Parliamentary questions
Michelle Ballantyne
639 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
31 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its recruitment strategy is for attracting assessors for work capability assessments, or the Scottish equivalent.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Social Security Scotland will take responsibility for eleven devolved benefits under the Scotland Act 2016. The delivery of these benefits will not require work capability assessments. As such, there is no recruitment strategy for attracting assessors to unde…
31 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to carry out face-to-face work capability assessments, or the Scottish equivalent, and what specific consideration it has given to people living in rural and remote areas and the islands.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Work Capability Assessments are carried out for someone who makes a claim to Employment Support Allowance or Universal Credit. Both of these benefits are reserved to the UK Government. Consequently, Social Security Scotland Local Delivery Relationship Leads w…
31 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what role Social Security Scotland’s Local Delivery Relationship Leads will have in coordinating the delivery of social security in each local authority.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The role of the Local Delivery Relationship Lead will be to coordinate and manage the delivery of pre-claim support in their allocated Local Authority area. They will lead a team composed of team leaders and pre-claim support staff that will deliver face to f…
31 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what role Social Security Scotland’s Local Delivery Relationship Leads will have in delivering work capability assessments, or the Scottish equivalent.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Work Capability Assessments are carried out for someone who makes a claim to Employment Support Allowance or Universal Credit. Both of these benefits are reserved to the UK Government. Consequently, Social Security Scotland Local Delivery Relationship Leads w…
31 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government at which locations Social Security Scotland’s Local Delivery Relationship Leads will be based; how many of these premises have been secured; how many will be shared with other organisations, broken down by organisation, and whether the premises will be branded as Social Security Scotland…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: 19 Local Delivery Relationship leads have been appointed covering the whole of Scotland and each Local Authority has a named lead. Local Delivery Relationship Leads are currently based in existing Scottish Government premises across the country and are workin…
30 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown on how funding from the (a) Fair Food Fund and (b) Fair Food Transformation Fund was spent in each year since 2016.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: (a) Table 1: Total spending from the Fair Food Fund by year from 2016-17 to 2018-19: Year Spend 2016-17 £991,000 2017-18 £1,010,000 2018-19 £1,589,916 The breakdown of this spend is detailed in Table 2: Table 2: Breakdown of spending from the Fai…
30 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the projects that have benefitted from the Fair Food Transformation Fund.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: The projects that have received support through the Fair Food Transformation Fund, and their localities, are: Organisation Delivery Location Apex Scotland Dumfries and Galloway (regional reach) Beith Community Development Trust North Ayrshire (Beith) B…
29 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21101 by Clare Haughey on 29 January 2019, whether it will confirm what the new arrangements are.
Answer · Clare Haughey: The opt-in letter asks the patient to confirm that the proposed appointment date is convenient. If not, this is discussed during the 'opt-in' call and a new appointment date and time arranged. This approach has been the standard approach for adult psychologi…
28 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the new railway station at (a) East Linton and (b) Reston will open before March 2024.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government remains committed to delivery of East Linton and Reston Station as early as practicable in Control Period 6 (April 2019 – March 2024). As part of this, Network Rail are developing a package of improvements to enhance connectivity on th…
24 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the reported increase in A&E waiting times at Borders General Hospital, including waiting times over four hours having increased by 31.5% in 2017-18.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Performance in 2017-18 at Borders General Hospital was 92.9% (Apr 17 – Mar 18). The latest monthly data for November 2018 show performance was 96.5%. The number of patients spending over four hours in A&E was the lowest level since 2015. The latest published…
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of theft have occurred in NHS Lothian hospitals in each of the last five years, also broken down by hospital.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Information on the number of instances of theft that have occurred in hospitals is not held centrally. Where a hospital-based theft is reported to the police, this will be included in the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics. However, the figures pr…
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of theft have occurred in NHS Borders hospitals in each of the last five years, also broken down by hospital.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Information on the number of instances of theft that have occurred in hospitals is not held centrally. Where a hospital-based theft is reported to the police, this will be included in the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics. However, the figures pr…
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of antisocial behaviour have been reported to the Police in East Lothian in each of the last five years.
Answer · Ash Denham: Information on the number of instances of antisocial behaviour reported to the Police is not held centrally. The member may wish to write to Police Scotland directly to request this information. Where a reported incident of antisocial behaviour involves any …
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of antisocial behaviour have been reported to the Police in Midlothian in each of the last five years.
