The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 310 contributions
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 19 January 2023
James Dornan
On the last point, about borrowing powers, I note that Dr Hosie of the Scottish Human Rights Commission has agreed that that is “a significant limitation”.
I would like to ask you about the impact of UK welfare policies. Highlighting the two-child limit, Ed Pybus of the Child Poverty Action Group said:
“Larger families are much more likely to be in poverty, because the UK welfare system caps the amount of support that they can get to only two children. Of course that is going to drive larger families into poverty.”
He also said:
“A lot of lone parents are also young parents, and young parents are hit by the under-25 penalty in universal credit”.—[Official Report, Social Justice and Social Security Committee, 22 September 2022; c 31.]
What is the Scottish Government’s response to those points from CPAG?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 19 January 2023
James Dornan
Thank you, cabinet secretary.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 22 December 2022
James Dornan
The SFC has talked about forecasts of increasing numbers of applications for disability benefits. Are there similar trends in Scotland to those in the rest of the UK?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 22 December 2022
James Dornan
That is extraordinary. Does that change the estimate of how much more ADP will cost compared with continuing with PIP?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 22 December 2022
James Dornan
I have some questions about the processing times for the Scottish child payment. What is the current processing time for applications received since—[Inaudible.]
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 22 December 2022
James Dornan
It is coming up to Christmas—maybe Santa can help. Thanks very much for that response.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 22 December 2022
James Dornan
It has been more than a year since the launch of your local delivery service. How is that going? What have you learned? How involved have the local delivery teams been in the continuous improvement theme?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 22 December 2022
James Dornan
Pretty much. What has the time been since the benefit was extended on 14 November?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 22 December 2022
James Dornan
Is there any obvious way for you to improve the processing times or to help clients to track progress on their applications? For example, it has been mentioned that an online app or account might help with that. Would that improve things? If so, would you implement it?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Meeting date: 15 December 2022
James Dornan
Thank you for that.