Seòmar agus comataidhean

As there are no comments, I invite the committee to agree that it does not wish to make any further recommendation in relation to the regulations.

Members indicated agreement.

Good morning, and welcome to the 25th meeting in 2022 of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, which we are running as a fully remote meeting—it feels like a long time since we have done that. I have my dog wrapped in a blanket beside me, so I hope that he stays quiet for the entire time.

We have received apologies from Miles Briggs and Foysol Choudhury. Our first item of business is a decision on taking business in private. Are we agreed to take item 5 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Pam, do you have a supplementary question on that before you take us into the next section of questioning?

Welcome back. The next item of business is the second of our pre-budget scrutiny sessions. Our scrutiny focuses on the resource spending review and its impact on poverty, as well as the forthcoming equalities and fairer Scotland budget statement.

This week, we will hear from two panels. I welcome to the meeting the first of those: Danny Boyle, senior parliamentary and policy officer at BEMIS, and Graham O’Neill, policy manager at the Scottish Refugee Council. Thank you both for joining us remotely today.

I have a few housekeeping points to make before we kick off. If you wait for our broadcasting colleagues to turn your microphone on before you start to speak, that will be helpful. The screen is in front of me so, if you want to come in on a point, please type R in the chat box or wave at me. There are only two of you, so it will be quite easy for me to keep track. We have approximately 50 minutes for this panel. I will invite members to come in in turn. If members direct their question to one of the two witnesses to kick us off, that will be helpful.

Our first theme is about the impact of the rising cost of living. To start us off, I will bring in the deputy convener, Natalie Don.

Good morning, and welcome to the 24th meeting in 2022 of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee.

Our first item of business is a decision on whether to take items 4 and 5 in private. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

We move to a theme that we have already touched on: concessionary fares and transport costs.

I thank both witnesses for setting out the reality on the ground as it is at the moment and your concerns for the future.

I will bring in Jeremy Balfour.

I will hand over to Pam Duncan-Glancy, and if Danny wants to, he can wrap his response to that question into his answers to Pam.

We will start with Danny Boyle.

Frank McKillop, from your perspective and that of the people whom Enable supports, do you have anything that you want to mention in relation to homelessness?