Parliamentary questions
Rachael Hamilton
1,432 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
14 Oct 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many hospitality businesses have provided Test and Protect information as part of COVID-19 contact tracing; how many contacts have been made as a result, and how many positive tests have been recorded through this contact tracing, broken down by (a) hospitality business type and (b) …
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The decision to follow up with customers of any individual pub, restaurant or other business is for the local Incident Management Team dealing with a cluster or outbreak, on the basis of their professional risk assessment. Contacts are traced from information…
6 Oct 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31373 by Jamie Hepburn on 7 September 2020, how many of the people helped into employment by Fair Start Scotland sustained employment for at least (a) three months, (b) six months and (c) a year, broken down by how many were disabled people.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Official Statistics on Fair Start Scotland are published quarterly as part of the Scotland's Devolved Employment Services Statistical Summary Release. These include numbers of people starting work and sustaining employment for three months, six months and one…
2 Oct 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether social care workers who are unable to work due to experiencing long-term effects of COVID-19 are able to access the social care staff support fund.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Social Care Staff Support Fund has been put in place to ensure that eligible social care workers receive their expected income and do not suffer financial hardship during the coronavirus pandemic. Full details of the eligibility criteria, categories of el…
28 Sep 2020 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what financial analysis it has carried out of the impact that restrictions on the hospitality sector will have on the wider supply chain.
24 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many support teachers there currently are in schools to specifically support disabled people, and what it is doing to (a) recruit and (b) retain such teachers.
Answer · John Swinney: The following table shows the full-time equivalent of teachers with a main subject that is connected to disability from the September 2019 school teacher census. Primary Secondary Special Centrally employed All sectors Learning support 356 820 52…
24 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what extra provisions are in place in educational settings to support disabled people, and how these have changed in the last 10 years.
Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that children and young people, including those with disabilities, get the support that they need to reach their full learning potential. The Equality Act (2010) places a legal duty on education authorities, c…
24 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of disabled people have completed secondary education in each of the last five years, broken down by qualifications achieved.
Answer · John Swinney: The following table shows the number of declared-assessed disabled school leavers and the proportion that have achieved passes at SCQF Levels 3-7, by stage of leaving for 2014-15 to 2018-19. Proportion of declared-assessed disabled school leavers achie…
24 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the drop-out rate for disabled people in (a) (i) primary, (ii) secondary and (iii) further education and (b) all education settings has been in each of the last five years.
Answer · John Swinney: This information is not held for primary and secondary school education. College - The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) publish data for Further and Higher education enrolments at College for a range of characteristics including disability in the College Perfo…
23 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering publishing anonymous data on the efficacy of the Test and Protect system that analyses the trends in the (a) transmission in various settings, (b) compliance of quarantine and (c) average time taken to reach contacts.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Scottish Government continues to work closely with Public Health Scotland on the publication of data related to Test and Protect. We constantly evaluate the balance between public benefit and data protection in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Publishin…
21 Sep 2020 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to support businesses in areas that have been affected by localised lockdowns.
21 Sep 2020 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to reduce waiting lists for social housing.
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31200 by Aileen Campbell on 26 August 2020, whether it will provide a breakdown of the investment (a) from 2018-19 that was targeted specifically at children in poverty and (b) that was targeted specifically at children in low-income households in 2…
Answer · Aileen Campbell: Further to the answer to question S5W-31200, a breakdown of investment targeted specifically at children living in low income household in financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20 are published in the respective child poverty annual progress reports. These are lin…
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31375 by Jamie Hepburn on 7 September 2020, whether it will provide a breakdown of its targets for the disability employment gap that will lead to it reducing by at least half by 2038, and how regularly progress is reviewed.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: In December 2018 we published A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan . In this, we outlined the actions that we will take forward with partners to achieve our ambitious commitment to half the disability employment gap in Scotland by 203…
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31375 by Jamie Hepburn on 7 September 2020, how the figures provided for the period between April 2013 to March 2014 and April 2019 to March 2020 compare with its targets for narrowing the disability employment gap.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: In December 2018 we published ‘ A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan’ . In this, we outlined the actions that we will take forward with partners to achieve our ambitious commitment to half the disability employment gap in Scotland by …
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the £100 million of funding for employment and skills support announced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will be allocated, and how this support package will be implemented.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The £100 million of funding for employment and skills support will be allocated as follows:Youth Guarantee: £60 million;National Transitional Training Fund: £25 million;Apprenticeships: £10 million;Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE): £5 milli…
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31381 by Christina McKelvie on 8 September 2020, how many of the 9,000 people on low incomes or clinically at risk from COVID-19 who received support through the initial £5 million Connecting Scotland project were (a) older people, (b) disabled and …
Answer · Aileen Campbell: Detailed demographic data on end-users is still being collected from the 456 organisations and teams currently supporting end users through Connecting Scotland. However, based on the initial evaluation information we have to date:40% are aged over 60 In term…
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £1.5 million invested in the Digital Participation Charter, and what proportion of this focused on older people and isolation.
