Parliamentary questions
Mark Griffin
2,186 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
23 Oct 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in implementing the actions recommended in A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Good progress is being made across Government in delivering key actions in our Plan. For example, on increasing the participation of disabled people in our democratic processes; support provided through our Access to Elected Office Fund saw 15 disabled candid…
23 Oct 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with the aim in A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People, to "at least halve the disability employment gap", and whether it will consider setting targets.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government is committed to halving the disability employment gap in Scotland. We do not underestimate the very significant challenge this ambition presents - achieving it will require action across a range of partners. We are already taking step…
17 Oct 2017 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to encourage people from deprived communities to get involved in sport and physical activity.
18 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government where the (a) 5,500 core directorate, (b) 6,200 agency and (c) 3,600 non-ministerial department staff referred to in Public Sector Employment Statistics for 2nd Quarter 2017 are located.
Answer · Derek Mackay: The Scottish Government only holds location information for those organisations to which it provides an HR service. Data is available for all Core Directorates, most Agencies and some Non-Ministerial departments. Location information is not collected for othe…
18 Sep 2017 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister what financial support the Scottish Government offers to parents of premature babies whose child is in hospital.
6 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether is has commissioned the Department for Work and Pensions to produce a Scotland-only version of the Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2015/16 statistics.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government has not requested the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to produce a Scotland-only version of the take-up statistics. DWP emphasise a number of data quality issues in the methodology note accompanying these statistics, including …
6 Sep 2017 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action its Partnership Action for Continuing Employment has taken in Lanarkshire in the last year.
5 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the gender breakdown is of the participants on Social Security Experience Panels, and whether it will publish its equalities monitoring data for the panels.
4 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether race equality has featured as a discussion in its Social Security Experience Panels and, if not, whether this topic will be addressed.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Scottish Government researchers have recently completed the ‘About Your Benefits and You’ research, the first piece of research carried out with panel members. This initial piece of research collected some demographic information from panel members, as well a…
4 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is monitoring the ethnicity of individuals participating in its Social Security Experience Panels and, if so, whether this data will be published.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Scottish Government researchers are now analysing the ‘About Your Benefits and You’ research. This research includes a survey and a series of focus groups across Scotland. The About Your Benefits and You survey asked for some demographic information from pane…
4 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the evidence gaps highlighted in Scotland's Equality Evidence Strategy 2017-2021, how it will fill these gaps to support the measurement of the impact of the planned introduction of the socio-economic duty across the public sector, and whether the gaps relevant to poverty an…
Answer · Angela Constance: There are already a number of sources of evidence that can underpin the planned socio-economic duty. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) provides a highly effective localised data source on socio-economic disadvantage, and this has been compleme…
4 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to prioritise addressing evidence gaps in relation to race and ethnicity detailed in Scotland's Equality Evidence Strategy 2017-2021.
Answer · Angela Constance: As set out in the Equality Evidence Strategy, prioritising evidence gaps will take into account how important data will be in informing major policies, programmes and frameworks. The Race Equality Framework and the National Performance Framework are the start…
4 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its position as set out in Scotland's Equality Evidence Strategy 2017-2021, that “The Scottish Government cannot, and should not, take responsibility for attending to all evidence gaps”, what discussions it has had with relevant stakeholders to coordinate an approach to addr…
Answer · Angela Constance: The Equality Evidence Strategy is the start of a four year process aimed at strengthening the overall equality evidence base. It sets out the strategic approach to filling evidence gaps and outlines plans for future collaboration. How we do this will depend o…
31 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the value of discretionary housing payments to cover the so-called bedroom tax is for mixed aged couples who would otherwise be exempt if they were claiming pension credit.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) to mitigate the bedroom tax are administered by Local Authorities, information on the age and Pension Credit eligibility of claimants is not collated for the purpos…
31 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many mixed aged couples who are entitled to pension credit do not claim it, and what the value of this unclaimed pension credit is (a) in total and (b) on average.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government does not hold this information because Pension Credit is administered by the Department for Work and Pension, who publish estimates of benefit take-up including Pension Credit. Whilst this does include a “family type” breakdown, it doe…
22 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what childcare it has provided at experience panel meetings.
