Chamber and committees

The question is, that amendment 6 be agreed to. Are we agreed?

Members: No.

That was helpful and useful.

Has the Scottish Government done an impact analysis of what I would euphemistically describe as the UK welfare reform that has taken place over the past decade? How has that reform impacted on the Scottish Government’s ability to deliver on its devolved areas of priority in social security?

There was also a question about the assessment of the additional costs of disability.

Before I bring in Jeremy Balfour and Foysol Choudhury, I have a question. However, I am conscious of time—I do not know whether you can stay for five or 10 minutes beyond 11 o’clock, cabinet secretary.

I find that very interesting, and I know that committee colleagues will be interested in that, too. If you could continue to furnish us with updates in those areas, that would be helpful, particularly if the secretary of state were to come before us in future.

One of the clear positives of the pandemic was not just the third sector’s engagement but the volunteering work that was done. There appears to be anecdotal evidence that volunteering levels spiked quite considerably during that period, partly because people might have been on furlough and therefore had more time or because of other community engagement reasons. How can we support the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and other organisations to ensure that we harness the greater engagement in volunteering that happened during the pandemic and take advantage of it in future?

Thank you very much indeed, cabinet secretary. You have been very generous with your time this morning, and I am very grateful for that, as we have been able to cover a lot of ground. Mr Balfour highlighted your wide remit, which the committee shares, so the fact that we have been able to cover a lot of it today is very much appreciated. We look forward to your follow-up correspondence on some of the questions that we asked and to working with you on shared priorities to deliver the programme for government.

We now move into private session.

That is helpful, cabinet secretary. We have further questions from Emma Roddick first, to be followed by Jeremy Balfour. I hope to come in on that part, too, at some stage.

That would be very helpful. We have received some useful and interesting evidence on benefit take-up, such as the work that was done on deep-end practices in Glasgow. It would be really helpful for the committee to get a handle on exactly how the fiscal framework works in that scenario, as it is an area that we are very interested in.

My first question is in two parts. Cabinet secretary, will you explain how challenging it has been for you and Social Security Scotland to develop new social security benefits under the hybrid, or part-devolved, system that we are currently operating under? You have alluded to some of those challenges already.

The next part is for Ms Byrne or Mr Tyrer. I note that seven of the 11 benefits that are currently being delivered are new. Will you outline the differences in relation to infrastructure, logistics and manpower between developing a completely new benefit and maintaining a replacement benefit?

Our main item of business is item 2, which is an evidence-taking session with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government on the Scottish Government’s priorities for government. As this is the first time that Shona Robison has appeared before the committee, I congratulate her on her new role and welcome her to the committee. We were colleagues on the Social Justice and Fairness Commission, so it is a pleasure to see you in your current position, cabinet secretary, and the committee is looking forward to working with you over the coming session.

I also welcome the Scottish Government officials who are supporting the cabinet secretary: Alison Byrne, deputy director, social security management and delivery division; and Paul Tyrer, interim deputy director, social justice and regeneration.

I invite the cabinet secretary to make an opening statement.