Chamber and committees

We need to plan, and it is important to get it right. At the end of the day, 45 years—

How confident is the Scottish Government that the child poverty targets will be met?

How feasible will that be without full devolution of welfare and employment law to Scotland?

Good morning. Thank you for taking the time to give evidence to the committee. I will go back to Emma Roddick’s point about poverty proofing. As you are aware, last week, we took evidence from the Poverty and Inequality Commission, the Child Poverty Action Group and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. They suggested that there is little evidence that the Scottish Government poverty proofs all policies and budgets. Is that a fair comment?

What engagements with the DWP have your officials had regarding MIG?

Has there been any assessment of the pressures that the UK Government’s welfare cuts are putting on the drivers of homelessness?

My experience as a local councillor is that people often struggle to navigate the social security system, and unfortunately they do not get access to their full entitlements. How important is the role of the advice sector in that respect, and how do you plan to support it, especially given the Scottish Government’s obligation to promote social security entitlements?

Thank you, convener—apologies for my connection issues.

I appreciate the time that the groups that are here have given us in their submissions. I welcome your comments on the need for affordable housing and the longer-term impact that that will have in reducing housing cost poverty and on looking at ways to support people to mitigate housing costs. We are obviously aware that the policy for both housing benefit and universal credit housing and support costs are reserved to Westminster. The cap on local housing allowance means that many are not getting the full—[Inaudible.] Do you believe that, for us to move forward on this, the UK Government needs to reverse this cut, or is it something that needs to be fully mitigated by discretionary housing payments?

Yes. Sorry—I missed the first part of Chris Birt’s answer.

It is obvious that decent wages—a real living wage, with fair terms and conditions—are important if we are to meet the poverty targets. Do you have any suggestion about when it will be possible to achieve that? What can be done under existing Scottish Government responsibilities? Responsibility for setting the statutory minimum wage and control of working benefits remain at Westminster; is it not essential that employment law and social security are devolved to the Scottish Parliament to allow maximum progress to be made?

Covid-19 has had a negative impact on many in society. I am concerned about its impact on deprived communities and how that may be turbo charged when the UK Government removes the £20 uplift to universal credit later this month. Has Covid-19 made it more difficult for people in deprived communities to access drug services? Is there a concern that the welfare changes will increase that challenge?