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This year’s Scottish Budget is a budget of choices and we have chosen to back our national mission to tackle child poverty and strengthen support available for families during the cost of living crisis.

The Budget commits almost £200 million to double the Scottish Child Payment to £20 from April 2022, immediately benefiting 111,000 children under the age of 6.

We remain committed to delivering the Scottish Child Payment for children and young people aged 6-15 by the end of 2022, subject to receipt of the necessary data from DWP, at which point more than 400,000 children will be eligible.

In advance we are supporting as many school age children and young people as possible through our Bridging Payments, worth £520 in 2022. This innovative response, which makes use of the data local authorities have, is delivering immediate support to around 150,000 children.

The Scottish Child Payment remains the best way to provide the support low income families need now which is why we have acted to double the payment from April.

From 30 November 2021 the eligibility criteria for the Self Isolation Support Grant was changed to enable close contacts of someone who has tested positive or has been asked to isolate as part of the exercise within the public health response to the Omicron variant if they have to isolate for the required 10-day period to be eligible.

When existing Disability Living Allowance for Children (DLA Child) clients have their awards transferred to Child Disability Payment (CDP) they will receive the same payment rate for CDP as they received for DLA Child at the point of transfer. They will continue to receive this amount until their CDP needs to be reviewed. The value of each component of CDP is the same as DLA Child so that we do not create a two-tier system with varying rules whilst Scottish disability benefit clients are transferred to Social Security Scotland.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission is responsible for forecasting spending on DLA Child and CDP. The Commission has not reported a breakdown of the proportion of the CDP clients in receipt of greater, the same, or lesser amount of financial assistance under CDP compared with what they receive from the Department for Work and Pensions.

In forecasting CDP, the Scottish Fiscal Commission assumed that when award reviews occur the proportion of clients that would have had their award increased, maintained, and decreased under DLA Child will be the same as under CDP. While they recognise that the less frequent award reviews for CDP may increase the proportion of awards staying at their existing level for longer, the Commission’s judgement is that the effect on the overall outcome of award reviews on award levels may be cancelled out by an increase in the average initial award length and light-touch award reviews.

The Scottish Government will begin accepting Adult Disability Payment (ADP) applications from new clients from spring 2022 and nationally from summer 2022. Existing Personal Independence Payment (PIP) clients will begin to have their entitlements transferred from the Department for Work and Pensions to Social Security Scotland, also from summer 2022. PIP clients will not have to apply for ADP and they will receive the same rate of ADP as they received for PIP at the point of transfer. They will continue to receive this amount until their ADP award is reviewed. The value of each component of ADP is the same as PIP so that we do not create a two-tier system with varying rules whilst Scottish disability benefit clients are transferred to Social Security Scotland.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission is responsible for forecasting spending on PIP and ADP. The Commission has not reported a breakdown of the proportion of the ADP clients in receipt of greater, the same, or lesser amount of financial assistance under ADP compared with what they receive from the Department for Work and Pensions.

For new applications, the Scottish Fiscal Commission assume that 25 per cent of clients who would have received a nil award under PIP will now receive the standard rate under ADP, and that 15 per cent of those who would have received a standard award under PIP will now receive an enhanced award under ADP.

Once clients are in receipt of ADP, the Scottish Fiscal Commission assume that the proportion of clients disallowed at award review will decrease from 19% to 5%. The decrease in the number of clients disallowed at award review reflects the substantial differences in the PIP and ADP award review process and the effect of rolling and client-centred ADP awards.

The vast majority of people can wear a face covering and everyone who can is required to do so where it is mandated by law.

The Scottish Government was the first of the devolved administrations to produce guidance on the use of face coverings – recognising exemptions where people are unable to, or it would be inappropriate to, wear a face covering. Discrimination against people in this situation is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

The Scottish Government, in conjunction with a range of equality stakeholders, developed a face covering exemption card, to support those who are unable to wear a face covering to feel more confident and safe when accessing public spaces and using public services.

Further information is available on the Exemption Card Scotland website .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04922 on 17 December 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The latest annual data available, published in March 2020, estimates that 24% of children lived in relative poverty, after housing costs, in Scotland in the period 2017-20.

These statistics predate the impact of Covid-19 on the financial security of families and the removal of the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits. Data covering the first year of the Covid pandemic (2018-21) will be published by the end of March 2021.

We recognise the challenge faced in reaching the interim child poverty targets for 2023-24, that is why we have declared a national mission to tackle child poverty and have committed concrete action including the doubling of the Scottish Child Payment from April 2022.

The Scottish Government will publish the second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan by the end of March 2022, setting out a range of actions which will put us on a critical path to the targets set.

The standard Scottish Government monitoring and evaluation processes will apply to this funding, as per the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

As we set out in the answer to question S6W-04354 on 30 November 2021 there is a £13 million difference between the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s forecast for Scottish Child Payment expenditure from their January 2021 and August 2021 publications. This does not represent an underspend, it is simply a refinement of their previous forecast.

Scottish Child Payment is a completely new and demand led-benefit, which makes forecasting expenditure more difficult. The Commission revised their forecast once more data became available which suggested a lower number of eligible children.

As we set out in the answer to question S6W-04352 on 30 November 2021, we currently expect Scottish Child Payment expenditure to be in line with the updated forecasts.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

To date, the following organisations have been awarded funding from the £6 million funding available through the Winter Support Fund for the third sector: