Seòmar agus comataidhean

Our next agenda item is an evidence session as part of our inquiry into addressing child poverty through parental employment. Before the summer recess, we held a series of evidence sessions on childcare, education, employability and fair and family-friendly working. Today, we are going to focus on transport.

I welcome our panel to the meeting. Paul Finch is strategy manager at the regional transport partnership for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire—Nestrans—and vice chair for transportation on the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland. Mick Hogg is regional organiser at the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers—the RMT. Paul White is a director at the CPT—Confederation of Passenger Transport—Scotland. Thank you all for accepting our invitation.

I will make a few points about the format of the meeting. Please wait until I say your name or the member who is asking the question says your name before speaking. Do not feel that you have to answer every single question. If you have nothing new to add to what others have said, that is perfectly okay. Members who are online should allow our broadcasting colleagues a few seconds to turn on their microphone before they start to speak, please. They can indicate with an R in the chat box in Zoom that they wish to come in with a question. I ask everyone to keep their questions and answers as concise as possible.

I will invite members to ask questions in turn. I ask Roz McCall to ask the first question.

I wish you a very good morning, and welcome you to the 19th meeting of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee in 2023. We have received apologies from Katy Clark.

We have had a change in committee membership. I welcome to the committee Bob Doris, who replaces Gordon MacDonald, and Roz McCall, who replaces Miles Briggs. I thank Gordon and Miles for their valued contributions to the committee.

Our first item of business is to invite Bob Doris and Roz McCall to declare any relevant interests.

I will quickly bring in Katy Clark.

I wish you a very good morning and welcome to the 18th meeting of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee. The first item on the agenda is to make a decision on whether to take items 4, 5 and 6 in private. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

The next item is an evidence session with a panel of employers as part of our inquiry into addressing child poverty through parental employment. Last week, we started looking into the need for flexible and family-friendly working, with a panel focusing on policy and a panel of business representatives. Today, we will hear from employers. I welcome our panel. Helen Herd is head of human resources for Highlands and Islands Enterprise; Rachel Hunter is director of enterprise support for Highlands and Islands Enterprise; Heather Melville-Hume is senior HR manager for Independent Living Fund Scotland; and Harvey Tilley is the chief operating officer for Independent Living Fund Scotland. They join us in the room, and Andy Wood, who is people services lead for the Wheatley Group, joins us remotely. Thank you all for accepting our invitation.

There are a few points to mention about the format of the meeting before we start. We have approximately one hour in which we will ask you some questions. Please wait until I say, or the member asking the question says your name before speaking. Andy, and members who join us online, please allow our broadcasting colleagues a few seconds to turn your microphone on before you start to speak, and you can indicate with an R in the dialogue box in BlueJeans if you wish to come in on a question. Do not feel that you all have to answer every single question; if 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.

I invite members to ask questions in turn. First, I introduce Miles Briggs.

That is really reassuring.

That is good to know. As a dog owner, I am delighted to hear that, because I know the challenges that I face in trying to get dog care. That is a really good policy to bring in.

We will now hear from Social Security Scotland on disability benefit processing times. I welcome David Wallace, who is the chief executive of Social Security Scotland; Ally MacPhail, who is deputy director of strategy, change, data and engagement at Social Security Scotland; and Sue Scotland, who is deputy director of the social security programme management and delivery division in the Scottish Government’s social security directorate. All the witnesses join us in the room.

Before we begin, I remind members who are online to allow broadcasting colleagues a few seconds to turn your microphone on before you start to speak, please. You can indicate with an R in the dialogue box in BlueJeans if you wish to come in. Again, I ask everyone to keep questions and answers as concise as possible.

I invite David Wallace to make a brief opening statement.

As a mum, I know that, when you have a child in childcare, it is challenging to get a phone call from the nursery to say that your child is not well and you have to pick them up. More often than not, women have to do that. It is a struggle to have to make up the time up or take annual leave. Women are disproportionately impacted. What are your thoughts on having more flexibility in that regard?

That is helpful.

I will bring in Jeremy Balfour before I bring in Paul O’Kane, because Jeremy has to leave us at 10 o’clock.