Seòmar agus comataidhean

The member is right; we are working hard to address racism, prejudice and discrimination against the community. For example, some of the practical steps that we have taken include the development by NHS Fife and NHS 24 of an e-learning module, to be promoted to tackle the stigma and discrimination that some Gypsy Travellers experience when using national health services. Uptake of the module has been high. Work has also involved developing learning and development resources for Social Security Scotland, to support the needs of Gypsy Travellers when they access front-line services.

As the member will know, COSLA works with councillors across the country to raise awareness of the issues that Gypsy Travellers face, to ensure that they feel involved in their local communities.

I refer Miles Briggs to my previous answers about the significant support that is being provided to local authorities. I also draw his attention to the important fact that financial settlements are negotiated between COSLA as a whole, acting on behalf of all 32 local authorities, and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy.

Due to the pandemic, work was delayed on the collective Scottish Government commitment to undertake joint working with COSLA to develop a rules-based fiscal framework to support future funding settlements for local government. The Scottish Government and COSLA officials have recommenced those discussions, to determine the scope of the work that is required. It is important to keep in mind that, for any changes to be made to how local government is funded, there would have to be agreement with COSLA to ensure that there is consensus, and such changes would have to be considered in the context of the wider budget process and financial pressures.

Scotland’s councils have been allocated an additional £1.5 billion over this year and last in direct support through the local government finance settlement. Councils have also been granted additional financial flexibilities to address the financial pressures caused by Covid-19. Furthermore, the 2021-22 local government settlement of almost £11.7 billion provides a cash increase in local government day-to-day spending for local revenue services of £375.6 million, which is an increase of 3.5 per cent. The Scottish Government will continue working in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and local authorities.

Local authorities will receive an additional £259 million this year to support Covid pressures. They will be able to spend that money as they see fit to provide the maximum benefit to their communities. To date, the Scottish Government has also provided local authorities with more than £5 million of direct support for contact tracing and vaccinations. Ministers across the Scottish Government are in regular dialogue with COSLA and we will continue to ensure that local authorities have the capacity to provide the help and support that are required at this crucial time.

The 2021-22 local government finance settlement of almost £11.7 billion includes an additional £375.6 million—or 3.5 per cent—for day-to-day revenue spending. In addition, the value of the overall Covid-19 support package for councils now totals more than £1.5 billion over this year and last year. Ultimately, it is for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to deploy the resources at their disposal to deliver services to their communities on the basis of their local needs and priorities.

I have not spoken to the Children and Young People’s Commissioner about this issue, but the Scottish Government agrees that the United Kingdom Government’s two-child limit and its associated rape clause are abhorrent policies that push families into poverty.

Scottish Government analysis indicates that the two-child limit takes at least £120 million from low-income families in Scotland, and we will continue to call on the UK Government to do the right thing and reverse that harmful policy. For the sake of clarity, Scotland’s social security system does not—and, under this Administration, never will—have a cap on the number of eligible children.

Absolutely. First of all, the Scottish Government has continually and consistently called on the UK Government to scrap the two-child limit, which, like its abhorrent rape clause, is unnecessary and wrong-headed, and we have also urged it to stop its plans to cut universal credit by £20 a week at the end of September and instead to maintain that extra money.

The Scottish Government is doing what it can with the powers and resources that we have to increase incomes, reduce household costs and mitigate the impacts of poverty on children. That includes delivering new support to families with children under the age of six through the Scottish child payment, which is worth £40 per child every four weeks, and delivering bridging payments for older children and young people worth the equivalent of the Scottish child payment until that is fully rolled out. We have also committed to doubling the payment to £80 per child every four weeks at the earliest possible opportunity.

As I emphasised in my first answer, the fact that we have different spheres of governance here in Scotland means that local councillors have to make decisions affecting local communities. However, I appreciate the significance of the point and the tone in which Mr Simpson raised it. As citizens and representatives, we know the value of libraries in communities. If Mr Simpson would like to write to me with more details of the circumstances in his region, I would be very glad to receive that correspondence.

Will the member take an intervention?

For me, as for so many others, including Neil Gray and most of the other speakers in the debate, achieving greater social justice is one of the main drivers of my political activism and commitment. We can and must create a fairer society. Therefore, I thank Neil Gray for securing today’s debate on the Social Justice and Fairness Commission’s report and the issues that it covers, and all those across the chamber who have contributed to the debate.

I welcome Stephen Kerr to the Scottish Parliament. Although he has been provocative in much of what he has said in Parliament so far, I believe that he has been acting in good faith, but I encourage him to acknowledge that the election has passed and that we are now in a different era. If he is serious about being constructive, I urge him to consider the nature of his arguments and the background to his remarks. When I intervened on him, I made the point about the migration statistics. Also, on planning law, it is important to acknowledge that the reporter is independent.

On several occasions in the chamber, Mr Kerr has talked about the need for the Scottish Government to reach out to the UK Government. I have had several ministerial posts and, unfortunately, the engagement with the UK Government has never been meaningful, so if he can improve that in relation to the matters that the Social Justice and Fairness Commission’s report deals with and more generally, I encourage him to do that.

I warmly welcome Michael Marra and Paul Sweeney to the Scottish Parliament. They made important points about taxation in the context of the issues that the report raises, but in recent years, when it comes to achieving social justice, we have had no serious budget proposals from the Labour Party, and I hope that their entering Parliament will mean that that position will change.

Paul Sweeney made thoughtful and powerful points on universal credit, but as Stuart McMillan rightly emphasised, we cannot be a Parliament of mitigation. We already spend £60 million a year on mitigating the effects of the bedroom tax. What I have never really understood about Labour’s position is why it would not want to bring the powers here so that we can do things differently and comprehensively. That is relevant in relation to progressive taxation. Although we control a number of aspects of income tax policy, we have no control over dividend income tax, so we do not have complete control over all the relevant areas.