Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am happy to defer to the minister on that. We have had several discussions about the information that the amendments seek to require. Some of it is already available, and further reporting and information mechanisms will be made publicly available as consultation and discussions carry on. The minister might want to say more.

Not moved.

Thank you for taking the time to go through the procedure, convener. It is my first time at stage 2.

Carers fulfil an essential role throughout Scotland and the pandemic has placed them under unprecedented strain. That is why I warmly welcomed the bill last week. It will help more than 90,000 carers this winter by doubling the carers allowance payment. As there is no Green member on the committee, I wanted to place on record the Scottish Green Party’s support for the increase and I am grateful to the convener for giving me the chance to do that.

However, doubling the payment is only part of what we need to do to ensure that the social security system recognises and values the work that carers do. As with universal credit and other benefits, we have our work cut out for us. I welcome the willingness of the Scottish Government and others to work together to do better.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have had useful meetings with the Scottish Government about support for carers, including young carers. My meeting this week with the Minister for Social Security and Local Government was particularly helpful. Those conversations have been wide ranging, and I thank the minister for his time, for the information and assurances that he has given and for the discussions that we will continue to have.

On that basis, I am content that there are other avenues to explore and by which we can take action on the issues that my probing amendments sought to address. Therefore, I will not press amendment 3 or move any of the other amendments in my name.

I move amendment 3.

I would like to withdraw amendment 3.

I hear your commitment to consult and engage with the trade unions. Will you say a little more about that? There is a commitment to

“consult on applying conditionality to public funding”,

and to consulting businesses, including discussions on a requirement for public disclosure on climate change and its impacts. What work is on-going with workers and the trade unions? Sometimes they may be closer to understanding the levers that we need to have access to and which we need to use.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. I thank you and the rest of the panel for being at the meeting.

Cabinet secretary, you spoke earlier about some of the challenges in using metrics such as the number of jobs that are created to track the success of the economy or as criteria for eligibility for financial support. You also spoke about some of the constraints in our ability to build resilience because of restrictions in relation to procurement law, for example. On the programme for government’s commitment on conditionality to drive the changes that we need to see in respect of net zero, fair work and wellbeing, what are the barriers to ensuring that the pace of change in those areas is fast enough? Are we doing enough to ensure that we get the outcomes that we hope conditionality will deliver?

Thank you, minister, for outlining the Government’s position. You mentioned engagement with regulators. Are you aware of any concerns that either the regulators or other stakeholders in Scotland have about the bill’s provisions?

I thank everybody for their comments so far—it has been an interesting discussion.

I want to pick up on and maybe tease out some of the issues and the connections between them. We have talked about the problem of data and the issue of being cautious about the shiny new thing, which I totally get. Chris Birt talked about the need to have a clear vision of where we want to get to. We have the technical language of a minimum core or what it means to live in dignity, but do we have a shared understanding of that? If not, what work do we need to do to ensure that we have an understanding of that across the different sectors and priority groups or other demographics, so that we can make sure that we collect the right data and deliver the right kind of vision, and that we are not sidetracked into the mysticism of it all?

I thank the panel for joining us and for their contributions so far. My question extends some of what underlay Karen Adam’s question. You have all picked up in different ways on how we look at rights as they apply—or should apply—to different groups. We know that we lack some of the data that we need and we know that we lack a common understanding. As we develop this work—we are only starting it—over the next few years, and as we incorporate other human rights obligations through the incorporation into Scots law of the international conventions and treaties that we desire to incorporate, how can we use that to give us better frameworks or tools for analysis and delivery? I understand that there is a mismatch, as you have all said in different ways, between the rhetoric, the ambition and implementation. What does the incorporation of additional human rights frameworks allow us to do, and to do differently?

I thank you for what you have said so far, Ewan. Can you say a bit more about how the SRC, and the businesses that you support and work with, see the changing nature of the high street?

Before the pandemic, we saw significant moves around local identity and place making on the high street. You talked about protecting the high street and encouraging consumers back in. What should we be doing to support and encourage local businesses such as retailers to generate places where people want to be? Getting consumers back on the high street is about not only financial incentives, but place making. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the changing nature of the high street.