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Information about the number of applications received, and authorised as eligible for payment, for Best Start Grant by payment type up to the end of June 2019 is available at: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Social-Welfare/SocialSecurityforScotland/BSGJune2019 .

Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts are for financial years. It produced a supplementary policy costing for Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment in September 2018 in which it forecasted 4,000 payments in 2018-19, based on a 1 December 2018 launch. The Scottish Fiscal Commission “Social Security – Best Start Grant (Pregnancy and Baby Grant) – September 2018” policy costing is available at: http://www.fiscalcommission.scot/publications/supplementary-costings/social-security-best-start-grant-pregnancy-and-baby-grant-september-2018/ . In comparison, Social Security Scotland received 19,465 applications for Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment in 2018-19. Of those, 11,505 had been authorised as eligible for payment by 31 March 2019.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-25155 on 18 September 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The initial rate of the Scottish Child Payment, when the first payments are made in 2020-21, will be £10 per week, per eligible child. Its rate in future years will be informed by the approach we take to the uprating of the devolved benefits which we are currently consulting on, prior to the laying of the legislation in the Scottish Parliament in January 2020.

When it is fully rolled out, the rate of the Scottish Child Payment will be the same for all eligible children, in each age group.

As set out in the Scottish Child Payment policy position paper, once fully rolled out (by the end of 2022) eligibility for the Scottish Child Payment will be on the basis of children aged under the age of 16.

As set out in the Ministerial statement on the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan on 29 June, further work has been required to assess certain policy and delivery implications of the Scottish Child Payment.

As part of this work, we are considering a range of issues which includes assessment periods and verifying eligibility and entitlement. Our approach to this will be set out in regulations which we will submit to the Scottish Commission on Social Security in the autumn.

The Scottish Government has given a commitment to uprate the Scottish Child Payment with inflation to ensure that its value always keeps up with rising prices, and provisions will be made for this in regulations.

On 2 September, we published a Policy Paper and Analytical Report, on the uprating measures that could be used to uprate devolved social security assistance. This can be found on the Scottish Parliament’s website: https://www.parliament.scot/S5_Social_Security/General%20Documents
/20190902_CabSecSSOP_to_Convener_uprating_measures.pdf .

The Social Security Committee and the Scottish Commission on Social Security have been asked to provide their views on the Scottish Government’s proposals for uprating by end October 2019.

These views will inform the decision on the uprating measure to be applied, in time for the Scottish Budget and prior to the laying of the legislation in the Scottish Parliament in January 2020.

Such a model was considered. It was rejected for a number of reasons, including the technical complexity of designing it, the resulting risks to delivery of the other devolved benefits, and the ongoing uncertainty around delays to Universal Credit migration, which would have meant that clients awaiting migration would not be eligible to receive the Scottish Child Payment unless additional interfaces with legacy systems were also built.

In introducing the Scottish Child Payment the Scottish Government prioritised the delivery route which would deliver the benefit to the quickest timescales and with the least impact on the remaining devolved benefits. The option of an automated delivery model for Universal Credit(UC), which would have required these additional interfaces with legacy benefits for those who had not yet migrated onto UC, was considered as part of our assessment of all potential options, and discounted following discussion with senior officials and Ministers as it was not deemed to be the best fit with this objective.

The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 provides for advocacy to be available to support people with a disability to engage effectively with the Scottish social security system.

If a young person has a disability and is applying for Scottish disability assistance in their own right then they will be eligible to seek advocacy support. A parent or carer will be able to seek advocacy support to assist with their disabled child's application for assistance if they themselves identify as having a disability or if the child or young person wishes an advocacy worker's support to ensure their own voice is heard.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-24990 on 12 September 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .