Official Report 739KB pdf
Social Justice
Disabled People
To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement its ministers have had with disabled people’s organisations to discuss any concerns of disabled people. (S6O-04145)
On 13 November, I met representatives of disabled people’s organisations and Opposition party members to discuss the disability equality plan. Disabled people are struggling, and change is urgently needed. We are determined to do everything that we can to address the challenges that are faced by disabled people, and the Scottish budget has therefore prioritised action to address those challenges, investing an additional £2 million into the plan.
Following publication of the budget, I met representatives of disabled people’s organisations on 5 December to discuss next steps, and I look forward to continuing our work together to build towards a fairer Scotland.
The minister knows that I have raised concerns about the sufficiency of support that is provided to disabled people to meet the challenges that they face across Scotland. I know that the minister is trying to work across portfolios on those issues, but we have to take cognisance of the fact that the delays to the proposed learning disabilities, autism and neurodivergence bill and the disabled young people’s transition strategy have been very concerning. Most recently, I have raised the issue of promised health checks for people who have learning disabilities not happening.
Disabled people and DPOs want a renewed focus to deliver on those concerns when we return from recess in the new year. What concrete action can the disabled community expect in 2025 to finally address in full the concerns that I have mentioned, and to tackle the significant challenges that disabled people face, not least the disproportionately high poverty rate?
I thank Paul O’Kane for his interest and for acknowledging the hard work, collaboration and co-operation that is going on. We continue to do that work, and we are committed to delivering positive change for disabled people. As I mentioned, there is £2 million to enhance the disability equality plan in recognition of the work that is needed to improve disabled people’s lives.
We introduced the pension-age disability payment, which is worth between £290 and £434 per month to people of state pension age and over who are disabled. The child winter heating payment will help households with severely disabled children to manage the additional costs that they face this winter. We have also secured agreement from energy suppliers, consumer organisations and disabled people’s organisations to co-design a social tariff mechanism to evidence its viability.
After recess, I will continue to work in collaboration cross-party and with the DPOs to advance further steps.
Social Isolation and Loneliness (Urban Areas)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further details on the implementation of its social isolation and loneliness strategy, “Recovering our Connections 2023-2026”, particularly in relation to urban areas. (S6O-04146)
The Scottish Government acknowledges that loneliness is a public health issue that impacts people across Scotland. Our December budget confirmed funding in 2025-26 to support projects tackling social isolation and loneliness through our social isolation and loneliness fund. The fund supports the delivery of our social isolation and loneliness delivery plan, and we are providing £3.8 million over three years to 53 community projects across Scotland that provide opportunities for people to connect. Of those 53 funded organisations, 26 are based in urban areas such as Edinburgh, Glasgow—where the member has his constituency—Aberdeen, Stirling and Inverness.
I thank the minister for her detailed response. There are a number of excellent organisations and community groups in my constituency and across Scotland that do so much to combat isolation, especially during the Christmas and festive period. There are too many groups in Glasgow Pollok to mention them all. However, I give a special mention to Southwest Arts and Music Project—SWAMP—Glasgow, Tea in the Pot, Govan craft cafe and the many faith organisations and groups in my constituency.
Does the minister agree with me that local community organisations play a vital role in combating isolation and loneliness, often supporting people whom other services cannot reach? Will she join me in congratulating the staff and, crucially, volunteers in my Glasgow Pollok constituency, and across Scotland, for their invaluable service in helping to combat loneliness and isolation this Christmas and during the festive period?
I agree with the member. He mentioned Tea in the Pot; I am aware that my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice has visited that excellent service.
I thank the people of Pollok for their tenacity, resilience and community spirit. The Scottish Government recognises—as do I, personally—the contribution that is made by community-based organisations in responding to local needs. Community activity brings positive changes to people’s lives, and that is why the Government remains a strong advocate for the third sector. We remain committed to empowering communities to do things for themselves and make their voices heard in the planning and delivery of services.
Christmas is a happy time for many, but for some it can be the most difficult and lonely time of the year. Social isolation services, such as befriending, have been shown to greatly improve wellbeing. Can the minister advise us how the Scottish Government is ensuring that people who need those services are offered them, including through referrals from other public services such as the national health service and schools?
We have identified priority groups for the social isolation and loneliness fund, including young people, disabled people, people with a mental health condition, older people and people living in areas of deprivation or on a low income. Alongside members of the advisory group, we are analysing the impact of the fund, which has reached just over 11,000 people in year 1. Our delivery plan also contains a number of actions, across Government and beyond, that aim to stimulate activity to help to tackle the stigma associated with loneliness and to provide opportunities for people to connect.
Temporary Accommodation (Waiting Times)
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address wait times in temporary accommodation. (S6O-04147)
Increasing the supply of affordable and social housing is key to reducing the time spent in temporary accommodation. The proposed 2025-26 affordable housing supply programme budget of £768 million more than reinstates funding to 2023-24 levels. Additional investment of £42 million in affordable housing this year has been targets five local authorities in the central belt with sustained temporary accommodation pressures, to increase the supply of social and affordable homes through acquisitions and to bring empty social homes back into use. We are also working with energy suppliers to address issues to ensure that empty social homes can be turned around more quickly.
I am sure that the minister will agree that some of the waiting times in temporary accommodation have been absolutely appalling. There was one case in South Lanarkshire in which a child spent 420 days in temporary accommodation, and an adult who endured a 760-day stay. That is unacceptable. Given that the First Minister said earlier, “We are not building enough houses”, does the minister agree that we need a better approach and that it should be targeted at those areas that are most in need?
I will touch on some of the actions that we are taking. First, though, there was a capital budget cut from the Tory Government last year, and we also had the freezing of local housing allowance. Those are important contexts.
In addition to the £42 million acquisition funding that I talked about, there are other actions in this year’s budget, including £4 million of additional funding for homelessness provision and £2 million for empty homes initiatives. We are also spending £90 million—and continue to do so, even under the Labour Government—on the discretionary housing payment.
The £768 million that I mentioned will produce 8,000 homes. As Mr Simpson knows, and as we have discussed, there are prevention duties under the Housing (Scotland) Bill. The Government is taking a number of actions on homelessness and will continue to do so.
Scottish Welfare Fund (Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley)
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any benefits of the Scottish welfare fund for constituents in Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley. (S6O-04148)
The Scottish welfare fund provides an essential source of crisis support and helps people with independent living in Scotland. Last year, people in Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley benefited from nearly 1,800 community care grants, totalling more than £765,000, and almost 3,500 crisis grants, with a value of more than £168,000.
Those living in Mr Coffey’s constituency will also benefit from the additional funding for East Ayrshire Council from the recently announced £20 million investment in the fund. That is on top of the £1.1 million funding that has already been provided by the Scottish Government for the council this year.
In 2023-24, more than £1.3 million of Scottish welfare fund support came to East Ayrshire alone, benefiting my constituents during the worst of the cost of living crisis. What role is the welfare fund due to play in the year ahead in the Scottish Government’s priority mission to eradicate child poverty?
Mr Coffey is right to point out the Scottish welfare fund’s important role in our benefits and support system. It is a key priority for the Scottish Government to continue that essential source of support for those who are in crisis.
We must also do what we can to continue to press the United Kingdom Government to take the actions at source, such as an essentials guarantee, which would lift people out of poverty, cure the systemic challenge of the inadequacy of UK Government benefits and, therefore, ensure that the Scottish Government has more flexibility in how we use the Scottish welfare fund to support more people.
Women Experiencing Domestic Abuse (Support)
To ask the Scottish Government what levels of support are currently available to women experiencing domestic abuse. (S6O-04149)
Domestic abuse is abhorrent, which is why we are providing record levels of funding to vital front-line services to support survivors. We fund Scotland’s domestic abuse and forced marriage helpline to ensure that round-the-clock specialist advice is available. Through our £19 million per year delivering equally safe fund, which I recently announced will be extended for another year, we support a range of organisations across Scotland to ensure that vital support to women and children is available locally. Our victim-centred approach fund provides £18.5 million for specialist advocacy support for survivors between 2022 and 2025.
I know that tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for the minister and the Scottish Government.
The minister will know that, according to Police Scotland, between April and September 2024, the number of domestic abuse crimes rose by 2,028 compared to the same period last year. In addition, through Scottish Women’s Aid, we know that, on average, 25 per cent of women who have suffered economic abuse report that that abuse continues after they leave their abuser.
With that in mind, what is the Government doing—or could it be doing—to protect and support the rising number of women who experience and survive domestic abuse, particularly those who experience economic abuse after they leave?
