Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you and good morning.

Since its launch in 2019, the funeral support payment has provided more than £51.1 million of support to more than 26,000 people on low incomes, at a time when they most needed it.

The improvements proposed in the regulations will provide further support to people who are struggling to pay funeral costs and will help to reduce the burden of debt that a person might face when paying for a loved one’s funeral.

The regulations before you are evidence of the Scottish Government’s commitment to the continuous improvement of our social security system. In developing the legislation, we have consulted a range of stakeholders, including third sector organisations and funeral industry experts.

We are extending the definition of “funeral” to include alkaline hydrolysis as an alternative to burial or cremation. The Scottish Government recently consulted on whether alkaline hydrolysis should be introduced as a regulated form of body disposal and found 84 per cent of respondents to be in favour. Introducing that amendment now will future proof the regulations to ensure that we can award funeral support payments for people who choose that method, should it become available in Scotland. It will also be brought into scope for people who are eligible for expenses assistance for funerals abroad.

In line with our values of dignity, fairness and respect, we are introducing an exceptional circumstance provision for funerals abroad. Doing so will allow us to award a funeral support payment in unique circumstances, such as when disruption due to war or extreme weather events prevents a body from being returned to the United Kingdom for a funeral. As recommended by the Scottish Commission on Social Security during its scrutiny of the regulations, Social Security Scotland will be equipped with robust guidance to support that provision.

The regulations also support our commitment to protect the rights given to European Union citizens under the withdrawal agreement. Although Social Security Scotland is not aware of anyone having missed out, the changes will clarify the regulations to ensure that people who, before Brexit, would have been entitled to assistance to pay for a funeral abroad will continue to be entitled to that.

To ensure that more people get the correct level of assistance, we are taking away the current restriction on costs for funerals that take place outwith the deceased’s local area. Social Security Scotland will continue to apply a test to ensure that costs are reasonable so that we retain value for money while removing any potential unfairness from the process. That means that we will provide help with costs based on what is reasonable rather than where people lived.

Finally, the regulations remove the provision to deny an application if funds to pay for a funeral are available in the estate. Instead, those available funds will be deducted from the award amount. That change means that all cases will be assessed in the same way.

We have engaged with the Scottish Fiscal Commission, which has confirmed that it anticipates no significant financial implications for the Scottish Government as a result of the regulations. That is particularly welcome in this challenging fiscal period, as it means that the regulations offer further improvements for the people of Scotland at minimal cost.

I extend my thanks to the Scottish Commission on Social Security for its formal scrutiny of the draft amendment regulations earlier this year and for its recommendations, which have strengthened the detail of the regulations that are before us today. I welcome the opportunity to assist the committee in its consideration.

I note your remarks, convener, and the work that has gone on in the area. I assure you that we will continue to work across Government and across the social justice and justice portfolios on these issues, but I am certainly delighted to play my part in assisting at least some of those families today.

Motion agreed to,

That the Social Justice and Social Security Committee recommends that the Funeral Expense Assistance (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2024 [draft] be approved.

I would just point to the £1.1 billion over the block grant adjustment that the Scottish Government invests in Social Security Scotland. Clearly, a large part of that—just under half a billion pounds—goes on the Scottish child payment; there is also the funding for the child and adult disability payments, which again is over and above the block grant adjustment, and the benefits that are available in Scotland but not in the rest of the UK such as the young carer grant and the other elements of the five family payments.

Liz Smith has pointed to a very important number—the £1.1 billion, which is expected to grow. We as a Government are conscious of that, because it needs to be accounted and paid for in every budgetary process, but it is important that the committee realises what the funding is for and its impact on low-income families, the disabled and carers.

I will certainly be able to provide further advice on that in writing.

It was a good plug for the committee’s previous work on the matter, which I read with interest, and it is certainly something that we are conscious of, particularly as we move forward with developing the next child poverty delivery plan.

I will say a little bit, convener, but perhaps my colleague the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health can write to the committee with further details, because, as Mr O’Kane said, the matter does not fall within my remit. Certainly, the regulations to approve alkaline hydrolysis for use in Scotland are being developed, but as I said, they sit with another minister.

I know that the issue has been touched on and discussed by the cross-party group on funerals and bereavement, so there is clearly an interest in it, and I wish to see movement on it. However, if you will permit me, convener, I will ask my colleague to write to the committee on the matter.

In many ways, the response was made clear during the budget yesterday. The two-child cap was not lifted and the bedroom tax was not scrapped, and we will therefore have to continue to mitigate the effects of those policies. We already spend around £134 million to mitigate the worst excesses of some of the UK welfare policies.

Clearly, some types of support are available in England. In Scotland, we provide support that is not available in England. For example, we have the Scottish welfare fund—

I would certainly be happy to provide further information in writing to the committee about how quickly changes to social security systems can be made. That is clearly an issue that all such systems have, so I will refer to it in writing if that is convenient, deputy convener.

No. To be absolutely clear, had we been able to go forward with a universal benefit, Social Security Scotland was ready to do so. There were no issues at our end with taking that forward.

Our taking on delivery next year will give us more time to adapt the system, and I am confident that the system will be changed in enough time to allow the agency to deliver it next year.