Seòmar agus comataidhean

Graeme McAlister, would you like to come in on that?

Thank you, Graeme. I invite Irene Audain to comment.

Good morning, and welcome to the 13th meeting in 2023 of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee. We have received no apologies for today’s meeting.

Our first item of business is a decision on whether to take agenda items 4, 5, 6 and 7 in private. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

My point is about purposeful activity. The letter from the SPS says that it is

“currently undertaking a post covid recovery activity review.”

I would be keen to follow that up and find out exactly what the SPS is doing.

The other thing that I picked up on is that purposeful activity includes work placements outside prison. That would relate to the open prison. It was mentioned earlier that we are only using 50 per cent of the open estate’s capacity. I am keen for that to be monitored and to find out whether that figure has increased and, if not, why it is still not at full capacity.

Good morning. You touched on the fact that you have been in talks with the Home Office about the impact that the bill will have on devolved areas. I want to focus on whether any impact assessment has been done on the effect of the bill on the charitable sector and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, which is a devolved area. It is widely known that the charitable sector and trusts have been widely used for money laundering. Could you comment on that?

I ask that question wearing two hats. As well as being a member of this committee, I am convener of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, which is considering the Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Bill, a significant focus of which is OSCR and the associated reporting aspects. The UK bill could have a knock-on effect in that regard.

Thank you.

That concludes our public business for today.

I wish a very good morning to everyone, and I welcome you to the 12th meeting in 2023 of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee. We have received apologies from Katy Clark for today’s meeting.

Our first item of business is a decision on whether to take agenda items 3, 4, 5 and 6 in private. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Our next item of business is consideration of a negative Scottish statutory instrument.?The instrument makes amendments to working age and pension age regulations as a result of the introduction of the Bereavement Benefits (Remedial) Order 2023 in February.

The 2023 order allows for cohabiting parents with dependent children who need support following the death of their partner to qualify for Department for Work and Pensions bereavement benefits. Previously, only bereaved parents who were married or in a civil partnership could qualify for those benefits. The order also allows retrospective claims to be paid as a lump sum in some circumstances, and it will prevent such a payment from affecting entitlement to or eligibility for a council tax reduction, which would normally be dependent on a person’s capital.

The instrument is laid under the negative procedure, which means that its provisions will come into force unless the Parliament agrees to a motion to annul it. No motion to annul the instrument has been lodged.

As members have no comments to make on the instrument, I?invite the committee to agree that it does not wish to make any recommendations in relation to the regulations. Do members agree to note the instrument?

Members indicated agreement.