Answer · Ben Macpherson: The priority target groups have been different across each of the 7 rounds of the charter fund, as has the way data has been captured within the target groups. Rounds 1 – 3 (£748,108) 50 of the 84 projects (60%) self-identified as targeting older people, ol…
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the financial support provided through (a) Best Start Foods and (b) Best Start Grant in (i) the Scottish Borders and (ii) Scotland in the last year.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Social Security Scotland routinely publish information on payments issued as part of the quarterly Official Statistics release ‘Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods’. This includes information on value of payments at Local Authority level. Information on Be…
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with the (a) Community Jobs Scotland programme, (b) Employability Fund, (c) Discovering Your Potential programme and (d) Our Future Now fund in helping young people transition into further learning or employment, and how much funding has been…
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The work of these programmes to support people to engage in employment, education or training is an important part of our Covid-19 response, particularly given the forecasted and unprecedented rise in youth unemployment. The programmes have all adapted the wa…
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide (a) an update on progress with its employability plan, No One Left Behind, and (b) a breakdown of how the £7 million invested in this was used.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: We publish updates on No One Left Behind on the Employability in Scotland website - http://www.employabilityinscotland.com/partnership/no-one-left-behind/ . We shared the Scottish and Local Government Employability Action Plan in March 2020 and will publish…
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the £60 million investment in its Youth Guarantee will be allocated, and how this will be implemented.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government has outlined a breakdown of an initial investment in the early actions attached to the Youth Guarantee to be allocated in 2020-21. £30 million through local authorities to support local partnerships to deliver employability support £…
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the indicative time frame is for the planned transfer of powers to Social Security Scotland from the DWP.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government assumed Executive Competence for the devolved benefits on 1 April 2020. To date the Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland have delivered eight social security benefits, including four brand new forms of assistance. The most …
17 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31380 by Clare Haughey on 31 August 2020, which initiatives have been allocated funding from the £6 million committed to mental wellbeing, broken down by the amount allocated to each.
Answer · Clare Haughey: The £6m of funding that the Scottish Government has committed to promoting positive mental wellbeing over the course of the pandemic is as follows: £3.8m (Announced on 27 March), which consists of:£2.1 million to expand the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub so that i…
9 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what direct support it has provided to food banks and hubs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31702 on 25 September 2020. 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/parliamentarybusin…
9 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it has offered to food banks and hubs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to assist with the distribution of items to vulnerable people.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: We have gone beyond our original £70 million Food Fund commitment and have now committed over £120 million to tackle food insecurity caused by the pandemic. £57.6 million of funding was provided to local authorities to provide coordinated cross-sectoral help…
9 Sep 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many unused food boxes or excess/unwanted food produce has been donated to food banks and hubs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, broken down by local authority.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Scottish Government does not collect figures in relation to donations made to food banks. We have provided significant funding to the community food sector, with more than £110m having been invested to tackle food insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic.…
26 Aug 2020 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the level of deficit recorded by the latest GERS figures.
24 Aug 2020 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking in response to Police Scotland figures suggesting that reports of abuse against disabled people almost doubled during the lockdown.
21 Aug 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much direct funding it has directly contributed to its social security portfolio budget in each of the last 10 years, and how much has been drawn from (a) Barnett consequentials and (b) other UK Government funding streams.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Social Security and Older People portfolio was established in 2019-20. Prior to this, Social Security was included as a portfolio section for the first time in the Communities, Social Security and Equalities portfolio from 2016-17, before which, the Scott…
21 Aug 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to alleviate inequality and deprivation to help improve life expectancy.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Scotland has a proud history of taking ambitious and pioneering action to improve health and reduce health inequalities. We are world leaders in the field of tobacco control, were the first nation to introduce minimum unit pricing on alcohol and have pledged …