Seòmar agus comataidhean

Our next agenda item is our fourth evidence session on the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill. The bill is at stage 1. Today, we will focus on part 7 of the bill, which concerns recovery from compensation payments.

I welcome to the meeting Lynne Macfarlane, who is a solicitor advocate at the Forum of Insurance Lawyers; Alastair Ross, who is assistant director and head of public policy for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for the Association of British Insurers; and Alan Rogerson, who is a member of the Forum of Scottish Claims Managers. I thank you very much for accepting our invitation to the meeting.

I will mention a few points about the format of the meeting before we start. Please wait until I or the member asking the question says your name before speaking. Do not feel that you have to answer every question. If you feel that you have nothing new to add to what has been said by others, that is okay.

I ask everyone to keep questions and answers as concise as possible.

We now move to questions. I invite Paul O’Kane to begin.

I will now bring in Katy Clark.

We now move on to the theme of appeals.

We will move on to the final theme, which is on the reviews that Erica Young has just touched on.

I now invite Paul O’Kane to ask a question.

Yes, we have plenty of time.

I think that Jeremy Balfour has a supplementary question.

Good morning, and welcome to the 10th meeting of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee in 2024. We have received no apologies this morning.

Our first item of business is a decision on whether to take agenda items 5, 6 and 7 in private. Do we agree to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

We move to theme 3, which is the financial memorandum to the bill.

Jeremy Balfour would like to come in with a supplementary question, and then I will invite John Mason in.