Parliamentary questions

Jeremy Balfour

489 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

6 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the electricity and natural gas framework agreements offered via its procurement contracts directory will be affected by any ongoing escalation in energy prices.

Answer · Ivan McKee: The national frameworks for the Supply of Electricity and Supply of Natural Gas wholesale volumes are bought up to 2½ years in advance in tranches, following a proven ‘hedging’ purchasing strategy overseen by a cross-sectoral Risk Management Committee. The Co…

6 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether any envisaged benefits of its electricity framework agreement, such as a lack of market fluctuations and improved budget predictability, remain, despite escalating energy prices.

Answer · Ivan McKee: The national framework for the Supply of Electricity, wholesale volumes are bought up to 2½ years in advance in tranches, following a proven ‘hedging’ purchasing strategy overseen by a cross-sectoral Risk Management Committee. The Committee comprises senior m…

6 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether an eligible third sector organisation applying for use of its electricity framework agreement in the current economic climate will still receive the stated access to wholesale electricity purchased on the futures market long-term.

Answer · Ivan McKee: The national frameworks for the Supply of Electricity wholesale volumes are bought up to 2½ years in advance in tranches, following a proven ‘hedging’ purchasing strategy overseen by a cross-sectoral Risk Management Committee. The Committee comprises senior m…

6 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what impact it anticipates the cost of living crisis will have on the framework agreements currently available to central government, the public sector and third sector organisations via its procurement contracts directory.

Answer · Ivan McKee: Scottish Government Framework Agreements include pricing clauses which may differ depending on the products and services being procured. The majority of our frameworks have fixed prices for the duration of the agreements, therefore providing a degree of prot…

5 Sep 2022 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to support pupils with a declared or assessed disability at school.

30 Aug 2022 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Super Sponsor scheme.

1 Aug 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent in the last 12 months to support the social enterprise sector.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government’s Social Enterprise Strategy was launched in 2016 and sets out a wide-ranging, ambitious and long-term programme to develop the potential of Scotland's social enterprise sector. The latest Social Enterprise Action Plan was published on…

1 Aug 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent in the last 12 months on funding third-sector organisations that help children and vulnerable groups.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The third sector plays a critical role in supporting the people of Scotland. In 2021-2022 the Scottish Government spent over £123 million on funding third-sector organisations that help children and vulnerable groups. Over £109 million was provided via speci…

1 Aug 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent in the last 12 months in order to tackle social isolation.

Answer · Christina McKelvie: The Scottish Government recognises that Social Isolation and Loneliness is a public health issue, which has been exacerbated because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between August 2021 and March 2022, £1 million was allocated by the Directorate for Equality, Inclu…

1 Aug 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress in exploring systems of automatic payment for devolved social security benefits.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: Across the devolved benefits, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring we minimise as far as possible any burden on clients, and to ensuring we put in place the appropriate mechanisms to maximise uptake. We have already automated several payments. Ch…

1 Aug 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent in the last 12 months to provide (a) frontline and (b) second-tier advice and debt services.

Answer · Shona Robison: In 2021-2022, the Scottish Government invested over £12 million to support free income maximisation, welfare and debt advice services and has allocated the same amount in 2022-2023. This overall figure includes frontline and second tier advice and debt servic…

1 Aug 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent in the last 12 months on preparations for the introduction of the Pension Age Winter Heating Assistance scheme.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: Staff in the Social Security Directorate are working across a number of benefits and functions. It is therefore not possible to fully attribute implementation costs to any particular benefit. Implementation costs for Pension Age Winter Heating Assistance are …

1 Aug 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent in the last 12 months to increase access to advice services, including services which help maximise income, in order to tackle any poverty penalty and to improve wellbeing.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10137 on 22 August 2022. The figures within that answer include investment in Welfare Advice in Health Partnerships totalling £730,000 in 2021-2022 and £1.76 million in 2022-2023. In 2021-2022, we also invest…

27 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve working conditions for social workers, in light of the report Setting the Bar for Social Work in Scotland finding that 51% of social workers who responded said that they might leave the profession due to a lack of work-life balance.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The Scottish Government welcomes the Setting the Bar for Social Work in Scotland report and will consider and discuss the findings with its partners to inform and develop future social work workforce policy. Social workers make a highly skilled, unique and va…

27 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve working conditions for social workers, in light of the report Setting the Bar for Social Work in Scotland finding that 59% of social workers who responded said that they might leave the profession due to unmanageable workload.

