Parliamentary questions
Mark Griffin
2,186 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
30 Jul 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent specialist nurses in organ donation have been employed in each hospital in each year since 2011, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: While specialist nurses are available at all times to provide organ donation services where these can be facilitated in Scotland, information is not centrally held by ISD at this level of detail. The number of specialist nurses is published quarterly and the…
30 Jul 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent specialist nurses in organ donation are employed in each hospital, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: While specialist nurses are available at all times to provide organ donation services where these can be facilitated in Scotland, information is not centrally held by ISD at this level of detail. ISD Workforce collects data on the number of specialist nurses…
17 Jul 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Disability and Carers Benefits Expert Advisory Group's advice that consent should be obtained from recipients of carers allowance in order for the DWP to share data with the Scottish Government for the purpose of paying the carers allowance supplement.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Minister for Social Security wrote to the Chair, Disability and Carer Benefits Expert Advisory Group on 11 June 2018 to advise there is no requirement to obtain consent from recipients of Carer's Allowance. The sharing of data between DWP and Scottish Gov…
12 Jul 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland (CMO) (a) had with the Minister for Social Security, following the CMO's letter of 27 March 2018, and (b) has had with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People, since the CMO's letter of 26 June 2018, regarding the…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: A meeting between the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland and the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People is scheduled to take place on 28 August 2018.
12 Jul 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consultation the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland has conducted with registered medical practitioners to satisfy the provision in paragraph 3, chapter 1, part 1, schedule 5 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, and which professional bodies it has consulted.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-17682 on 27 July 2018. 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…
12 Jul 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland began the consultation with registered medical practitioners that is referred to in paragraph 3, chapter 1, part 1, schedule 5 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, and when it expects the consultation to conclude.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) has established a Short-Life Working Group on Terminal Illness for Disability Assistance. The Group will be responsible for developing the CMO's Guidance for registered medical professionals to make clinical judgements about 't…
12 Jul 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what responses the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland has received to the consultation with registered medical practitioners that is referred to in paragraph 3, chapter 1, part 1, schedule 5 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-17682 on 27 July 2018. 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…
15 Jun 2018 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the National Audit Office report, Rolling out Universal Credit.
13 Jun 2018 · Written Question
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.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: A debt management service will be in place within Social Security Scotland when it is established.
13 Jun 2018 · Written Question
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 execu…
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Chapters 5 and 6 of Part 2 of the Act are only relevant to the assistance listed in Chapter 2 of that Part and Part 3. Once a decision has been taken to commence the relevant sections Parliament will be advised by the laying of commencement regulations.
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
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.
Answer · Derek Mackay: The Scottish Government does not request information from applicants regarding their carer status. We therefore have no figures on this.
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
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.
Answer · Derek Mackay: Tables have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib number 59809) which provide figures for the number of people who applied, were interviewed and were appointed to the social security agency broken down by protected characteristic. Th…
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people applied for positions at the social security agency and, of those, how many were (a) interviewed and (b) appointed.
Answer · Derek Mackay: In the period 1 January 2017 to 30 April 2018, 1367 people applied for vacancies in the Social Security Agency, 384 were interviewed and 41 were successful at interview. Those successful candidates are either now in post or are awaiting appointment.
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
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.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: 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 o…
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many social security experience panel members have been directly engaged on the design of individual benefits, and how many have (a) responded to communications and (b) attended meetings on this design work.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: a) Around 450 Experience panel members have responded to communications inviting people to participate in the service design for individual benefits. This includes expressing an interest in or attending a meeting, completing a survey or responding by phone. …
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
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.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: 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 communi…
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many social security experience panel meetings have been held, broken down by the number of attendees.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The total number of meetings held, including focus groups and interviews over the phone and in person, is 155. These were held between June 2017 and June 2018. The number of meetings and attendees for each project area is broken down in the following table. …
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many expenses claims from members of social security experience panels it has (a) received, (b) processed and (c) reimbursed.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: As of 14 June 2018 we have received 132 expense claims from Experience Panel members. All have been processed and reimbursed. As far as possible we limit upfront costs for panel members by booking taxis for them where possible, meeting locally, providing op…
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the budget is for social security experience panels, and how much has been spent to date, broken down by (a) staffing costs, (b) venue hire, (c) communications, (d) expenses for members and (e) any other costs.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Experience Panels do not have a hypothecated budget from the overall Social Security budget, it is contained within the overall allocated budget for the Social Security agency and implementation of benefits. The total spend from 3 March 2017 when recruitment…
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-10875 by Jeane Freeman on 20 September 2017, what the average time is for processing social security experience panel members' expenses claims, and what the maximum time has been.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Experience Panels expense claims are received by the Scottish Government Experience panels research team either directly from panel members at events, or sent in via a First Class FREEPOST service. Once completed forms are received in the office they are usua…
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-10876 by Jeane Freeman on 20 September 2017, how many taxi journeys have been provided for social security experience panel members in (a) Edinburgh and (b) Glasgow.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: 88 taxi journeys have been booked in Edinburgh, and 71 taxi journeys have been booked in Glasgow.
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
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.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 received Royal Assent on 1 June 2018. We will be reviewing and updating the privacy impact assessment, now known as a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) under the General Date Protection Regulations, accordingly. …
11 Jun 2018 · Written Question
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.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: 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 Janu…
6 Jun 2018 · Written Question
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.
Answer · Derek Mackay: 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…
6 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the (a) Temporary and Interim Staff Services frameworks and (b) salaries of appointments made under the frameworks in each year since 2015-16, broken down by directorate or agency of the appointment.
Answer · Derek Mackay: Information on spend for Scottish Government and Executive Agencies is attached for each year since 2015 -16. The information is not available by Directorate. Scottish Government does not hold the information requested on salaries. Organisation Framework S…
6 Jun 2018 · Written Question
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.
Answer · Derek Mackay: Scottish Government does not hold information on how many staff it has unsuccessfully attempted to procure under the Temp and Interim Staff Services Framework Agreements.
23 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16576 by Jeane Freeman on 23 May 2018, whether it will publish its timetable for bringing Social Security Scotland to steady state.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government is implementing social security in a phased and controlled way to ensure safe and secure transition to the 1.4 million people who rely on this support. Our plans for delivery of the first wave of benefits and the establishment of the a…
23 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16576 by Jeane Freeman on 23 May 2018, when the Social Security Programme Board last discussed the anticipated date by which Social Security Scotland would approach steady state, and what that anticipated date is.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government is implementing social security in a phased and controlled way to ensure safe and secure transition to the 1.4 million people who rely on this support. Our plans for delivery of the first wave of benefits and the establishment of the a…
22 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16547 by Angela Constance on 22 May 2018, whether the service will be contracted through Social Security Scotland or another part of the Scottish Government.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government's Housing and Social Justice Directorate leads on this work.
22 May 2018 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what investment it has committed to transport infrastructure in the Central Scotland region.