Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-09797

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of the social media feedback for the young carers benefit social media and digital uptake campaign, which was launched during Carers Week 2017, and whether it has commissioned tracking research of the effectiveness of the campaign.

Effectiveness of the Young Carer’s benefit take-up activity is being measured by social media reach.

A breakdown of reach and engagement by social media channels is published in the answer to question S5W-09796 on 17 July 2017. 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: S5W-09796

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the projected (a) audience and (b) reach has been for the young carers benefit social media and digital uptake campaign, which was launched during Carers Week 2017.

The audience for this activity was young carers in Scotland. There are an estimated 49,000 young carers in Scotland, of whom more than 7,000 are estimated to be eligible for Carer’s Allowance. The campaign’s reach and performance is in the following table. The campaign was delivered by Young Scot and the figures cover the period of Carers' Week, 12-18 June.

Young Scot channel

Target

Actual

Performance

Facebook

- Reach (total)

130,000

173,844

+33.7%

Facebook videos

- Views (total)

- Reach (total)

18,200

80,000

21,274

110,977

+16.9%

+38.7%

Twitter

- Reach

800,000

864,212

+8.0%

Snapchat

- Views (total)

- Completion rate (average)

10,600

91%

13,000

88.5%

+22.6%

- 2.7%

Instagram

- Views (total)

4,200

4,349

+ 3.5%

The Scottish Government’s Social Security Twitter account, launched on the first day of the Young Carers Benefit Take Up campaign, achieved reach of 27,165.

Note these figures cover Young Scot and Scottish Government social media channels only. They do not include the reach of stakeholders and partners who posted supporting content.

Question reference: S5W-09794

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many hits have been received by the young carers benefit social media and digital uptake campaign, which was launched during Carers Week 2017, and how many applications for carers allowance have been made through this.

The campaign webpage, www.young.scot/youngcarers - was viewed more than 2,000 times between 12 June and 2 July 2017.

A breakdown of reach and engagement by social media channels is published in the answer to question S5W-09796 on 17 July 2017. 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.

Carer’s Allowance is currently reserved to the UK Government, and is administered by the Department for Work and Pensions. Information on applications is not held by the Scottish Government. We will review DWP’s information when it is published in due course.

Question reference: S5W-09800

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) of its directorates, (b) of its agencies, (c) carers organisations, (d) advertising agencies and (e) other stakeholders were involved in the design of the young carers benefit social media and digital uptake campaign, which was launched during Carers Week 2017.

Question reference: S5W-09806

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it last conducted an audit of the concessionary travel for carers provided by (a) it and (b) local government.

The Scottish Government has not conducted an audit of the concessionary travel for carers provided by (a) it and (b) local government.

The National Concessionary Travel Scheme does not contain an eligibility criterion for carers. As a result we do not conduct audits on how many carers benefit from the Scheme.

The Scottish Government does not hold any information on concessionary travel for carers provided by local authorities.

Question reference: S5W-09807

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it last considered providing concessionary travel for carers.

On 29 March 2017 my officials confirmed to the Public Petitions Committee that the Scottish Government is not considering including carers in the National Concessionary Travel Scheme. This was in response to Petition PE01632 which is currently before the Committee.

However, there is a range of support available to carers in Scotland funded by the Scottish Government and local authorities.

Although the National Concessionary Travel Scheme does not contain specific eligibility criteria for carers, eligible disabled people can apply for a companion concessionary travel card which allows the card holder and a companion (who may be a carer) to travel together free of charge for the same bus journey.

In addition, a substantial number of carers qualify for free bus travel under the National Concessionary Travel Scheme because they are aged 60 or over. Younger carers may also benefit from the National Concessionary Travel Scheme for Young People, which provides discounts on bus and rail travel for all young people living in Scotland aged 16 to 18 and full time volunteers up to age 25.

Question reference: S5W-09689

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 23 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the current disability employment gap is and when it will publish the timetable of its plan to reduce this by half.

The current disability employment gap is 39.9 percentage points. 41.7% of disabled people (Equality Act defined) are in employment compared to 81.5% of non-disabled people.

Our commitment to halve the disability employment gap is long term and challenging. We recognise we cannot achieve this alone. Change is required across all levels of Scottish society to enable more disabled people to enter and sustain employment.

In the coming months we will engage with partners across Scotland and we will work closely with them to develop a plan which we intend to publish in due course.

Question reference: S5W-09654

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 23 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is for the campaign to encourage young carers to find about out their entitlement to Carer's Allowance, including when the campaign will close.

Question reference: S5W-09901

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-09900

Current Status: Withdrawn

Chamber and committees