Chamber and committees

Women have also ended up having to pick up unpaid care. For example, throughout the pandemic, a lot of people lost the social care that they relied on, and it was assumed that somebody would step in and do it. We have heard in other committees, in Parliament and, I am sure, in our engagement that carers in the past year have been working their fingers to the bone without a break, and a lot of them are women. Is there anything that we can do or suggest through the committee’s work on the budget that could begin to address that?

The figure of £15 million a day is staggering. I assume that that includes having to do unpaid care as well as childcare; if not, the figure will be higher. I am interested in whether you can think of any ways that we can begin to redress that balance and, in particular, stop the regression of women’s rights that we have heard about today.

I have a follow-up question. I appreciate that it will take substantial staffing resources to deliver the payments as they stand, but they would be delivered with exactly the same eligibility and in exactly the same amounts as the reserved benefits. For example, in response to the ADP consultation, the Government said that it favours largely replicating the eligibility criteria as they exist in PIP, for reasons of staffing resource. How many extra staff would you need in order to start moving on eligibility and adequacy for adult disability payment? Do you believe that the current criteria that are used for PIP are fair, and what is your view on the 20m rule?

Thank you for the opportunity, convener. Cabinet secretary, you are right to highlight the perfect storm that people are facing; I am genuinely terrified for families and what they will be able to do about fuel poverty, particularly with the cut to universal credit. It is a shame, given that we could have had a publicly owned energy firm that could have addressed some of that issue.

I will focus on two of the groups that you identified—children and disabled people—in relation to poverty. First, with regard to the Scottish child payment, we heard evidence last week that social security will have to do the “heavy lifting” if we are to meet the targets on tackling child poverty. I understand that the £20 cut to universal credit is catastrophic and should not go ahead; however, the targets were set without caveat by the Parliament, which means that we need to look across everything that we do here to find ways of meeting them. Will you commit to doing all that you can to meet the child poverty targets, regardless of what is happening elsewhere? Our view is that the Scottish child payment needs to be doubled and doubled again next year. Can you set out how you intend to meet the targets?

Secondly, have you made an assessment of the extra costs of living as a disabled person, so that we can begin to address some of the poverty that disabled people face?

The cabinet secretary will be aware that, for some time, thousands of disabled people across Scotland have been unable to access homes and have been considered to be, in effect, homeless. In the Glasgow region, the council is building accessible houses on a very small scale—only about 8 per cent are accessible. The current Government target is 10 per cent, but that is not in legislation. Given the huge variability across the country in relation to those builds, and the significant need for accessible housing for disabled people, will the Government consider making that a statutory target?

I congratulate you on your post, cabinet secretary, and welcome you to the committee. As you will be aware, various policies have had to be adjusted due to pressure on Social Security Scotland. How many additional staff and what additional resources does Social Security Scotland need to deliver the payments for which it has responsibility? What resources does the Government anticipate the agency will need once all passported benefits have been transferred from the DWP?

That was really helpful—thank you.

You have talked about the need for investigative powers. We have heard in various submissions about the approach in Australia. In particular, Victoria has legislation on the issue and has given the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission powers to investigate, monitor, intervene and so on. Could that approach work in Scotland? Is there a body with which we could lay such powers? Where should the powers lie?

Thank you. That is helpful. Convener, would you mind if I just followed on with the international question? I know that it is a bit further down the list, but it relates to the point about Victoria.

I thank the witnesses for the information that they have provided, which has been really helpful. Both of the sessions this morning have been excellent.

My questions are on the same issue that we have been discussing. We heard earlier that affirmative practice is about non-judgmental practice, very much in the circumstances that you have just described around therapy settings. Are the current training and support for therapists adequate to ensure that people can provide that non-judgmental approach? If the training is adequate, that is great. If not, what intervention is needed to help us to move in that direction, given the importance that you have ascribed to the memorandum of understanding and training practices?

I echo what my colleague Karen Adam said about the strength and power of Dr Moon’s testimony. It is probably one of the most powerful statements that I have heard in a long time, particularly in relation to young people and the need to get on and ban the practice and not necessarily focus too much more on time and research.

You will forgive my being sceptical about the UK Government’s approach on the issue. A lot of evidence suggests that there is much that we in Scotland can do within the devolved capabilities and responsibilities of the Parliament, which I am pleased to hear. On the points that we have heard about regulation, in particular in relation to training and the need for us to get that right, do we need, ultimately, to wait for reserved legislation on that or is there something that we can do in Scotland to address areas that you mentioned?