Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-26244

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what financial modelling it has carried out to calculate its cost basis projection for reopening the Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland 2015 Fund.

Question reference: S6W-26247

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of the phased approach that it plans to take to reopening the Independent Living Fund.

We have committed £9m in 2024-25 to offer up to 1,000 new applicants access to the Independent Living Fund. This initial funding takes into consideration that applications will be received and assessed over the course of the year, so that new awards will phase in as the year progresses. Funding for 2025-26, and the number of further people who will be able to access the Fund, will be agreed through the annual budget process.

Question reference: S6W-26246

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been committed to reopening the Independent Living Fund to new applicants in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-26249

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many new applications to the reopened Independent Living Fund it estimates will be received.

Question reference: S6W-26248

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what eligibility criteria it plans to employ for new applications to the reopened Independent Living Fund.

Question reference: S6O-03233

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the development of an accredited qualification and registration programme for Additional Support Needs assistants.

Question reference: S6O-03207

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with North Lanarkshire Council to improve the school estate.

Question reference: S6W-25715

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the competing work priorities are that have resulted in the planned publication of the Scottish Housing Market Review in January 2024 being suspended.

The Scottish Housing Market Review, a quarterly publication which collates a range of previously published statistics, was suspended in January 2024 due to a number of competing work priorities, which included analytical work related to the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act as well as other legislative commitments.

The next edition of the Review is due to be published in April 2024, and will include analysis of data released in both Q4 2023 and Q1 2024.

Question reference: S6W-25663

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many recipient organisations of an Empowering Communities Programme grant award were dissolved before their grant was paid, in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-25661

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many Empowering Communities Programme grant awards for 2023-24 were paid to organisations in each month since April 2023, also broken down by the (a) recipient organisation and (b) amount of each grant award, and what the total value was of these awards.

The Empowering Communities Programme (ECP) comprises two community funding programmes - the Investing in Communities Fund and Strengthening Communities Programme – as well as grants to strategic delivery partners. In 2023-24 222 organisations within the ECP have been offered grants with a total value of £13,855,118.50.

As grant claims are invited on a quarterly basis in arrears we do not collate information on grant claims paid on a monthly basis at an organisational level and are therefore unable to provide this information in the format requested. Data on the amount of grant paid is currently available from the 1 April 2023 up to the period ending 31 January 2024. The total amount of grant paid for the ECP for this period is £9,030,517.

A table including the list of grant awards made for each organisation within the ECP has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 64909)

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