Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning, panel, and thank you for joining us. It is also nice to see people in what I think is called the public gallery for the first time since I came into Parliament.

Thank you for the evidence that you have given this morning and all the work that you have done over the years. My first question, which is for Sarah Axford, is about the Children (Scotland) Act 2020. Children 1st submitted quite a lot of evidence on the original bill and made a number of recommendations, some but not all of which were taken on board. What impact do you think the changes that were taken on board will have when the provisions come into effect? Has the delay in introducing them had any implications?

In written evidence to the committee, the Scottish Association for Mental Health estimated

“that the delay by a year in ADP”

meant that about

“141,000 people in Scotland”

were going to

“remain on PIP or enter the PIP system who would otherwise have been eligible for ADP.”

It also estimated that, of those people,

“55,000 ... have a mental health problem with a large proportion”

having to go through face-to-face assessments for PIP, which will of course have caused them a great deal of distress.

SAMH went on to state that,

“To mitigate this”,

it was asking for

“the rapid transfer of people to ADP from PIP who successfully made a PIP claim during the delay period.”

Would the Government consider doing that?

That is much appreciated. Thank you, convener.

I thank the minister for that answer. I appreciate and understand the mechanisms in the 2018 act that are available to him. I was concerned more about the sudden change, which took place in a matter of days.

Moving on to the uprating that does not relate to inflation, minister, will you explain why there is no uprating at all to the carers allowance supplement? You said in your opening statement that you will do something about that in the future. When will that be? I am sure that that will be very helpful for unpaid carers.

I also ask what the Government intends to do for the 150,000 children who are on bridging payments and the 177,000 children who are getting no Scottish child payment at all just now because the roll-out has not happened. Will you explain to the committee and others what the Government will do for them before December this year?

Would it be okay to consider the uprating of the Scottish child payment and other benefits not related to inflation now, or do you want me to wait until after Marie McNair has come in, when I can come back in on theme 2? Which would you prefer?

I have no further questions, convener.

Thank you, and good morning, convener. Thank you, minister, for joining us this morning and for setting things out. Thanks to the officials, too.

First, although Scottish Labour will vote for the measures—because not doing so would mean no increase for anyone—I again put on record my disappointment that we are not doing anything to uprate disability and carers’ benefits. People with disabilities and carers are facing cost of living pressures, too, and we should be using all the powers of the Parliament to address that.

Last week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies told the committee that the uprating by 6 per cent was well meaning but badly designed, and I have to say that I agree. It all feels very ad hoc, and I do not believe that that is the way to manage public funds. One Scottish statutory instrument said that some things will be uprated that would not be uprated at all. Then, literally overnight, that was removed. On the Monday, the Government still thought that 3.1 per cent was fine. On the Wednesday, it thought better of that and came to the right decision to uprate by 6 per cent. In addition, some benefits are being uprated by amounts that do not align with inflation. It feels as though the measures are very much grace and favour, but families cannot reflect that.

Will the minister commit to automatically uprating Scottish benefits in line with inflation in the coming years? Will the Government commit to uprating the adult disability payment and child disability payment in line with the rest of the benefits when the transfer process is complete?

Thank you for that. Can you also set out what support would be in place for kinship carers and children in kinship care ahead of the roll-out of the £25 child payment in December? In particular, what can you say about the 150,000 children on bridging payments who will not get the increased amount?

Thank you for outlining the measures that the Government is taking, but I specifically asked about measures that you are not taking and what you will do about the 150,000 children who are getting bridging payments and who will not get the £20—the doubling of the Scottish child payment—in April. They will not get any increase until December this year. There are 177,000 children—[Inaudible.]—either, because of the claimant uptake. What can you do specifically for those children?

If the minister is unable to say anything further at this time, I would be happy to hear about that in writing.

Thank you, minister, for outlining the position and for your answers so far.

Do you intend that the national allowance will be uprated in line with the cost of living and inflation in the same way that benefits have been?