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Good morning, minister and officials. As the minister has mentioned, uprating has been extended beyond the benefits where uprating had to happen. We have forecasts from the Scottish Fiscal Commission that £776 million more will be spent on social security than what is received through the block grant. Will the minister expand on any developments on those figures as well as the challenges of deviating from DWP spending and how the decision was made to go above that?

I want to ask about the cost of living crisis and the fact that we have a 10.1 per cent increase in the CPI, which is significant. Of course, the context is the economic mismanagement—it is difficult to describe it as anything other than that—that has led us to that level of inflation. Is that figure higher than was expected or initially planned for?

That is helpful. I have just one more question.

Thinking about the difference between the block grant and what is being spent, should there be increased funding from the UK Government, particularly given the cost of living crisis and rate of inflation? Also, should the Scottish Government budget be inflation-proofed?

Thank you. The Scottish child payment has increased by 150 per cent in the last eight months and is now five times more than campaigners originally called for in the give me 5 campaign. On the increase of £25, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said:

“The full rollout of the Scottish Child Payment is a watershed moment for tackling poverty in Scotland, and the rest of the UK should take notice.”

Do you agree with that?

That payment, of course, does not exist elsewhere in the UK, so I would like, finally, to ask you the question that the Child Poverty Action Group posed: is it not the case that, if the Scottish Government can make that kind of serious investment in protecting children from poverty, so too can the UK Government?

Thank you.

Good morning, Marilyn. I note the recommendation on making it clear whether an increase to the Scottish child payment is uprating or a different sort of increase. I doubt that folk who get more money than they expected will mind or perhaps even know the difference between an increase and an uprating. Will you explain why you think that it is important for the Government to make that distinction?

We, as a committee, have taken an interest in how the Government uses human rights budgeting. Can the cabinet secretary give an example of where spending allocations have been changed following an equality and human rights impact assessment, and can she advise how we, as a committee, and the wider public can see how human rights considerations have affected budget decisions?

That is really helpful. The equality and fairer Scotland budget statement explicitly lists the right to an adequate standard of living in almost every portfolio—not just the cabinet secretary’s portfolio. Is that a reflection of the Scottish Government’s priorities, as well as the overall efforts to realise human rights?

The discretionary housing payment is just one example of many ways in which the Scottish Government is mitigating the impact of decisions that were made elsewhere. Will the cabinet secretary expand on any targeted action that the Scottish Government has asked the UK Government to take to help tackle the cost of living crisis?