As I said, domestic abuse is a total blight on our society. We had extensive discussions during the 16 days of activism against violence against women and girls.
I acknowledge that there has been a small increase in the number of incidents that have been reported to the police, but we know that many of those crimes go unreported. I encourage victims to seek help and support. We continue to make changes to the justice system to make it easier to report incidents, and we have legislated to give police, prosecutors and the courts greater powers to tackle domestic abuse crimes.
We are also taking steps to address financial abuse. That is clearly set out in our delivering equally safe plan, which is jointly delivered through partnership with stakeholders, local authorities and the Scottish Government.
I also highlight the £500,000 fund to leave pilot, which provided financial support to women who were leaving an abusive relationship. The assessment is nearly at the end stage, and I will be able to report back soon.
I am keen to get in all members who have requested to ask a question. Concise questions and responses would help in that regard.
I have been contacted by women’s support services in my region about the devastating impact of Labour’s national insurance hikes.
One service estimates that the hikes will cost £9,000. The service’s budgets are already cut to the bone and it has waiting lists of six months or more. It will likely have to lose a practitioner, and the impact on survivors will be absolutely awful.
People from the services are watching proceedings today to hear your answer to my question. What action is the Scottish Government taking to ensure the sustainability of those vital services, so that all survivors receive the vital support that they need?
I am aware of the time, so I will be brief. I acknowledge that there is a massive impact on the third sector. We would appreciate it if everyone in the chamber could join us in pressing the United Kingdom Government to address its economic decisions, which are having an impact.
I share the concern of many of my constituents at the news that Highland Council is considering plans to invite a single provider to deliver domestic abuse services for all genders across the Highlands. I know at first hand the invaluable levels of expertise and knowledge that exist in the women’s groups in the Highlands. Any changes that could limit access to support for women in need require careful discussion.
What is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that women in the Highlands and Islands can access specialised local domestic abuse services?
The Scottish Government is committed to supporting front-line services that provide crucial support to survivors of domestic abuse. Through the delivering equally safe funding programme, we fund local women’s aid services in the Highlands, including Lochaber Women’s Aid, Caithness and Sutherland Women’s Aid, Inverness Women’s Aid and Ross-shire Women’s Aid. The Scottish Government cannot interfere with local authority autonomy and procurement procedures, including the commissioning of domestic abuse services. We encourage local authorities to utilise the joint Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and Scottish Women’s Aid guidance on good practice in commissioning specialist domestic abuse services.
Social Security Scotland (Fraud)
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle any fraud in Social Security Scotland. (S6O-04150)
Social Security Scotland has a zero-tolerance approach to fraud. It has published a counter-fraud strategy and has in place counter-fraud response measures to identify and tackle emergent fraud risks.
Where Social Security Scotland has good reason to believe that fraud has taken place, it will investigate and make efforts to stop on-going financial loss and will seek to recover payments. Where appropriate to do so, Social Security Scotland will report to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service on cases of suspected fraud.
Despite receiving almost 8,000 allegations of fraud, Scotland’s benefit agency has referred just one person to prosecutors, and that one case was subsequently dropped—so much for a zero-tolerance approach. Surely the cabinet secretary must share my concern—those figures should send alarm bells through Government—unless she believes that there is simply no fraud. Will she protect taxpayers’ money and look at the robustness and staffing levels of the anti-fraud team?
I extend an invitation to Sandesh Gulhane to meet Social Security Scotland to go through exactly what is in place. I appreciate the points and the figures that he has laid out, but they do not necessarily reflect that there is an issue in the system.
Rather than being limited to what we can go through in the chamber, it would be useful to talk about what happens with the claims that come in about fraudulent activity and the detailed processes on fraud risk and suspected fraudulent activity. There is an enormous amount that we could go into on the investigative methodology and data analysis and on working with partners to approve the appropriate response to fraud. Not all cases should go to the Crown Office, but very stringent measures are in place in the agency. I invite the member to meet the agency to talk through that. If he still has any concerns, I would be happy to discuss those with him in detail.
The cabinet secretary will agree that it is vital to minimise any fraud, not just fraud in relation to benefits that Social Security Scotland delivers. She will be aware that the United Kingdom taxpayer was defrauded of tens of billions of pounds during the Covid pandemic, from dodgy personal protection equipment to some employers falsely claiming furlough payments. What co-operation has there been between the Scottish and UK Governments to recover that money and money lost through tax evasion by wealthy individuals?