Answer · Ash Denham: Information on the number of instances of antisocial behaviour reported to the Police is not held centrally. The member may wish to write to Police Scotland directly to request this information. Where a reported incident of antisocial behaviour involves any …
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of violence have been reported in East Lothian schools in each of the last five years.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Information on the number of instances of violence in schools is not held centrally. Where a school-based incident of violence is reported to the police, this will be included in the Recorded Crime National Statistics. However, the figures provided to the Sco…
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of violence have been reported in Midlothian schools in each of the last five years.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Information on the number of instances of violence in schools is not held centrally. Where a school-based incident of violence is reported to the police, this will be included in the Recorded Crime National Statistics. However, the figures provided to the Sco…
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of violence have been reported in Scottish Borders schools in each of the last five years.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Information on the number of instances of violence in schools is not held centrally. Where a school-based incident of violence is reported to the police, this will be included in the Recorded Crime National Statistics. However, the figures provided to the Sco…
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle sheep worrying in Midlothian.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: Dog attacks on sheep, wherever they occur, is an issue that the Scottish Government takes very seriously. We fully support the work to tackle this matter being undertaken by the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC), chaired by Police Scotland, inc…
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle sheep worrying in the Scottish Borders.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: Dog attacks on sheep, wherever they occur, is an issue that the Scottish Government takes very seriously. We fully support the work to tackle this matter being undertaken by the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC), chaired by Police Scotland, inc…
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the financial cost of sheep worrying to farmers in Midlothian.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Scottish Government has commissioned research into the incidence, impact and potential mitigation of sheep harassment by both dogs and wildlife in Scotland. Whilst this does not focus solely on Midlothian, information and recommendations arising from the …
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the financial cost of sheep worrying to farmers in the Scottish Borders.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Scottish Government has commissioned research into the incidence, impact and potential mitigation of sheep harassment by both dogs and wildlife in Scotland. Whilst this does not focus solely on the Scottish Borders, information and recommendations arising…
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of sheep worrying have occurred in Midlothian in each of the last five years.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: Information on cases of sheep worrying is not held centrally in the format requested. Information is available on the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 – which relates to dogs worrying livestock o…
23 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of sheep worrying have occurred in the Scottish Borders in each of the last five years.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: Information on cases of sheep worrying is not held centrally in the format requested. Information is available on the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 – which relates to dogs worrying livestock o…
21 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications were received for Best Start Grants in December 2018, broken down by postal code area.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Official statistics, covering the first months of applications for the Best Start Grant, will be published in April 2019. More detailed analysis will be published in a quarterly publication series starting from August 2019. In line with the Code of Practice …
21 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20587 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2019, whether it will provide a breakdown of the £4.2 million for facilities and property in Social Security Scotland's 2019-20 budget.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The answer to question S5W-20587 explained that the 2019-20 allocations were indicative and were to be confirmed through the Agency's planning process subject to the budget being agreed in March 2019. The current indicative budget allocation for 2019-20 of £4…
21 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20587 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2019, whether it will provide a breakdown of the £20.1 million for staff costs in Social Security Scotland's 2019-20 budget.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The answer to question S5W-20587 explained that the 2019-20 allocations were indicative and final allocations were to be confirmed through the Agency's planning process subject to the budget being agreed in March 2019. Social Security Scotland’s current best …
21 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20587 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2019, whether it will provide a breakdown of the £6.1 million for formal agreements with the DWP in Social Security Scotland's 2019-20 budget.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The answer to question S5W-20587 explained that the 2019-20 allocations were indicative and were to be confirmed through the Agency's planning process subject to the budget being agreed in March 2019. Detailed cost discussions with DWP are on-going, current i…
21 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many staff Social Security Scotland employs at each grade, and what the pay-range is of each grade.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The number of staff employed by Social Security Scotland, and respective pay grades, as of 25 January 2019 are shown in the following table. Grade Total Staff Pay Range Jan 2019 Minimum (£) Maximum (£) A3 130 18,392 20,732 A4 5 21,769 23,409 B…
17 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, in the last 12 months, 846 appointments at the NHS Borders' child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) unit were recorded as "did not attend", and what action it is taking to promote the importance of attending.
Answer · Clare Haughey: Our 2018 Programme for Government has mental health at its very heart. It contains a package of measures to support positive mental health and prevent mental ill health, and is backed by £250 million of additional investment. There is a clear focus on childre…
17 Jan 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to protect firms in the Scottish Borders, in light of a series of break-ins in Peebles over the evening of 14 January 2019, which affected nine businesses.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I understand that in connection to a series of break-ins in Peebles on 14 January 2019, one arrest has been made and Police Scotland enquiries are continuing. Police Scotland continues to engage with local communities and conduct preventative initiatives suc…