generating station the member refers to under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. The generating station was granted consent on 10 th June 2019. Information on the matters taken into consideration by Scottish Ministers are contained within the application documents and the decision notice published on the Scottish Government Energy Consents website at www.energyconsents.scot with application reference number ECU00000729.

It is noted the generating station is located in close proximity to Whitelee Windfarm and will be designed to support the flexible operation of the National Grid and decarbonisation of electricity supply to support EU targets and national planning policy.

The procurement, construction and operation of the generating station equipment will now be completed by ScottishPower Renewables Limited, who may be contacted at The Soloist, 1 Lanyon Place, Belfast, United Kingdom, BT1 3LP should the member require any further information. ScottishPower Renewables will also be able to provide further information in relation to the operation of the generating station and how this will be managed in association with the existing Whitelee Windfarm generating station.

The Just Transition Commission has not made any assessment of the economic impact of this project. The Commission works independently from Government and is tasked with providing practical advice to Ministers on how to make the transition to a net-zero economy in a way that is fair for all.

Scottish Enterprise has not conducted an evaluation of the economic impact of the development proposed by the application. Scottish Enterprise were not involved in the project at stages where this would be appropriate.