27 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve working conditions for social workers, in light of the report Setting the Bar for Social Work in Scotland finding that 45% of social workers who responded said that they might leave the profession due to poor physical or mental health.

27 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address workforce capacity and resource challenges affecting the social work profession, which are highlighted in the report Setting the Bar for Social Work in Scotland.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The Scottish Government welcomed the Setting the Bar report and its findings will inform future policy decisions. Social workers make a highly skilled, unique and make a valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland. We acknowle…

13 Jun 2022 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on police pay negotiations.

10 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce deaths from liver disease in areas of social deprivation.

Answer · Maree Todd: We know people living in poverty have poorer health outcomes and this is why we are committed to addressing the underlying causes of health inequalities and increasing healthy life expectancy. There is a stark social gradient to alcohol harms and outcomes lin…

8 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to make accessible toilets only for use by disabled people, and not for general use by non-disabled people as a gender-neutral toilet.

Answer · Christina McKelvie: The Scottish Government is developing a new Disability Equality Strategy, working in collaboration with Disabled People’s Organisations. The development process provides the opportunity to consider the priority issues affecting disabled people in Scotland, in…

7 Jun 2022 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to promote the creation of mid-market rental accommodation in the Lothians.

17 May 2022 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its assessment is of Social Security Scotland’s efficiency in delivering benefits.

10 May 2022 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to remote and rural communities in the Lothian region.

9 May 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, how many (a) emergency calls and (b) ambulance call-outs recorded in the Scottish Ambulance Service call log have included the field search "abortion", in each of the last five years.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Ambulance Service does not produce statistics based on free-text searches, as this data would require a significant amount of resource for analysis and clinical input.

26 Apr 2022 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people it estimates will qualify for an indefinite award within the first 12 months of the national launch of Adult Disability Payment.

19 Apr 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the total funding available from the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) for an Occupational Therapy Masters is reportedly £10,000 when the tuition fees for the two-year course at Queen Margaret University amount to £20,000, plus living expenses, in light of reports tha…

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The current full time postgraduate student support package offers a loan of up to £10,000 (comprising £5,500 for fees and £4,500 for living costs). Students whose tuition fees are above the maximum available to them from SAAS have to make their own arrangemen…

19 Apr 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that some Scottish Child Payments and Child Disability Payments were not made on time in the week beginning 11 April 2022, and whether it will confirm how many individuals did not receive their payments on time.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: Due to an unexpected system error 19,881 Scottish Child Payment clients and 1,284 Child Disability Payment clients who were due to receive their regular payment throughout week commencing Monday 18 April experienced a delay of one working day. Social Security…

11 Apr 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there is no statistical data available from the SQA that could be used to asses whether there are any differences in pass rates for exams taken (a) pre-COVID-19 pandemic and (b) during the pandemic for those (i) with a neuro-divergent diagnosis and (ii) without such a dia…

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: I have asked the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to reply. While information is available for children and young people with additional support needs, neither Scottish Government nor SQA collect specific data on candidates who may have a neuro-diverg…

11 Apr 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what involvement SQA psychologists had in the development of the pre-COVID-19 pandemic advice and guidance that the SQA provided to schools regarding the examinations diet.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is an executive Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), established under the Education (Scotland) Act 1996. It operates at arm’s length to Ministers and is responsible for making its own evidentially based operational dec…

11 Apr 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Government whether it plans to introduce emergency redress funding for social tenants facing higher fuel bills as a result of work to decarbonise their energy supplies, in line with the recommendation of the Zero Emissions Social Housing Taskforce.

Answer · Patrick Harvie: The Scottish Government is committed to a just transition to net zero and this includes supporting those who are least able to pay. As part of a wider package of funding announcements made to tackle the cost of living crisis, we have committed a further £10 …