Parliamentary questions
Mark Griffin
2,186 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
1 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the £10 million budgeted in 2019-20 for social security capital expenditure is expected to cover.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The £10 million capital funding in the 2019-20 Social Security Directorate budget is allocated to the development of IT systems.
1 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many social security programme staff have recorded (a) short- and (b) long-term absences in the last year.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: 88 directly employed staff in the Programme Management and Delivery division recorded a short term sick absence during the year 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019. 10 directly employed staff in the Programme Management and Delivery division recorded a long term s…
1 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the expected service delivery date is of the social security advocacy service, and whether the delivery will be aligned with the introduction of disability assistance for children and young people in summer 2020.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government is working towards having the advocacy provision in place for the delivery of the first devolved disability benefits in 2020.
1 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that the bidder selected to run the advocacy service for the Scottish social security system (a) recruits and (b) trains sufficient numbers of advocates in time for the service go live.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Any procurement process would require bidders to indicate capacity to provide advocacy support and to demonstrate how they would intend to recruit and train staff. This would be assessed as part of tender evaluation.
1 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what lessons have been learned and information has been shared from the process to develop and introduce of advocacy services under Section 122 of the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 in the preparation of the advocacy service for the Scottish social security system prior informat…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Social Security officials have liaised with colleagues responsible for the development and introduction of Children's Hearing advocacy services and shared knowledge and experience where this was relevant.
1 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) private, (b) public and (c) third sector organisations have (i) responded to and (ii) requested information regarding the prior information notice for the advocacy service for the Scottish social security system.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Ten third sector organisations responded to the prior information notice/request for information. The number of bodies requesting information cannot be given as the Public Contracts Scotland portal anonymises questions.
1 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions and preparatory work it has conducted with advocacy providers in advance of the publication of the advocacy service for the Scottish social security system prior information notice (PIN) to aid their ability to respond to the PIN.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Prior Information Notice (PIN) published on 3 April alerted interested parties to the Scottish Government's intention to establish an Advocacy Service for the Scottish Social Security system. Alongside the PIN, the Scottish Government published a "Request…
1 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, if the bidder selected to run the Scottish social security system also provides social security advice, how it will ensure that the advocacy services for the system are (a) delivered, (b) quality assured and (c) audited separately from such advice.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Reporting and operating arrangements would be agreed with the contractor or contractors as part of any procurement process.
1 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22076 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 March 2019, and in light of the commentary in the report by Auditor General, Social Security: Implementing the devolved powers, which states that Industrial Injuries Disabled Benefit will be delivered by the DW…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Yes.
30 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how much it will cost the Department of Health and Social Care to deliver welfare foods under agency arrangements in Scotland.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Scottish Government will pay for the costs incurred for delivery of welfare foods under agency agreement with Department of Health and Social Care. The costs for financial year 2019-20 are estimated to be in the region of £45,000.
26 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the role of the mental function champions in developing disability assistance assessments.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government will ensure that all assessors are suitably qualified to carry out their role, with a proportion of assessors specifically trained in the impact of mental health conditions. Specialist Advisors will also be available to provide informa…
26 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether entitlement for short-term assistance will exist for the period immediately after a new social security determination is made and up to the request for a redetermination or an appeal is made, and, if entitlement will exist for this period, whether the assistance will only be made…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Section 36 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 provides that Short-term Assistance will be available once a request for a re-determination or an appeal is made. In line with a rights based approach, Short-term Assistance will only be made available onc…
26 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether short-term social security assistance will be made available as soon as a request for a social security redetermination is first communicated to the agency or once the completed redetermination request is submitted in full.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Section 36 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 provides that Short-term Assistance will be available once a request for a? re-determination or an appeal is made. This is considered to be when the individual has submitted the re-determination or appeal …
26 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the anticipated points of contact are in the process of requesting a social security redetermination, and whether it will publish a flowchart of these.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Social Security Scotland (the Agency) currently provide re-determination rights for all appealable benefits under the Social Security Act 2018. Clients can request this either by phone or completion of the re-determination form provided with first determinati…
26 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the National Audit Office report, Investigation into overpayments of Carer’s Allowance.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government notes the publication of the National Audit Office report ‘Investigation into overpayments of Carer’s Allowance’ and the Department for Work and Pension’s (DWP) actions to address the issues it identifies. In September 2018 I wr…
24 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many responses have been received by the Consultation on Improving Disability Assistance in Scotland.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: At 24 April 2019, 123 responses had been received on the Consultation on Disability Assistance in Scotland. The Consultation is due to close on 28 May 2019.
