Questions and answers

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 ��˿�� 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-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-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.

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.

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-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-22057

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statements in its position paper on Short Term Assistance, for what reason it decided to use the civil legal test of "balance of probabilities" to determine whether to reduce or stop an individual's payments during a fraud investigation, and whether it considered using the criminal legal test as part of this decision.

Question reference: S5W-22084

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment in its disability assistance assessments policy position paper that "we therefore intend to provide a proportion of assessors with additional training in the impact of mental health conditions and learning disabilities", what proportion of assessors will have this additional training, and how this will compare with the current proportion of assessors with such training.

Question reference: S5W-22089

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 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, how it defines non-engagement with a light-touch review, and on what other occasions Social Security Scotland will have the power to stop a person's disability assistance.

Question reference: S5W-22091

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 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, other than by way of a change of circumstances, what standard of evidence will be required to justify a review before the indicated award review date as a result of information being provided to Social Security Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-22088

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment in its severe disablement allowance (SDA) position paper that, "In 2018 a survey was issued to Experience Panel members inviting them to share their experience of SDA. Although only a small number of responses were received, members did not raise any significant concerns or identify areas for change", which panel report contains the responses, and whether it will publish the background or source data.