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-09901

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-09900

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-09487

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide a substantive answer to question S5W-06833, which recieved a holding response on 2 March 2017, and what the reason is for the delay.

Our records show that that the answer to question S5W-06833 was provided to Parliament on 7 March 2017. The original answer has been replicated below.

In 2016-17 Scottish Government funding in the region of £40 million of will be made available for two distinct purposes:

specific project funding to support the provision of independent advice to individuals on income maximisation and the exercising of civil rights. In
2016-17 £22,110,310 of funding is being provided for 169 providers for advice-related projects and to Scottish Health Boards for development of Carer Information Strategies. A list of funded organisations and the amounts received in 2016-17 has been lodged with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 58524).

payments to solicitors to deliver legal advice on civil matters through the statutory Advice and Assistance (A&A) provision, a form of Legal Aid. This advice includes advising whether there is a legal case to take forward, negotiating a settlement, and writing letters on the applicant’s behalf. A&A will not usually cover representation in court although a type of A&A - ‘Assistance By Way of Representation’ (ABWOR) is available in some circumstances to allow a solicitor to represent their client in proceedings. For Civil Advice and Assistance, budget provision of £20 million has been made in 2016-17. This is a demand-led budget so it is not yet possible to say what the total actual expenditure for 2016-17 will be. However, actual expenditure for 2014-15 and 2015-16 has been set out in the following table for comparative purposes.

Actual Expenditure

2014-15

2015-16

Civil Advice and Assistance	£13,576,000	£13,488,000
Assistance By Way of Representation	£ 4,815,000	£ 5,104,000
Total	£18,391,000	£18,592,000

Investment in the provision of advice services is made across the Scottish Government as part of a strategic commitment to build a fairer nation and tackle deprivation, poverty and inequality. The information provided above is the best available at this time drawn from a review that the Scottish Government is currently undertaking of its support to advice services. The review to date has collated information on spending in 2016-17 but has not sought historical information.

Budgets for 2017-18 are still being finalised therefore no further information on future spending can be provided at this time.

Question reference: S5W-09277

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many young carers there are in Scotland, and how many of these it estimates will receive the young carers allowance.

We used the Scottish Health Survey to estimate that there are around 15,000 young carers aged 16-18, and around 29,000 young carers aged under 16. This gives a total estimate of 44,000 young carers aged under 18. The Scottish Government committed to considering the introduction of a Young Carer’s Allowance to provide extra support for young people with significant caring responsibilities. We are currently developing a package of support for young carers, and once the details have been confirmed we will be in the position to estimate how many will receive Young Carer's Allowance.

Question reference: S5W-09314

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 31 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring it is conducting on take-up of the Council Tax Reduction Low Income Household Exemption.

Question reference: S5W-09276

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many young carers signed up to participate in the social security experience panels.

Our recruitment drive came to an end on 12 May 2017 and I’m delighted that we have over 2,300 people across Scotland ready and willing to work with us as part of the Experience Panels.

Over 400 Experience Panels members have experience of Carer’s Allowance. The registration form did not collect information on the ages of members. The first thing that we will do with our panel members is carry out our ‘About You’ research. As part of this, we will collect more detailed demographic information, including age.

Question reference: S5W-09278

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the young carers allowance will be regarded as a new benefit for the purposes of section 28 of the Scotland Act 2016, and whether this will be delivered in the current financial year.

Question reference: S5W-09279

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the young carers allowance will be an extension of the carers benefit for the purposes of section 22 of the Scotland Act 2016.

Any extension of the carer’s benefit may be introduced through secondary legislation, using powers contained in the Social Security (Scotland) Act, if the Parliament agrees to pass this legislation and grant those powers. The Scottish Government is currently considering the introduction of a Young Carer’s Allowance to provide extra support to young people with significant caring responsibilities.

Question reference: S5W-09152

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-08890 by Jeanne Freeman on 4 May 2017, whether the next meeting of the Ministerial Working Group on Welfare will discuss using the powers devolved under the Scotland Act 2016 to vary the (a) allowances, (b) premiums, (c) components and (d) elements within reserved benefits.

Question reference: S5W-09103

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many Jobs Grants it has paid out since since September 2016.