Parliamentary questions

Mark Griffin

2,186 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

16 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a catch-up pupil equity fund for vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answer · John Swinney: Closing the poverty-related attainment gap remains a defining mission for this Government. Recognising the impact the pandemic is having on all of our children and young people, but especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, I announced last week that w…

16 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it was advised by Momentum Scotland that the service was considering potential redundancies, and what action it has taken to prevent any job losses.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government was made aware of Momentums intention to cease operations on Fair Start Scotland in April 2020. Since then the Scottish Government has worked closely with Momentum to ensure there is no disruption to service delivery, both in terms of …

16 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to ensure that all staff working for (a) Fair Start Scotland contractors and (b) Momentum Scotland who are selected for redundancy are redeployed to another provider under the TUPE regulations or directly redeployed to it.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Governments main priority is to ensure staff working on Fair Start Scotland are retained where possible, as their skills and expertise are essential in meeting the current demand for increased support in the employability market. In this situati…

16 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure the continuity of the Fair Start Scotland service if Momentum Scotland was to cease trading.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: In the event of a prime delivery partner ceasing operations on Fair Start Scotland, the Scottish Governments main priorities are to ensure continuity of the service with minimal impact on its participants, and to protect delivery partner staff where possible.…

11 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated cost is of meeting its duties to communicate in an inclusive way as set out in section (a) 6 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020, (b) 6 (7)(b) of the Consumer Scotland Act 2020 and (c) 4(2) of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, and what budget it has al…

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government is seeking to meet its duties to communicate in an inclusive way by embedding inclusive communication principles into the design of its systems and processes rather than create separate products and services. When producing or publishi…

11 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to meet its duties to communicate in an inclusive way as set out in section (a) 6 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020, (b) 6 (7)(b) of the Consumer Scotland Act 2020 and (c) 4(2) of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Inclusive communication means sharing information in a way that everybody can understand. It is both important and is a right. Scottish Government’s Action Plan, A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People , published in 2016, states that in Scotland we want commun…

10 Jun 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how blended learning will take account of families with more than one child.

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is doing to re-model its estimates of how many children the Scottish Child Payment will remove from poverty, and what the (a) coverage and (b) targeting will be of the payment.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: At this stage, the impact of COVID-19 on poverty, including coverage and targeting, of Scottish Child Payment by 2023-24 is highly speculative. We will look to prepare our models’ functionality in the context of COVID-19 to enable us to produce poverty analys…

1 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff have been recruited to Social Security Scotland since the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020, and how this compares with the recruitment forecasts that had set before that date.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: All new and most live recruitment campaigns for staff joining the Scottish Government were paused when the lockdown measures were introduced. However, Social Security Scotland has been able to start 202 directly employed staff into key operational roles the p…

29 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with the UK Government regarding the potential interaction of grants made from the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund and the Universal Credit taper rate.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: We have made and will continue to make representations to the UK Government about the impact of COVID-19 in Scotland and the gaps in existing schemes. The Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund (NSEHF) scheme is specifically aimed at those who have been unable to…

29 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to widening the eligibility criteria for the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund to include people who have claimed Universal Credit.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund is only available in Scotland. It is aimed at providing hardship support to those who have lost work due to COVID-19 but are ineligible for support through the UK Government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme because…

29 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in each local authority area it estimates are eligible for the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund; how many applications there have been from each area, and how many (a) have been approved, (b) are in process, (c) have been withdrawn and (d) have been unsuccessful, broken …

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: On 30 April, we launched £100m of additional grant funding for business. This funding is divided across 3 business support funds, offering targeted support to the creative, tourism and hospitality sector, pivotal SMEs vital to their local economies, and the n…

29 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will close down the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund to new applicants.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government is focussed on supporting as many people and businesses across Scotland who are in hardship as we can. We are actively engaging with Local Authorities on demand for the Newly Self-Employed Hardship fund and no decision has been taken …

29 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to each local authority to pay grants from the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The following table notes the allocation to each local authority to administer the Newly Self-Employer Hardship Fund. The funding apportioned to each Local Authority was done on the basis of using each LA’s share of total new PAYE/VAT registrations in 2018. …

29 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many grants from the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund in each local authority area have been paid out, also broken down by their total value.

28 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the British Association of Removers regarding its document, Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance on moving home.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government had to engage very quickly with stakeholders to prepare the Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance on moving home , published on 31 March 2020. The British Association of Removers were not directly involved. However, we are working with a wi…

28 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will update its document, Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance on moving home.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government published guidance on moving home during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak on 31 March and this guidance is still in force: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-moving-home/ . A relaxation of restriction…

28 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to safeguard (a) vulnerable and (b) autistic and other neurodivergent people from abuse and exploitation (i) during and (ii) following the COVID-19 lockdown.

Answer · Clare Haughey: To safeguard vulnerable people during the Covid-19 lockdown guidance for Chief Officers and Adult Protection Committees on adult support and protection has been published https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-adult-support-and-protection-gui…

28 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 120 Funeral Support Payments that were rejected in March 2020 were denied (a) after lockdown and (b) due to failure to provide paperwork within a sufficient timescale.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Around 35 applications for Funeral Support Payment were denied from the date lockdown commenced in Scotland on 23 March 2020. We do not currently hold data of a sufficient quality to ascertain how many of the denied applications were due to failure to provide…