Seòmar agus comataidhean

I advise members that, next week, we will take evidence on the Scottish Government’s National Care Service (Scotland) Bill.

The committee will now move into private. Members who are attending remotely are invited to join the private meeting via the link provided.

As there are no comments from members, I invite the cabinet secretary to sum up.

Our main item of business is consideration of a statutory instrument, the draft Homeless Persons (Suspension of Referrals between Local Authorities) (Scotland) Order 2022. The Scottish Government advises that the order would suspend the discretionary power of local authorities to refer a homelessness applicant without a local connection to another local authority on the basis of the applicant’s local connection to that other area.

I welcome Shona Robison MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, and thank her for attending today. I also welcome the officials from the Scottish Government who join us today: Karen Grieve, legislation and programme strategy team leader; Louise Thompson, homelessness policy manager; and Micheila West, solicitor from the housing branch.

The instrument is laid under the affirmative procedure, which means that Parliament must approve it before it comes into force. Following the evidence session, the committee will be invited under the next agenda item to consider a motion to approve the instrument. I remind everyone that Scottish Government officials can speak under this agenda item but not in the debate that follows.

I invite the cabinet secretary to make a short opening statement.

Absolutely. That would be very helpful.

Motion agreed to.

We move to agenda item 3, which is the formal consideration of motion S6M-05955.

Motion moved,

That the Social Justice and Social Security Committee recommends that the Homeless Persons (Suspension of Referrals between Local Authorities) (Scotland) Order 2022 be approved.—[Shona Robison]

The committee will report on the outcome of its consideration of the order in due course. I invite the committee to delegate authority to me, as convener, to approve a draft of the report for publication.

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you for coming this morning. We have spoken quite a lot about passengers’ needs for reliable and frequent services, and about the size of vessels. Thinking about the service as a whole, do you think that commercial ferry operators are better attuned to passenger needs than state-supported services are? If so, will you explain why? Can you give any relevant examples of times when your companies have reacted to a change in circumstances in a way that a state-supported service could or would not react?

Okay.

Over the course of our inquiry, we will speak to all relevant parties, so we will seek such information. However, it is important to get your view and hear how you go about understanding customers’ needs and how you act on that. Your answers have been helpful, so I thank you—unless you have anything else to add.

I understand that the consultation, which closes today, asks for views on various social security changes, including changing the legal basis of the Scottish child payment from a top-up benefit to a stand-alone benefit. That would make it easier to address the problem of the cliff edge, because it would be legally possible to pay the Scottish child payment to people who were not getting reserved benefits. What policy options are being considered on that front?