Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you for pointing out the delays in decisions being made. The committee can pick up on that issue.

Even I sometimes do not understand the bills that come through—they should be much more user friendly. I thank you for your comments on that; they are much appreciated.

I am conscious that several people are making some good comments in the chat function. Unfortunately, because it is a chat, those will not go into the Official Report. I would appreciate it if people could drop us an email with those comments and we will take them on board.

I bring in Becky Duff.

We will take that on board, particularly with regard to young carers.

That brings us to the end of questions on theme 1. I invite Jeremy Balfour, who joins us online, to commence questions on theme 2.

Okay. Thank you.

Adam Stachura is head of policy and communications at Age Scotland. We also have with us Ellie Wagstaff, who is senior policy manager at Marie Curie Scotland.

Joining us online are Ruth Boyle, policy and campaigns manager at the Poverty Alliance; Allan Faulds, policy and information officer at the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland—the ALLIANCE; Heather Fisken, head of policy and research at Inclusion Scotland; Steven McAvoy, senior welfare rights adviser at Enable Scotland; and Frazer Scott, chief executive officer at Energy Action Scotland.

We have received apologies from Susan Webster, who is head of policy and campaigns at MND Scotland.

I believe that we also have with us Suzanne Munday, who is Gypsy/Traveller service lead at the Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project.

I thank you for your attendance today—you are all very welcome. I ask everyone to bear with me, as this is my first committee meeting as convener.

We have chosen a round-table format in order to facilitate a free-flowing conversation. The committee is very much in listening mode, so please feel free to indicate to me when you want to come in. If you are attending online, please pop an R in the chat box and I will bring you in.

We will cover three themes. I will kick off on theme 1 and then invite Jeremy Balfour and Paul O’Kane to introduce the second and third themes respectively. We have approximately 30 minutes in which to discuss each theme; unfortunately, however, due to changes in the committee’s membership and delayed business from previous meetings, we have slightly less time than we had anticipated.

With that in mind, we move swiftly on to theme 1, which is the effect of high inflation on disabled people and unpaid carers. We are interested in hearing more about how the extra costs of disability have been exacerbated for disabled people and unpaid carers by the cost of living crisis. It would be helpful if you could point to particular groups of people who have been most affected and perhaps share information on how people have coped. It would also be useful if you could pick up on where there are any gaps in our knowledge and let us know of any research that is being undertaken on those impacts.

Richard Meade, would you like to kick off?

Thank you for making those comments to highlight some of the issues.

I call Ellie Wagstaff.

Stephanie Millar has her hand up, so I will bring her in.

Quite a few folk are joining us online. I call Ruth Boyle.

Our next item of business is a round-table evidence session on the cost of living crisis and its impact on disabled people and unpaid carers.

I welcome everyone. In the room, we have Becky Duff, director for Scotland at the Carers Trust; Richard Meade, director of Carers Scotland and Carers Northern Ireland; Stephanie Millar, policy manager at Citizens Advice Scotland; Morna Simpkins, Scotland director at the MS Society Scotland; and Adam Stachura—have I pronounced that correctly, Adam?

Thanks, Morna. Those are really good comments.

I will now bring in Adam Stachura. I got your name right this time, Adam.

Thanks for that, Frazer, and thanks for some of the recommendations that you have set out. Those are much appreciated.

We move on to Heather Fisken.