- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23532 by Jeane Freeman on 13 June 2019, whether Social Security Scotland will meet the cost of, or refund, any fees incurred while obtaining certification or evidence for the purposes of supporting an application for disability assistance.
Answer
Where Social Security Scotland collects information on behalf of an individual there will be no fee to the individual. We are developing our approach to how best Social Security Scotland can support the information gathering process, particularly in relation to accessing information that already exists in the public sector.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19213 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 October 2018, whether it will update the table to provide details of which private sector companies are suppliers to the Social Security Directorate and Social Security Scotland, broken down by whether they are (a) disability confident, (b) carer positive and (c) living wage accredited.
Answer
The suppliers referred to are listed in the following table with their current status in the following categories: (a) disability confident, (b) carer positive and (c) living wage accredited, Suppliers awarded contracts since October 2018 are now listed.
Suppliers | disability confident | carer positive | living wage accredited |
28 York Place Limited | No | No | No |
2i Limited | No | No | Yes |
2T Security Limited | No | No | No |
Aberdeen PA Limited t/a Scottish PA Network | No | No | No |
Albion Trust Management Limited | No | No | No |
ACCA | No | No | Yes |
APS Group (Scotland) Limited | Yes | No | Yes |
ASA Recruitment | No | No | Yes |
Association for Project Management (APM) | Yes | No | No |
Azure Support Services Limited | No | No | No |
Calton Heritage & Learning Centre | No | No | No |
Capita Business Services Limited - SWAN | No | No | Yes |
Capita Resourcing Limited | No | No | No |
Capital Solutions | No | No | Yes |
Carnegie Enterprise Limited | No | No | Yes |
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) | Yes | No | Yes |
CIPD Enterprises Limited | No | No | No |
CIPFA Business Limited | No | No | No |
Club Class Catering | No | No | No |
Computacenter United Kingdom Limited | Yes | No | No |
Cordia | Yes | No | No |
Craigforth HCAS Limited | No | No | No |
Daisy Communications Limited | No | No | No |
Dcal Consulting Limited | No | No | No |
Demys Limited | No | No | No |
Diona (UK) Limited | No | No | Yes |
Dod's Parliamentary Communications | No | No | No |
DXC Technology | No | No | No |
Eagle Couriers Scotland Limited | Yes | No | No |
Edinburgh Training & Conference Venue | No | No | No |
Elite Training & Consultancy (Scotland) Limited | No | No | No |
ExecSpace Limited | No | No | No |
Fannan & Scott Limited t/a Northern Services | No | No | No |
Flexiform Business Furniture Limited | No | No | Yes |
FPSG Connect Limited | No | No | Yes |
Gartner UK Limited | No | No | Yes |
Gate Worldwide Limited, The | No | No | No |
Global Language Services Limited | No | No | Yes |
Government Knowledge Training Limited | No | No | No |
Grand Central Hotel (Glasgow) | No | No | No |
Harvey Nash Consulting (Scotland) Limited | Yes | No | Yes |
Heart of Midlothian Plc | No | No | Yes |
Holyrood Communications Limited | No | No | No |
Horsecross Arts (Perth) Limited | No | No | No |
HP Inc. UK Limited | No | No | No |
i Train Scotland | No | No | No |
IBM UK Limited | No | No | Yes |
IET Services Limited | No | No | No |
Insight Direct UK Limited | No | No | No |
Institute for Management Studies (Scotland), The | No | No | No |
Jonathan Elliott t/a Talk Action | No | No | No |
Jones Lang La Salle Limited | No | No | Yes |
KSO Research Limited | No | No | Yes |
LA Catering | No | No | No |
Leidos Innovations UK Limited | No | No | No |
Lesar UK Limited | No | No | No |
Live Borders Limited | No | No | No |
MacRoberts, Solicitors | Yes | No | Yes |
Melting Pot | No | No | Yes |
Misco UK Limited | No | No | No |
Mitrefinch Limited | No | No | No |
Morton Fraser | No | No | No |
Neatebox Limited | Yes | No | No |
New Ricoh UK Limited | No | No | No |
nuVideo Limited | No | No | No |
ORB International | No | No | No |
ORB International KMS Limited | No | No | No |
Parity Professionals Limited | No | No | Yes |
Plain English Campaign Limited | No | No | No |
Pluralsight LLC | No | No | No |
QA Limited | Yes | No | No |
Quo Imus Limited T/A QI Consulting | No | No | No |
Radisson SAS Edinburgh Hotel | No | No | No |
Ridgeway Consulting | No | No | No |
Ross Promotional Products Limited | No | No | No |
Rostec Consultancy Limited | No | No | No |
Salesforce.com Sarl | No | No | No |
Sapphire Technologies Limited | No | No | No |
Scottish Storytelling Centre | No | No | No |
Security Services Group | No | No | No |
Service Graphics Limited | No | No | No |
Sopra Steria Limited | No | No | Yes |
Spring Technology Staffing Services Limited | No | No | Yes |
STUC Training Limited | No | No | Yes |
Taylor McKenzie Research & Marketing Limited | No | No | Yes |
Tayside Contracts | Yes | No | Yes |
The Hub Events Limited | No | No | No |
The OR Society | No | No | No |
The Stationery Office (TSO) | No | No | No |
TMP (UK) Limited | No | No | No |
TNS UK Limited t/a TNS BMRB | No | No | No |
Trustmarque Solutions Limited | No | No | No |
Viking Direct Limited | No | No | No |
XMA Limited | No | No | No |
Since October 2018 | | | |
Alan McGrgor & Associates | No | No | No |
Allpay Limited | No | No | Yes |
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Inc | No | No | No |
Barclaycard Commercial Payments | Yes | No | Yes |
Capital Document Solutions | No | No | No |
Civic Computing Ltd | No | No | Yes |
Deloitte LLP | No | No | Yes |
Diona UK Ltd | No | No | No |
Dovetail Enterprises (1993) Ltd | No | No | No |
Ent Serv UK Ltd | No | No | No |
Equifax Ltd | No | No | Yes |
Global Connections Scotland Ltd | No | No | No |
GMG Risk Strategies Ltd | No | No | Yes |
Government Digital Service | Yes | No | Yes |
IFF Research Ltd | No | No | No |
Inch Architecture | No | No | No |
KPMG LLP | Yes | No | Yes |
LeasePlan UK Ltd | No | No | Yes |
Lorien | Yes | No | Yes |
