Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Meeting date: Thursday, April 18, 2024

Official Report 665KB pdf

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Poverty and Inequality Commission Appointments

Our next agenda item is consideration of the nominated appointments of the chair and eight commissioners to the Poverty and Inequality Commission. The Scottish Government has undertaken a competitive exercise and has identified the most suitable candidates. All have agreed to be nominated for appointment.

Under the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017, the Parliament has a role in approving the Scottish Government’s nominees. The committee has met the selection panel chair to hear about the appointment process and has had the chance to meet the recommended appointees. I now invite members to share their views, if anybody would like to do so.

Thank you for the opportunity, convener.

It was good to hear from those seeking to be commissioners and the new chair informally before this meeting. I have just a brief observation to make. I was struck by the diverse mix of candidates, who range from people in academia and policy research to people involved at the coalface of planning, service delivery, working daily on the ground with young people and families to tackle poverty, and to people with direct lived experience. We want our commissioners to have that diverse range of skills and experiences, to be a critical friend of Government and to be fiercely independent. From what I heard this morning, I am enthused by the candidates who will, I hope, take up those roles.

I echo what Bob Doris has said. I was somewhat taken aback by how many people had applied to be the chair and commissioners; there seems to have been a very high level of applicants. I am also convinced that the process of sifting applicants down first to a short leet and then to the final nominees—who, as Bob Doris has said, seem to cover a wide range of ground—has been thorough. Therefore, I am happy to go ahead with the appointments.

Would anyone else like to come in?

I echo the sentiments that have been expressed. We have heard today from people with a mix of backgrounds and skills, which is excellent. Professor Stephen Sinclair, the proposed chair, commented that there will be some serious work to do, given that the child poverty delivery plan needs to be reassessed in the very near future—and certainly within the next two years—for delivery for 2030. We have a good mix of people who will work hard to deliver that, but it came across strongly that they will have to work to a specific timeframe.

Thank you—that is lovely. As no one else wants to come in, I will just say that I whole-heartedly agree with all of you. It was heartening to hear about the number of people who had applied.

We have also heard from speaking to the selection chair how robust the process was. It is good to see a diverse range of nominees in the room and online with us today. Thank you all for your feedback.

Are members content for the committee to recommend to the Parliament that it approves the appointment of Professor Stephen Sinclair as chair of the commission?

Members indicated agreement.

Are members content for the committee to recommend to the Parliament that it approve the appointment of Peter Cawston, Kim Dams, Taliah Drayak, Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Paul Fletcher, Louise Hunter, Ross McQueenie and Rami Okasha as commissioners?

Members indicated agreement.

Do members also agree to consider our draft report in private next week?

Members indicated agreement.

I briefly suspend the meeting to allow for the next item of business to be set up.

09:50 Meeting suspended.  

09:59 On resuming—