Mark Griffin

18 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which elements of the Ardochrig super-battery project near Whitelee Windfarm will be imported, and what assessment it has made of the project's international supply chain.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-23863 on 26 July 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28…

18 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs will be (a) directly and (b) indirectly created through (i) supply chain benefits, (ii) local employment opportunities and (iii) other means by the Ardochrig super-battery project near Whitelee Windfarm, also broken down by how many will be located (A) in South Lanarkshire,…

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: ScottishPower Renewables Limited applied to Scottish Ministers on 12 February 2019 for consent to construct and operate the electricity generating station the member refers to under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. The generating station was granted co…

18 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the infrastructure of the Ardochrig super-battery project near Whitelee Windfarm it will establish using UK capital content.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-23863 on 26 July 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28…

18 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gave to (a) supply chain benefits and (b) local employment opportunities during the process of consent for the Ardochrig super-battery project near Whitelee Windfarm.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-23863 on 26 July 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28…

18 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what local employment Scottish Power has committed to create during the manufacture, construction, installation and operation of the Ardochrig super-battery project near Whitelee Windfarm.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-23863 on 26 July 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28…

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

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 · Shirley-Anne Somerville: 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 …

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

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 · Jeane Freeman: 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 con…

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what procurement exercises the social security programme has initiated, broken down by the cost of each, and which (a) are ongoing, (b) have been completed and (c) were terminated.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Scottish Government publish their contract award notices on Public Contracts Scotland, supporting the principles of transparency and openness. This applies to regulated procurements (£50,000 goods/services and £2 million works). Details can be found here Pub…

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the publication of the contract notice for the advocacy service for the Scottish Social Security system did not take place on 3 June 2019.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The social security advocacy “Prior Information Notice” (PIN) published in March provided an estimated issue date for the invitation to tender of 3 June. This was indicative only and was not a formal commitment to issue on this date.  

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the advocacy service for the Scottish Social Security system invitation to tender has been issued and, if (a) so, on what date and (b) not, when it will do so.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government intends to issue the invitation to tender for social security advocacy support in the autumn of 2019.

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23316 by Jamie Hepburn on 6 June 2019, what the race pay gap is in (a) the Scottish Government, (b) its agencies, (c) NHS boards and (d) all other public bodies, broken down by public body.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The following table show the mean and median ethnicity gap for a) Scottish Government core and b) the Agencies for which it holds pay data, except for those bodies where only a small number of staff within these organisations that have self-declared their eth…

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to close its (a) race and (b) disability pay gap, and which of its agencies take a different approach.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government is committed to working in partnership with unions in conducting an equality audit on pay at the Scottish Government across protected characteristics.   We are analysing the roles performed by our workforce to better understand hor…

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23331 by Jamie Hepburn on 6 June 2019, how it measures the race pay gap of (a) the Scottish Government and its agencies and (b) the (i) third and (ii) private sector.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Scottish Government staff have the ability to voluntarily self-declare any ethnicity through our online eHR system. There is an option to ‘Prefer not to say’. Each person’s total annual remuneration is calculated by adding their salary as at a specified date…

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23317 by Jamie Hepburn on 6 June 2019, how it works with the private and third sectors to support them in reporting on their race pay gap. 

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: As employment law is currently reserved, the Scottish Government cannot oblige employers in the third and private sector to report their ethnicity pay gaps. However, the Scottish Government is committed to working with key stakeholders to tackle the ethnicity…

12 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-20752 and S5W-20753 by Aileen Campbell on 15 January 2019, whether it now holds information on what the verified financial gain (VFG) is to date of its Financial Health Check service and, if so, what this is.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: Financial gains of £2,503,653.02 have been recorded for the first six months of operation from November 2018 to April 2019.

11 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23316 by Jamie Hepburn on 6 June 2019, what the median salary was for each of the public bodies.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Table 1 gives the median salary for each of the public bodies referred to in S5W-23316. The following data given is reliant on voluntary self-declaration of disabled or non-disabled status. Table 1 Median Salary as at 31 Dec 2018  Disabled       Non-Disab…

11 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23316 by Jamie Hepburn on 6 June 2019, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of staff in each of the public bodies there were in each pay band.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Table 1 shows the total headcount for employees in Scottish Government Core, and the public bodies referred to in S5W-23316. A breakdown of staff numbers per band is also given. For the purposes of this table, “others” refers to members of the Senior Civil Se…

11 Jun 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there is a median disability pay gap of 26% in Social Security Scotland.

7 Jun 2019 · Written Question

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, guidan…

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: 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 http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/2…

7 Jun 2019 · Written Question

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 · Shirley-Anne Somerville: 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 ( https://www.gov.scot/publication…

6 Jun 2019 · Written Question

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 response to question S5W-23030 not containing the information that was requested, whether it will confirm what analysis of reserved disability benefit (a) legislation, (b) regulations,…

6 Jun 2019 · Written Question

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 · Shirley-Anne Somerville: 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 annua…

6 Jun 2019 · Written Question

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…

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: 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. Sup…

6 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when Social Security Scotland will report to provide transparency on expenditure over £25,000.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: 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…

31 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the social security experience panels research on seldom-heard groups did not take place as planned in 2018-19.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The social security experience panels research with seldom heard groups is currently taking place as planned.

31 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what social security experience panel projects have been planned for April 2019 to March 2020, and whether it will publish an updated research plan.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Experience Panel's research plan has been published on the Scottish Government website. This contains details of Experience Panel projects planned between April 2019 to March 2020. The plan can be accessed here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/social…

31 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17169 by Jeane Freeman on 22 June 2018, whether it will provide (a) a final breakdown for (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19, (b) the figure since April 2019 to date and (c) its estimated final figure for 2019-20.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate costs, exceeding the £600 threshold. For further information on our annual spend, please refer to the following publications: The Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts for the year end…

29 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23072 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 May 2019, what the latest date a decision must be made by the programme to (a) extend the contract with IBM and (b) make arrangements for alternative procurement to begin.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: In order to extend the contract, the Scottish Government would need to give IBM at least one month’s notice prior to the initial end date. Any programme decision to extend the contract would need to be taken in sufficient time to support this deadline. There…

29 May 2019 · Written Question

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 …

Answer · Jeane Freeman: 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 certificate…

29 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) case managers, (b) specialist advisors and (c) assessors Social Security Scotland expects to employ based on the proposed arrangements set out in the consultation on disability assistance, and whether the number of roles has been modelled by the Social Security Programme.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Information regarding staffing, including disability assistance and assessments, 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 (https://www.gov.sc…