MD Consulting Ltd | No | No | No |
Michael Laing Architects | No | No | No |
NCC Group Cyber Security Services | No | No | No |
New Verve Consulting Ltd | No | No | No |
Northern Services | No | No | No |
Ordinance Survey | No | No | No |
Pertemps | No | No | No |
QA Symphony | No | No | No |
Rocket Science (UK) Ltd | No | No | No |
Royal Mail | No | No | No |
Softcat | No | No | Yes |
Softelligence UK Ltd | No | No | No |
Venesky Brown | No | No | No |
Whitespace (Scotland) Ltd | No | No | No |
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 19 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23502 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 June 2019, in light of the responses to questions S5W-23030 and S5W-23034 not containing the information that was requested, whether it will confirm when analysis of all relevant legislation, regulations, guidance and case law began or was commissioned.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-23504 on 11 June 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at .
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 19 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23515 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 June 2019, whether the number of roles has been modelled by the programme as part of its service design for disability assistance.
Answer
Information regarding staffing, including disability assistance, is available in the Outline Business Case for the Social Security Agency in Scotland published in April 2017, which is based on existing service design in DWP ( ). The Social Security Programme is currently developing its own service design for disability assistance, including roles such as case managers.
Information regarding staffing, including disability assistance, is available in the Outline Business Case for the Social Security Agency in Scotland published in April 2017, which is based on existing service design in DWP ( ). The Social Security Programme is currently developing its own service design for disability assistance, including roles such as case managers.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23532 by Jeane Freeman on 13 June 2019, whether the GP contract limits the fees that can be charged.
Answer
The GP contract recognises that GPs perform some services for their patients that are not covered by the contract. As such the contract does not limit or set fees for these services.
Where a patient requests a report or certificate falling outside the GP contract, the BMA advises that the fee set should be reasonable, transparent and justifiable. Patients should also be forewarned of the fee level before the service is agreed and provided.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government when Social Security Scotland will report to provide transparency on expenditure over £25,000.
Answer
For 2018-19 (1 September 2018 – 31 March 2019) Social Security Scotland operating expenditure,
excluding payroll, was met by the Social Security Directorate and then
recharged to Social Security Scotland monthly. All payments over £25,000 are
then included in the Scottish Government spend over £25,000 publication for the
2018-19 financial year.
For 2019-20 and thereafter, Social Security Scotland will report on expenditure over £25,000 separately from the Social
Security Directorate, in accordance with the timescales set out in the Public
Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government how much the Social Security Directorate has paid to IBM (a) under the Low Income Benefits Agile Service Design contract since 1 November 2018 and (b) for other services.
Answer
The financial data requested falls within financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20. We have not yet finalised our financial accounts for those years, and these remain subject to external audit, so we are not able to provide this information at this time. Our annual report and accounts will be published shortly.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 13 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what provision the GP contract makes for (a) the work involved with and (b) fees in relation to providing benefits certification and supporting evidence, including letters, medical records, reports and care plans, to assist with PIP claims, and what discretion the contract allows GPs to exercise in relation to this.
Answer
The GP contract does not make provision for the work involved with and fees in relations to providing benefits certification and supporting evidence. The GP contract does allow GPs to charge fees for this work and they are required to provide some certificates by legislation.
The Scottish Government supports the placing of welfare advisors in health and social care settings. Welfare advisers sited in primary care can provide significant returns in terms of additional welfare benefits claimed by patients. Social Security Scotland's local services will support this network by working collaboratively with advisors so referrals can be made to support clients with their Scottish benefits; helping maximise their incomes. Additionally at the beginning of the new Disability Assistance application process there will be a focus on gathering supporting information to aid quality decision making, using existing data where possible. We are currently exploring a range of options for other public agencies to provide supporting document for client claims, lessening the administrative burden on individuals.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2019
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there is a median disability pay gap of 26% in Social Security Scotland.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2019
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-23032 and S5W-23034 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 May 2019, when the review process began or is due to begin, and when it is expected to conclude.
Answer
There is no specific start or end date to the consideration and review of guidance, case law and regulations as it is part of
the iterative policy and legislative development process.
