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-21196

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle sheep worrying in Midlothian.

Dog attacks on sheep, wherever they occur, is an issue that the Scottish Government takes very seriously. We fully support the work to tackle this matter being undertaken by the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC), chaired by Police Scotland, including their 5 month campaign to highlight the issue, launched on 8 January 2019. We have also commissioned Ipsos MORI to undertake research investigating the incidence and impact of dog attacks on sheep in Scotland and looking at potential strategies to prevent it happening.

Question reference: S5W-21101

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 29 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, in the last 12 months, 846 appointments at the NHS Borders' child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) unit were recorded as "did not attend", and what action it is taking to promote the importance of attending.

Our 2018 Programme for Government has mental health at its very heart. It contains a package of measures to support positive mental health and prevent mental ill health, and is backed by £250 million of additional investment. There is a clear focus on children and young people’s mental health, and particularly on preventative approaches and early intervention. We want our young people to get the right help at the right time.

We expect Boards and their partners to be working with parents, guardians and other responsible adults to ensure that children and young people are able to access services, and reducing DNA is part of this work. We are aware that NHS Borders is putting in place new arrangements to ensure that appointments are confirmed, and for new patients and clients SMS text reminders are being sent out.

Question reference: S5W-20955

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action the Scottish Government is taking to improve rail services on the east coast.

The Scottish Government is supporting a range projects to improve services on the East Coast.

We are committed to introducing two new stations at East Linton and Reston to support accessibility for growing communities.

With £475 million being invested in ScotRail’s rolling stock, and the ongoing introduction of new Class 385 and 125 Intercity trains, this will allow further strengthening of services from both the Borders and Fife circle to Edinburgh. This has been made possible by the Scottish Government decision to retain 22 extra trains to increase both services and seating capacity.

Additionally the introduction of the Class 125 High-speed trains ScotRail have increased capacity operating an additional 20,000 seats a day on the Aberdeen/Dundee – Edinburgh/Glasgow corridor.

We are aware performance across the country, not least the East Coast services, is below the challenging but achievable punctuality standards we expect and demand from the ScotRail Alliance. The Scottish Government has now used contractual levers within the ScotRail Franchise Agreement to issue a formal notice requesting ScotRail submit a Remedial Plan. This plan is due to be submitted on the 18th February 2019.

Cross border services on the East Coast are the responsibility of the UK Government.

Question reference: S5W-20956

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) complaints resolution and (b) casework assistance procedures Social Security Scotland makes available to (i) an MSP, (ii) an MP, (iii) a councillor and (iv) other elected representative seeking to contact it on the behalf of a constituent.

The Chief Executive of Social Security Scotland wrote to all Members of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Members of the UK Parliament in September 2018 to inform them of the establishment of a dedicated Parliamentarian advice line. The advice line is available to MSPs, MPs, councillors and other elected representatives seeking to contact Social Security Scotland on the behalf of a constituent.

Question reference: S5W-20814

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19871 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 November 2018, how many people received carers allowance supplement (a) by 14 December, (b) between 15 and 24 December and (c) after 24 December 2018; how many payments remain outstanding, and by what date these will be made.

Official statistics on the total number of Carers Allowance Supplement payments made for those eligible for the payment in April 2018 will be published on 19 February 2019, and for those eligible in October 2018 official statistics will be published in May 2019. In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, these official statistics will be published at the same time as DWP’s National Statistics publication ‘DWP Benefit Statistics’, which contains statistics on Carer’s Allowance, to ensure neither set of statistics gives an indication of the nature of the other in advance of publication. These official statistics on Carer’s Allowance Supplement will be available via the Scottish Government website.

The following table shows the percentage of payments that have been made for Carers Allowance Supplement in December:

Date	% of payments made
(a) by 14 December	99.9
(b) between 15 December and 24 December	0.1
(c) after 24 December	<0.1
Total	100

There are 10 payments of Carer’s Allowance Supplement outstanding from December. These are payments that were rejected by the bank and require information from the client in order to be re-issued. Payments will be made once clients have provided the required additional information to Social Security Scotland.

Question reference: S5O-02815

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the new required qualifications for childcare practitioners.

Question reference: S5W-20587

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the £41.5 million for the administration of Social Security Scotland will be spent.

Social Security Scotland’s current indicative allocation of the 19-20 budget is as follows:

	Notes	£m
Staff costs		20.1
Formal Agreements with DWP (exc. VAT)	1	6.1
Information Communication Technology		5.6
Facilities & Property		4.2
Shared service recharges	2	2.9
Operational office costs		2.6
Total		41.5

1 Scottish Ministers have asked DWP to administer Carer’s Allowance on their behalf under an Agency Agreement. Other formal agreements include allowing for verifying information for Best Start Grant applicants including identity and eligibility. These administrative costs will be recharged to Social Security Scotland.

2 Shared service recharges are payments to the Scottish Government for the use of IT, HR, and Procurement services.

The final allocations of the budget will be decided in March 2019 as part of the Agency’s business planning cycle.

Question reference: S5W-20758

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will expand the scope of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry to cover the activities of sports clubs.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry’s remit was set in 2015 following extensive consultation and engagement with survivors of in care child abuse and other interested parties. The issue of the scope of the Inquiry in relation to non-residential settings such as sports clubs has been raised previously. In my statement to Parliament on 17 November 2016 I set out my reasoning that a wider remit to include abuse in other settings would take many more years to conclude, and it would fail to respond to those survivors of in care abuse who campaigned for many years for such an Inquiry. A minor amendment was made at that time to make clear the scope includes the abuse of children in care wherever that occurred.

Question reference: S5W-20580

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the Social Security Scotland headquarters in Dundee will become fully operational.

Social Security Scotland has secured interim accommodation within Dundee City Council’s administrative Headquarters, Dundee House. This facility is fully operational, delivering Carer’s Allowance Supplement and Best Start Grant.

The capacity of Social Security Scotland’s headquarters will continue to grow in line with the programme to deliver new and non-reserved benefits to the people of Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-20608

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for its Best Start Grant were received in the week beginning 10 December 2018.