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-22071

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement in its position paper on Cold Spell and Winter Heating Assistance (WHA) that "We propose this WHA payment is consistent with the current Winter Fuel Payments made by the UK Government at £200", whether WHA will only be paid at a rate of £200.

Question reference: S5W-22079

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of statements in its Social security case transfer: policy position paper, on what date discussions with the DWP on case transfer commenced.

Question reference: S5W-22045

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether light-touch reviews will be part of the assessment process for disability assistance for older people.

The Consultation on Disability Assistance in Scotland, which launched on 5 March 2019, set out our policy proposals around Disability Assistance for Older People, light-touch reviews and assessments.

We do not intend to conduct face to face assessments for Disability Assistance for Older People, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Across the different forms of Disability Assistance, we will use an approach that is supportive, person-centred and minimises stress and anxiety. It is anticipated that light-touch reviews will be carried out by Social Security Scotland without having to see the person in the majority of cases.

Question reference: S5W-22247

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason its consultation on disability assistance does not invite a response to its proposals regarding (a) fluctuating conditions, (b) the rate of benefits, (c) access to accessible vehicle leases and equipment and (d) appointees.

Question 64 of the Disability Assistance consultation requests any further comments consultees wish to make relating to Disability Assistance not specifically covered by the consultation document. This question allows consultees to provide any comments on areas they have not had the opportunity to provide.

(a) Information relating to fluctuating conditions is connected to the section on Duration of Awards and is covered within this area of the consultation document.

(b) We do not intend to change the rates of benefits for all forms of Disability Assistance and therefore are not asking any specific questions on this.

(c) We have set out in the section on Access to Accessible Vehicle Leases and Equipment that we intend to ensure that there will be an equivalent Scottish scheme in place in advance of the delivery of Disability Assistance. Based on the 2016 consultation we know that users of the current service are supportive of this approach. We therefore did not ask any specific questions on this.

(d) The rules on appointees are set out by The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018.

Question reference: S5W-22265

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether an individual will have an absolute right to a home assessment for disability assistance in the event that they request one as a result of Social Security Scotland having determined that a face-to-face assessment is required.

Question reference: S5W-22132

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21923 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 March 2019, how much the agency arrangements will cost each year, broken down by (a) benefit and (b) the methodology used to calculate this, and on what date the formal discussions with the DWP regarding these costs began.

Question reference: S5W-22241

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what questions it has put to the social security experience panels regarding automatic entitlement to disability assistance, and what responses it has received.

Research was undertaken with Experience Panel members regarding automatic entitlement in July and August 2018. The findings were published on 29 November 2019 and can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/social-security-experience-panels-award-duration-automatic-entitlement/ . A visual summary is also available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/social-security-experience-panels-award-duration-automatic-entitlement-visual-summary/ .

Question reference: S5W-22219

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether disability assistance case managers will be trained to (a) have specialist knowledge regarding a single or small number of conditions or (b) take a generalist approach with a knowledge of a wide number of conditions.

Question reference: S5W-22090

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment in its duration of awards and automatic entitlement for disability assistance policy position paper that, "There may be occasions where Social Security Scotland needs to instigate a review before the indicated award review date. Although these occasions are anticipated to be rare they would include where information is provided to Social Security Scotland that suggests the client’s circumstances have changed", what protections will be in place to ensure that a person who is entitled to social security does not have their case reviewed as a result of malicious complaints.

Social Security Scotland is under an obligation to protect public funds. When an allegation is made, there may be no way of knowing whether it has been done with malicious intent. All investigations will therefore be carried out under a presumption of innocence.

Where evidence gathered during an investigation shows there is substance to an allegation, an individual will always be given an opportunity to explain the circumstances before any further action is taken. A review of entitlement would only be undertaken if evidence suggested that it was necessary.

Question reference: S5W-22093

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comments in its duration of awards and automatic entitlement for disability assistance policy position paper, what the minimum review period will be for a person's live case to be transferred from the DWP.

The Scottish Government will use feedback from the current Disability Assistance consultation to inform its approach to case transfers. The Scottish Government is undertaking specific consultation with the Experience Panels in relation to case transfers and will set out its approach in relation to each form of Disability Assistance in due course. This approach will seek to cause minimal disruption for clients and to balance the transfer of clients at pace with delivering their benefits safely and securely. We will honour award levels and durations of current awards to ensure that clients are not made to undergo unnecessary award reviews when their benefit transfers.