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How many people are now working for you in Scotland?

I have one final question. In your arrangement with the Scottish Government, is the money that you receive based on the number of people that you employ? Is there an upper limit to the number of staff that you can employ under your contract with the Scottish Government? I think that I saw that the figure that you had in mind for that was £20 million in two to three years. Does that depend on the number of staff that you employ?

One area that we have not covered is the relationships that you have with other advocacy services across Scotland. A constituent who went to one of the local authority services came to me here, in Edinburgh, and told me that the service had a waiting list as long as your arm. Are organisations such as the City of Edinburgh Council’s advice shop and other third-sector organisations aware that you are out there? Why do they not refer cases on to you if they cannot take on new cases at the moment?

When you are writing to the committee with all the other information that you are giving, could you give us a list of who you have been in touch with across Scotland? There might well be gaps and people such as Emma Roddick might know of organisations in the north of Scotland, for example, that are not well known. If you could give us a list, that would be helpful.

Thank you, convener. That was within the four minutes.

If I am honest, I am surprised about the number of people who are working for you. I just did a quick search on Google and there are eight tribunals sitting today, so one sitting per region would mean that half of your staff would be at tribunals. I am therefore wondering about recruitment. I looked at your website yesterday and you are not recruiting any advocates at the moment, but you are recruiting one policy officer. When will the scale-up happen? What is your timescale for recruitment?

Good morning, panel, and thank you all very much for coming. I really appreciate your taking the time to give evidence today.

Advocacy was one of the key areas when we discussed the Scottish Government bill that led to the 2018 act. Indeed, it was one of the things that we were keen to provide for people in Scotland, and I am grateful for the work that you have done on it so far. Obviously it is still early days, but can you tell us how many people you have supported so far?

I do not know whether Jonathan Senker or Emily Johnston will want to take that one. You can fight it out among yourselves.

How do people find out about your service? Is it via Social Security Scotland or through your website? If I have to make a new claim for the adult disability payment, for example, how do I find out that your organisation can offer this service to me?

I will come back in later, as I have questions on recruitment, convener, but I will wait until the next theme and rest there.

Good morning. Amendments 137 and 138 simply seek to clarify a particular situation. Last week, the cabinet secretary and a number of members told us that the changes proposed in the bill do not affect what happens with regard to the European convention on human rights. As I have said, the amendments seek to clarify that and provide a way forward if the bill becomes an act.

As we will all be aware, article 9 of the ECHR covers all protected characteristics, and amendment 137 simply states what has previously been stated, which is that nothing will change in that regard. I hope that the cabinet secretary can give some clarification on that.

Amendment 138 seeks to look forward to any regulations that will flow from the bill becoming an act by making it clear that there is no contradiction between article 9 of the ECHR and any regulations that are laid before Parliament. It seeks to provide that if regulations are laid that affect article 9, the affirmative procedure will be used to ensure that the committee and the Parliament can scrutinise them.

I hope that the cabinet secretary will be able to clarify whether these amendments are necessary—they are simply to bring clarification, rather than changing anything specific.