I am not wholly content that that relates to the substantive question. We will move on to question 7.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My question was about fraud—[Interruption.].
Mr Gibson, I have ruled.
Draft Budget (Mitigation of Two-child Benefit Cap)
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement in its draft budget 2025-26 that it plans to mitigate the United Kingdom Government’s two-child benefit cap policy in Scotland, what it estimates the cost will be of doing so, per affected child. (S6O-04151)
The universal credit child element is worth £287.92 per month for the first two children in a household. Our mitigation will seek to make a payment equal to the universal credit child element for each eligible third and subsequent child in a household that is impacted by the cap. At current levels, that would be almost £3,500 per child per year. The Child Poverty Action Group estimates that mitigating the two-child limit in Scotland could lift around 15,000 children out of poverty.
The UK Labour Government, which promised change, has left it to the devolved Governments to mitigate the most pernicious and costly Tory austerity measures, such as the two-child limit. Will the cabinet secretary outline the total cost to the Scottish Government of all the UK Government policies that are being mitigated, including the two-child benefit cap?
Next year, in our draft budget, mitigating the impacts of UK Government policies will rise to more than £210 million per year, which is an increase of more than £56 million. That includes spending more than £99 million on discretionary housing payments to mitigate the bedroom tax and the benefit cap; maintaining our £41 million commitment to the Scottish welfare fund, which provides crisis support and helps eligible people to establish independent living; and spending around £70 million above the block grant adjustment to mitigate the winter fuel payment cut, ensuring that all pensioners’ households will receive a minimum of £100 of support next winter.
I also noted with some disbelief that, only yesterday, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions seemed to suggest that, despite the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government not having the powers to do so, it is somehow up to the Scottish Government to alleviate the critical situation of the WASPI women—women against state pension inequality. It is a deep disappointment that the UK Government has abdicated its responsibility on that and on the other areas that we mitigate.
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government said in her budget statement that data would be required from the Department for Work and Pensions before the Scottish Government could put a cost on the mitigation measures. Will the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice spell out exactly what data would be required to implement the policy?
We need some additional information sharing and data sharing with the DWP. Work on that has begun—letters have been exchanged, and officials from the social security directorate in the Scottish Government and from the DWP are working on that.
I would be happy to provide information on the data that we think is still required. What we need might still change, because we are working through that; in essence, we are in the first sprint of the discovery phase for what needs to happen. With the caveat that it might change with that discovery work, I would be happy to provide Liz Smith with that information.
Draft Budget (Eradication of Child Poverty)
To ask the Scottish Government how the measures announced in its draft budget 2025-26 will support its mission to eradicate child poverty. (S6O-04152)
The Scottish budget for 2025-26 prioritises action to eradicate child poverty, outlining wide-ranging investment to support progress on that national mission. In addition to our continued investment in measures such as the Scottish child payment, early learning and childcare and free bus travel, we have announced increased investment in the affordable housing supply and the expansion of breakfast clubs and free school meals. Importantly, we have also committed to spend £3 million to develop the systems that are necessary to effectively scrap the impact of the two-child cap in 2026. The Child Poverty Action Group estimates that scrapping the two-child limit in Scotland could lift 15,000 children out of poverty.
Poverty campaigners have made it clear that, for child poverty to be eradicated in Scotland, policy makers cannot work in a silo. Will the cabinet secretary outline how the First Minister’s four priority missions support one another, and how the draft budget ensures that low-income households in Scotland are set to benefit not only from more generous and comprehensive social security measures than in the rest of the United Kingdom but from a thriving green economy and improved public services?
Clare Haughey is quite right to point out that, as the eradication of child poverty is a defining mission of the Government, it is not just for this portfolio but for all ministers to take exceptionally seriously, and that is why we have a cross-Government response.
I believe that the budget demonstrates that response, whether that is through the investment in employability, in housing or, indeed, in social security, with the reintroduction of the universal winter fuel payment and the work on mitigating the two-child cap. That is just a small but significant sample of what is in the budget.
That support for people will only happen, however, if the Parliament votes for the budget. The important work that we are all obligated to do to eradicate child poverty can be done only if the budget is passed.
That concludes portfolio questions.
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