11 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether a person’s account of the impact of their condition or impairment on their functionality is sufficient to obtain an accurate decision on entitlement to disability assistance in most cases.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22237 on 28 March 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/…
10 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20261 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 November 2018, how much it forecasts (a) the Social Security Directorate and (b) Social Security Scotland will pay to the DWP in 2019-20, broken down by cost type.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: a. The payments to be made by the Social Security Directorate to the DWP for implementation costs are currently subject to ongoing negotiations between the two organisations; and must complete the rigorous scrutiny process to ensure fairness to the tax payer …
10 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish all advice notes on social security matters produced by the Disability and Carers Benefits Advisory Group.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government intends to publish advice from the Disability and Carers Benefits Expert Advisory Group after all recommendations on that issue are complete and the policies finalised.
10 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the social security principle in the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 that “social security is itself a human right and essential to the realisation of other human rights”, what measures are in place to ensure that a human rights-based approach directly informs the develo…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The social security charter sets out the Scottish Government’s commitment to deliver a human rights approach. This is being embedded in all aspects of our work to build a new social security system for Scotland including policy, guidance and regulations. Fur…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comments by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People at the meeting of the Social Security Committee on 4 October 2018 (Official Report, col.6), what progress has been made to ensure that video recordings of face-to-face disability assessments are provid…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: We are inviting views on our approach to assessments in our Consultation on Disability Assistance. Responses to the consultation will inform policy development. The consultation can be found at: https://consult.gov.scot/social-security/improving-disability-as…
3 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment in its cold spell and winter heating assistance position paper regarding Winter Heating Assistance that "No one will lose out as a result of the replacement payment", whether this commitment applies to people who (a) are currently entitled and (b) will have futur…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Our position paper clearly states that we expect that delivery of Winter Heating Assistance will continue on the basis of existing eligibility.
3 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment in its cold spell and winter heating assistance position paper regarding Winter Heating Assistance that "No one will lose out as a result of the replacement payment", whether the value of the assistance will be maintained in (a) cash and (b) real terms.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: In order to ensure a safe and secure transition, Winter Heating Assistance will be introduced on the same terms as the Winter Fuel Payment currently paid by the UK Government.
3 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many social security (a) client and (b) official errors it has recorded, and how many of the official errors were the result of (i) staff, (ii) technical issues with IT systems and (iii) erroneous data provided by another government department.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: To meet disclosure control requirements the following numbers have been rounded to the nearest five observations. Between 1 September 2018 and 5 April 2019 the Agency recorded less than five client errors and around 10 official errors from over 60,000 paymen…
3 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the projected staffing requirements are of (a) Social Security Scotland and (b) its social security directorate for each quarter of 2019-20.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Projected Staffing Requirements - Social Security Scotland The figures in the following table are the projected Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff numbers for Social Security Scotland for each quarter of financial year 2019-20. These figures are based on curre…
22 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22084 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 March 2019, whether the proportion of face-to-face assessors trained to conduct the assessments for individuals whose primary disabling condition is a mental health condition or learning disability will be equi…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: As stated in the answer to question S5W-22084, the Scottish Government will undertake modelling to determine the proportion of assessors who will be required to undergo specialist training.
20 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22077 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 March 2019, how any remaining working age Disability Living Allowance cases will be handled for the purposes of transfer; what form of disability assistance these cases will be transferred to, and at what stage…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: I refer to the previous answer to S5W-22077. As DWP have not confirmed how many working-age people in receipt of Disability Living Allowance will not have been migrated to Personal Independence Payment at the date of transfer of Executive Competence, we canno…
20 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22046 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 March 2019, how many of the older people included in the estimate are Attendance Allowance cases (a) with entitlement and (b) in payment, and whether older people who are entitled to but not receiving Attendanc…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The forecast of 89,800 provided in response to question S5W-22046 included cases in payment and with entitlement. We do not have forecasts which separately model the off flow in cases between "with entitlement” and “in payment” for existing cases to be transf…
20 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22046 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 March 2019, for what reason the estimate is lower than the August 2018 Scotland Attendance Allowance (a) cases with entitlement caseload of 146,201 and (b) case in payment caseload of 126,200.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: From the point that Disability Assistance for older people is launched there will be no new Attendance Allowance cases. The caseload to be migrated will therefore reduce as clients cease to claim the benefit prior to the cases being transferred.
20 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22047 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 March 2019, for what reason its social security position papers and consultation on disability assistance do not detail, or refer to, its plans for a Scottish version of Disability Living Allowance for people o…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Disability Assistance consultation is focussed on the new benefits we will be introducing in Scotland. People over 65 applying for Disability Assistance for the first time will not be able to apply for Disability Living Allowance and as outlined in the co…