22 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many staff its Social Security directorate has employed each month.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Social Security Directorate was established in July 2016. The following table provides the relevant information from that period onwards. Full time equivalent staff in Social Security Directorate (directly employed - permanent & fixed term, modern apprentice …
22 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many staff in its Social Security directorate have been seconded from (a) the Department for Work and Pensions and (b) other UK Government departments.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: a) 0 secondments from DWP b) 1 inward loan from HMRC We have, however, recruited a number of permanent members of staff from the UK Government, local authorities and out-with the Civil Service.
22 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many staff from each of its other directorates have been (a) transferred and (b) seconded to its Social Security Directorate.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government offers staff working in its Directorates various routes to move from one Directorate to another. These include high priority vacancies, managed moves and open, internal advertising. We do not operate policies around transfers or intern…
22 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it offers experience panel respondents travel vouchers or upfront assistance to meet travel costs of attending meetings.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: We are determined that there should be as few barriers as possible to participation, and are therefore reimbursing panel members for travel, subsistence and childcare costs incurred as part of their contribution to designing and building a new Social Security…
22 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what expenses scheme is in place for people who attend experience panel meetings, and what the timescale is for reimbursement.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: A new expenses process for the Experience Panels was set up over the summer. This expenses scheme covers any reasonable receipted expenses incurred in taking part in Experience Panel research (for example, travel, childcare and subsistence expenses). Followin…
22 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how the information collected from experience panels is being (a) collected, (b) reported and (c) used to inform policy development.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: How information is being collected from Experience Panels depends on the research design. Taking part might include completing short surveys, or taking part in interviews and workshops. Activities can be carried out face-to-face, on the phone and online. The…
22 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many experience panel meetings have been held, broken down by the number of attendees.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Scottish Government researchers are now working on the next stage of the Experience Panels process, the ‘About Your Benefits and You’ research. This will help us understand in a bit more detail what panel members think works well in the current system, and wh…
22 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many claims for expenses from members of experience panels it has (a) received and (b) processed, and how many claims have been reimbursed.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: We are determined that there should be as few barriers as possible to participation, and are therefore reimbursing panel members for travel and childcare costs incurred as part of their contribution to designing and building a new Social Security system for S…
22 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it stating in the Privacy Impact Assessment for the Social Security (Scotland) Bill that it plans to bring forward amendments at Stage 2 to provide for new information sharing gateways, whether it is considering other major amendments to be introduced at Stage 2 and, if so, …
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Privacy Impact Assessment for the Social Security (Scotland) Bill does note a proposal, by the Scottish Government, for a Stage 2 amendment on data sharing. This was included in the interests of openness and transparency. The Scottish Government intends t…
22 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it stating in the Privacy Impact Assessment for the Social Security (Scotland) Bill that it plans to bring forward amendments at Stage 2 to provide for new information sharing gateways, (a) for what reason these proposals were not published when the bill was introduced and (…
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Privacy Impact Assessment for the Social Security (Scotland) Bill does note a proposal, by the Scottish Government, for a Stage 2 amendment on data sharing. This was included in the interests of openness and transparency. This provision was not included i…
16 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which companies received an invitation to tender for the Scottish Social Security Technical Delivery Support contract.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The ‘Scottish Social Security Technical Delivery Support’ requirement was cancelled. The procurement process which was issued via the Digital Marketplace for this project did not progress beyond selection Stage 1. There was no invitation to tender issued, no …
16 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government who the successful bidder was for the Scottish Social Security Technical Delivery Support contract, and when the service provision started.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The ‘Scottish Social Security Technical Delivery Support’ requirement was cancelled. The procurement process which was issued via the Digital Marketplace for this project did not progress beyond selection Stage 1. There was no invitation to tender issued, no …
16 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people are employed by the successful bidder for the Scottish Social Security Technical Delivery Support contract, and how many of these employees will be committed to the contract.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The ‘Scottish Social Security Technical Delivery Support’ requirement was cancelled as result of on going changes to the scope of requirements. The requirement is still being reviewed for a potential future procurement exercise. The procurement process which …
16 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the value is of the Scottish Social Security Technical Delivery Support contract.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The ‘Scottish Social Security Technical Delivery Support’ requirement was cancelled. The procurement process which was issued via the Digital Marketplace for this project did not progress beyond selection Stage 1. There was no invitation to tender issued, no …