Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning and welcome to the sixth meeting of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee. Apologies have been received from Foysol Choudhury.

Our first item of business is a decision to take items 3 and 4 in private. Are we all agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

Pam, did you have another question?

Sticking with that last point, could you talk about the specific issues that councils across Scotland may face in relation to asylum-seeking children? How does the support offered in Scotland differ from that offered in the rest of the UK and why does that give councils particular problems?

It would be helpful if you shared those figures with us, considering that in Scotland we have an obligation to people who are care-experienced, up to their 26th birthday.

I see that Councillor Aitken is indicating that she wants to speak. Do you want to add anything, Councillor Aitken?

That is fantastic. We look forward to receiving that information. Pam Gosal has a few questions.

We had some questions about the Scottish Government’s lodging of a legislative consent memorandum on the Nationality and Borders Bill but, in the interests of time, we will write to you and ask for your thoughts on the two specific clauses that fall within the devolved competencies.

I thank the witnesses for their evidence and Pam Gosal for joining the meeting. You are welcome to follow up on any points that you think we need to have fleshed out. I thank those who have already offered to do that.

That concludes the public part of the meeting. Next week, we will continue to take evidence on refugees and asylum seekers. We now move into private session to consider our remaining agenda items.

If you are very brief.

I will bring in my colleague Natalie Don, who will ask questions on the Afghan citizen resettlement scheme.

Our main item of business this morning is an evidence session on refugees and asylum seekers. The committee has been holding some stand-alone evidence sessions to explore the breadth of its remit. We will use the evidence heard during these meetings to begin to establish priorities for our work programme over the parliamentary session. Given that this topic is also of interest to the Equalities and Human Rights Committee, we invited members of that committee to join today’s meeting. In addition to Pam Duncan-Glancy, who is a member of both committees, I welcome to our meeting Pam Gosal MSP, who is joining us remotely.

I welcome our panel of witnesses, who are also joining us remotely: Andrew Morrison, chief officer, migration, population and diversity team, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; Pat Togher, assistant chief officer, public health protection complex needs, Glasgow city health and social care partnership; Alistair Dinnie, refugee and migration programme manager, City of Edinburgh Council; Calum Maciver, director of communities, Western Isles Council; and Councillor Susan Aitken, who is leader of Glasgow City Council.

I have a few housekeeping points before we start. Please allow our broadcasting colleagues a few seconds to turn on your microphones before you start to speak. If you are joining us remotely and wish to come in on a question, you can indicate that by typing an R in the dialogue box in BlueJeans or simply by a show of the hand if that is not working. I will try to keep my eyes on everyone.

Witnesses, do not feel that you have to answer every question. There are quite a few of you today. It is okay if you do not have anything new to add to what has been said by others. You are also welcome to follow up in writing after the meeting on any points that you think need to be clarified or that have not been covered, or to supply further information on any points that have been raised. I invite members to direct their questions to particular witnesses because we have a lot to get through this morning.

Natalie Don, who is joining us remotely, will start with questions on theme 1.