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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 10 December 2024
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Displaying 1077 contributions

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Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 5 December 2024

Jeremy Balfour

I am happy to use the word “investment”, too. You are right that the budget has to be balanced. If that investment is made, my basic understanding of economics—it is basic—tells me that there are two choices: we have to either raise more income by increasing tax or cut another department’s budget. Whether or not we call it an investment, am I correct in my understanding, or is there is a magic wand that I have not worked out?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 5 December 2024

Jeremy Balfour

That is for another day.

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 5 December 2024

Jeremy Balfour

Thank you.

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 5 December 2024

Jeremy Balfour

Good morning, cabinet secretary, and good morning to your team. A lot of the things that you brought forward have had cross-party support, which is very welcome. However, there is a looming deficit with regard to the social security budget, which has been driven by the choices that the Government and the Parliament have made. Obviously, we do not want all that funding to suddenly come to an end. What is the thinking of your department, along with those of other ministers in the Cabinet, on how we will bridge that deficit of more than £1 billion within a few years?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 5 December 2024

Jeremy Balfour

[Interruption.] I will let you take a moment, cabinet secretary.

Unfortunately, although my question is short, it is very important. What should happen if we miss the targets?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 5 December 2024

Jeremy Balfour

I appreciate that, and I welcome the cabinet secretary’s optimism, but there is quite a lot of data out there from the third sector that says that we might not meet them. I am not trying to be Mr Scrooge or pessimistic, but if, for whatever reason, we did not do so, what would be the outcome?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 28 November 2024

Jeremy Balfour

Good morning. I might be taking us down a rabbit hole that nobody wants to go down, but I was interested in John Dickie’s remarks about other groups. I have had some correspondence from families who do not have children and from single males in particular. I fully understand the targeting of measures at children—we all support that—but is there an implication that others feel that they have been left behind? Is there any evidence that single males between 18 and 30 in particular are not getting the support that they require?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 21 November 2024

Jeremy Balfour

What advice would Social Security Scotland give to somebody on whether it would be helpful to them to swap over to the new system? Will people be referred to some kind of adviser? Obviously, everyone’s circumstances are different—for some people there has been a benefit to swapping from DLA to PIP, while for others there has not. If someone were to phone in to ask, how would that work in practice?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 21 November 2024

Jeremy Balfour

Thank you. I have no further questions.

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 21 November 2024

Jeremy Balfour

I want to follow on a wee bit from what my colleague was asking. To what extent has the 2017 act resulted in additional interventions at the local level to tackle child poverty that might not have been happening before the act was passed? What has changed as a result of the act?

I will start with Peter Kelly and then others can jump in, if that is okay.