Chamber and committees

Thank you very much, minister. That is very helpful.

I ask colleagues to indicate that they want to come in; I will bring in Pam Duncan-Glancy shortly.

Will the minister outline why the Scottish Government picked the five principles that underpin the policy? Is there any particular reason why those five principles were chosen?

It is very helpful—thank you. It was interesting to hear about Facebook advertising driving such demand. Perhaps that runs counter to the current discussion on the use of social media.

What about the minimum income guarantee?

I am happy for Kirsten Sweeney to come in. I will cut her off at about 10:59:40, if that is okay.

Thank you. Given the time, and to make sure that I do not have to cut anybody off when asking a question or giving an answer, I will suspend the meeting so that the committee, everybody in the room and those attending virtually can observe the act of remembrance of the two-minute silence. We will be back at 11:02.

Thank you, colleagues.

To go back to your answer to Ms McNair’s previous question, I note that it would be helpful if, just for information, you could share with the committee the letter that was sent on behalf of the devolved Governments.

Agenda item 2 is an evidence session on the Scottish Government’s benefit take-up strategy. Publication of the strategy is a requirement under the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. The first strategy was published in October 2019, and the second strategy was published on 21 October this year. The Social Security Committee did an inquiry into benefit take-up, and its report was published in March 2020.

I welcome to the meeting the Minister for Social Security and Local Government, Ben Macpherson. Dr Ruari Sutherland, supporting access to social security team leader, Scottish Government, is joining the minister in person. Vana Anastasiadou, economic adviser, Scottish Government, and Kirsten Sweeney, strategic communications and marketing lead, Social Security Scotland, are joining us online. I am sorry, Vana: I asked about pronunciation before the meeting started, and I still managed to trip up on your surname.

I invite the minister to make an opening statement.

On the consultations with, and feedback from, stakeholders, how has Covid impacted on your ability to ensure that the take-up of Scottish social security benefits has been strong?

Thank you, minister. I am more than happy for us to take that forward with ministerial colleagues to ensure that the question is answered. It is an interesting matter for us to note and pursue.

As Mr Choudhury does not have another question, we move to questions from Marie McNair.