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Section 2 of the briefing paper says:

“There has not been a sufficient shift to prevention to reduce the disadvantage caused by child poverty”.

You mentioned that in your opening statement, too. Do you have a view on what types of preventative action would be helpful to improve outcomes in the longer term?

The briefing paper suggests that the Scottish Government did not follow advice from the Poverty and Inequality Commission to ensure that its actions were more clearly linked to targets for reducing child poverty and to be clear about what the impact of each action was expected to be. The paper goes on to state that, because the Scottish Government did not set out what impact the child poverty delivery plan was expected to have, it was not possible to make a proper evaluation of whether the plan delivered its aims. Why did the Scottish Government not act on the commission’s advice and why did it not take steps to ensure that the impact of the plan on child poverty could be properly assessed?

You said that there has been an uplift in staff. Are you fully manned in that area? Do you have the two team leaders in place?

For how long have the team leaders been in position?

My concern is about whether the deadline will be hit. Recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 12, 13 and 14—nine of the 14 recommendations—mention that support will be needed from the public bodies unit. How confident are you that you will hit your target of meeting all the recommendations by the end of the year, given that it seems that recommendation 14 is key but has not yet been tied down?

By the end of 2022?

So they are all fully aware of what help and support is available.

So, not a lot of progress has been made on it.

Did the process pick up any non-compliance by the ethical standards commissioner’s office during the 2020-21 reporting period?

Is there a timeline for it?