Chamber and committees

I want to build on what Chris Birt has said. The Poverty and Inequality Commission’s submission refers to the focus on those people who are on the cusp of the poverty line and on how there is perhaps too much focus on incomes. Professor Sinclair, would you like to touch on that? How can we take a broader approach and focus on the issue of deep poverty as well?

Does anyone else want to come in?

Other colleagues have questions on data, so I will hand back to the convener.

Chris, do you want to come back in on that point?

Can I expand on a point, convener?

Colleagues will come on to ask about data and aspects such as modelling. John Dickie referenced the Scottish child payment and the efforts to understand facets such as the depth of its impact. More broadly, academic work has been commissioned on that, which the committee will be interested in.

I think that there was a submission that said that targets are not without controversy and, obviously, there is a political dimension to trying to reach targets. Do you think that there is a temptation not to get into the real detail? There was the issue in relation to the 100,000 figure for keeping children out of poverty as opposed to lifting them out of poverty. There is perhaps a temptation to lean on that without understanding the depth of what lies underneath it.

Do you think that we need to do more to understand the impact that the Government’s policies are having? Do you recognise the role that the committee can play in helping to understand some of that?

Good morning. My questions develop the theme of the measures. Will you give a general comment on the advantages and disadvantages of the poverty measures that were used as targets in the 2017 act? Perhaps you can also reflect on the influence of the choice of those measures on policy. What impact do the targets have on the policies that are chosen to be explored? I appreciate that those are broad questions, but I hope that they allow you to bring up various points.

John Dickie or Hannah Randolph, would either of you like to comment on the broader point?

I appreciate that we may all have realised at the same time. I can see nodding. I wonder whether, in the interests of time, anyone else needs to come in. Jamie, do you want to say more?

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests. I am a member of Enable Scotland and was previously employed by it.

How, and when, was the decision to delay the bill communicated to your organisation?

I will start with Susan.