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-17179

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who (a) applied, (b) interviewed and (c) were appointed for positions at the social security agency had a protected characteristic, broken down by characteristic.

Question reference: S5W-17177

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who (a) applied, (b) interviewed and (c) were appointed for positions at the social security agency were carers.

Question reference: S5W-17223

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16813 by Jeane Freeman on 5 June 2018, whether Social Security Scotland will have a debt management office in place when it is established.

Question reference: S5W-17222

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16813 by Jeane Freeman on 5 June 2018, when it will commence Chapter (a) 5 and (b) 6 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, and whether this will be restricted to the benefits and provisions listed at Chapter 2 and Part 3 for which it has executive competence when this competence is granted.

Question reference: S5W-17167

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many times meetings of the social security stakeholder reference groups have been (a) rearranged and (b) cancelled, and when each group last met.

The information requested is set out in the following table.

Reference Group	No of Meetings Cancelled	No of Meetings Rearranged	Date of Last meeting
Agency Operations Reference Group	0	1	7 March 2018
Best Start Grant Reference Group	0	0	31 January 2018
Carer Benefit Advisory Group	1	0	4 April 2018
Communications and Engagement Partnership Group	0	1	31 May 2018
Disability and Carers Benefits Expert Advisory Group	Information Not Held	Information Not Held	26 April 2018
Funeral Poverty and Funeral Expense Assistance Reference Group	0	0	24 April 2018
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefits Advisory Group	1	0	11 December 2017
Ill Health and Disability Benefits Stakeholder Reference Group	0	1	12 December 2017
Joint Ministerial Group on Welfare	0	1	14 June 2018
Young Carer Grant Working Group	0	1	26 April 2018

Question reference: S5W-17103

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff it has unsuccessfully attempted to procure under each of the Temporary and Interim Staff Services frameworks in each year since 2015-16, and for which roles these staff were required, broken down by directorate or agency.

Question reference: S5W-17104

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) temporary and (b) interim staff have been employed under each of the Temporary and Interim Staff Services frameworks in each year since 2015-16, and for which roles, broken down by directorate or agency.

Scottish Government does not hold all of the information requested and in the format requested, and this could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Some of the information requested has been provided where this is available and the following table shows the number of staff employed under each of the Temp and Interim Staff Services Frameworks for the year 2017-18. The information shows the total for Scottish Government and Executive Agencies. Information by Directorate is not available. While details of individual roles are not available, the following table provides a list of potential roles available under each Framework.

Organisation	Framework		Staff 2017-18
Accountant in Bankruptcy	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin West		3
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim Professionals		1
TOTAL			4
Disclosure Scotland	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin East		1
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin West		690
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim Professionals		2
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim IT		15
TOTAL			708
Education Scotland	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin East		9
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin West		11
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin North		1
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim Professionals		13
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim IT		6
TOTAL			40
Scottish Government	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin East		192
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin North		0
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin West		88
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Catering/Manual East		6
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Catering/Manual West		23
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim Professionals		158
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim IT		112
TOTAL			579
Scottish Prison Service	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin East		61
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin West		49
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin North		45
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Catering/Manual North		0
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Catering/Manual East		12
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Catering/Manual West		13
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim Professionals		11
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim IT		2
TOTAL			193
Scottish Public Pensions Agency	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin East		8
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim Professionals		5
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim IT		5
TOTAL			18
Student Awards Agency for Scotland	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin East		48
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin West		7
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Catering/Manual East		0
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim Professionals		9
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim IT		12
TOTAL			76
Transport Scotland	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin East		9
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Admin West		31
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim Professionals		4
	Temporary and Interim Staff - Interim IT		2
TOTAL			46
GRAND TOTAL			1664
FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROVISION OF INTERIM PROFESSIONAL STAFF SERVICES		FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROVISION OF TEMPORARY ADMIN STAFF SERVICES
EXAMPLE ROLE TYPES		EXAMPLE ROLE TYPES
Procurement Manager		Administrator
IT Manager		Clerical Officer
Facilities Manager		Customer Services Support Staff
Engineering Manager		Data Processor
HR Manager		Finance Officer
Finance Manager		Mail Clerk
Communications Manager		Personal Assistant
Marketing Manager		Project Administrator
Programme Manager		Receptionist
Project Manager		Technical Administrator
Policy Manager
HR Administrator
HR Specialist
Procurement Administrator
Procurement Officer
Finance Specialist
Market Analyst
Strategic Buyer
FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROVISION OF INTERIM IT STAFF SERVICES		FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROVISION OF CATERING & MANUAL STAFF SERVICES
EXAMPLE ROLE TYPES		EXAMPLE ROLE TYPES
Network Support Analyst		Catering Assistant
Systems Analyst		Chef
Business Analyst		Civic Amenity Site Operative
IT Support Officer		Cleaner
IT Team Leader		Cook
		Driver (non HGV)
		Electrician
		Executive Chef
		Gardener
		HGV Driver
		Hospitality Representative
		Janitor
		Kitchen Supervisor
		Labourer
		Refuse Loader
		Refuse Worker/Collector
		Skilled Labourer
		Stores Assistant
		Street/Road Sweeper
		Waitress/Waiter

Question reference: S5W-17176

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many social security experience panel members have not been engaged in the panels beyond the initial recruitment, and how it is attempting to re-engage with those individuals.

947 panel members have not engaged in the Experience Panels beyond the initial recruitment stage. It was made clear at the recruitment stage that members could participate as much or as little as they like.

For every piece of Experience Panels research we offer multiple channels for participation to account for different participation needs, including online, phone and face to face options. Our most recent survey has asked panel members for feedback about what is working well, and how we can improve our approach to engaging panel members. We are also working with key stakeholders to increase our engagement with these groups in our next large scale piece of research, and are reviewing non-participation to ascertain if there is anything further we can do.

As with all projects of this type, some panel members will choose not to engage preferring instead to simply be informed of what is happening, and a small number have opted to leave the panel. We will continue to recruit panel members on an annual basis to account for this.

Question reference: S5W-17168

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it last conducted a review of the privacy impact assessment for the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 in accordance with the impact assessment for the Bill dated 20 June 2017, and whether it will publish any such review.

Question reference: S5W-17174

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many social security experience panel (a) meetings and (b) communications have solely focused on the design of new social security benefits, beyond the About Your Benefits and You survey, which focused on past experiences of DWP benefits.

120 meetings have been held with the Experience Panels, other than the About Your Benefits and You survey. This includes benefits specific design work and cross cutting design for the new agency. This work is ongoing with further meetings planned.

20 communications have been sent to experience panel members, or groups within the experience panel about our research and opportunities to take part, beyond the About Your Benefits and You survey and focus groups.

This does not include follow up communications or communication with individual panel members on a one to one basis.