Social Security Scotland works closely with the Social Security Programme on the long-term strategic workforce requirements of the devolution of benefits.

The Social Security Scotland workforce planning group is an operational working level group to embed those requirements into its recruitment activities. It was specifically initiated to manage the disability benefits and has been set up to meet at an appropriate time to manage those plans.

The Scottish Government publishes details of all expenditure over £25,000, in accordance with the Public Sector Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

The most recent publication was made on 10 May 2019 and relates to the month of October 2018. Previous months are also available on the Scottish Government web site. https://www.gov.scot/publications/government-spend-over-gbp25000-october-2018/ .

The Scottish Government will consider feedback from the Disability Assistance Consultation in developing an approach to aligning disability benefits with existing devolved services.

Social Security Scotland and Social Security Directorate do not currently and have not previously engaged any agency workers from Capita.

Both Social Security Scotland and Social Security Directorate operate under the Scottish Government Temporary and Interim Staff Services Framework. Capita are not included within this framework.

We do not hold information on the previous employers of our permanent staff.

We have made a clear commitment that profit making companies will not be involved in delivering assessments for disability benefits once devolved to Scotland.

The Consultation on Disability Assistance in Scotland closes on 28 May. The analysis of the consultation will inform further service design of the system of Disability Assistance, including the face to face assessments provision. This in turn will inform the costs associated with providing face to face assessments which will feed into any final budget decisions in due course.

The Consultation on Disability Assistance in Scotland closes on 28 May. The analysis of the consultation will inform further service design of the system of Disability Assistance, including the face to face assessments provision. This in turn will inform the costs associated with providing face to face assessments which will feed into any final budget decisions in due course.

To date, discussions on the development of the income supplement have taken place at an official level and these are ongoing as the policy continues to be developed.

Scottish Ministers have regular discussions with UK counterparts, including through the Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare, and we will engage with them where necessary on the income supplement through the appropriate forums as this work develops.

Information on the number of staff being used to develop policy on the income supplement and take forward the options appraisal is not available. This differs in teams across the organisation, and is dependent on business requirements and individual working patterns.

To date, discussions on the development of the income supplement have taken place at various stages at an official level, and these are ongoing as the policy continues to be developed.

We are keeping the contract under review. No discussions regarding an extension have been requested. However, the contract allows the possibility of extending if required.