Chamber and committees

Of course. I assure Ms Maguire that I take the issue with the seriousness and gravity that it requires and that I understand domestic abuse and its impact on the victim. As I have said, support for victims is absolutely key. Again, I do not know whether I can go into too much detail around what is being considered for stage 2, because that will happen at stage 2, but one aspect to which I am giving careful consideration is whether a single point of contact to help victims to navigate systems and organisations would assist matters. That would not necessarily require to be in statute. I am aware that the area has attracted a lot of committee attention and will likely continue to do so at stage 2. I am minded more to follow that through at stage 2. I am just trying to give a little reassurance that—

I think that I have given an indication that there could be a shift—

—because I have already said that I am considering a single point of contact, and—

No. There is a specific section on legal aid in the updated financial memorandum. The figures were supplied by the Scottish Legal Aid Board, whose officials we have been in contact with. We have had discussions on the matter since the beginning of the bill process. The figures have been updated on the basis of the updated financial costs that the committee sought, and they have been laid out in the financial memorandum. We have considered the matter and the figures have been updated. I hope that that suffices.

In relation to the bill, I have not had those meetings. However, I am working on some very extensive issues. For example, keeping the Promise is a huge part of my portfolio, and the Government has committed whole-heartedly to that. The bill is in line with keeping the Promise, and, given that we have to see it progress if we want to keep the Promise, I am confident that the finances that will be required will be there. After all, this is a key issue for the Government.

I cannot comment on this year’s or future budget processes—that will be for those who are involved in the decision making at the time. As I have said, though, I am confident that we will have what we need to see the bill through.

I think that it would be better to do that later in the bill process. We are still prior to stage 2, and amendments and changes could happen at that stage that might impact on the finances. I therefore think that it would be better to carry out such an assessment later in the bill process.

Thank you very much, convener. The bill takes forward key measures to help Scotland to improve the rights of children and their life outcomes. It is firmly embedded in our obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and our commitment to keep the Promise. Such aims come with cross-party endorsement from the Parliament.

Following stage 1 of the bill, the committee asked for updated resourcing forecasts, which I agreed to provide. A number of factors, such as the financial memorandum utilising pre-pandemic data out of necessity, further annual 2022-23 data sets being published in the period after stage 1 and United Kingdom inflation rising sharply since the financial memorandum was compiled last year, all meant that matters, and projected costs, had moved on. Those factors are reflected in the updated information that is provided to the committee.

The information was prepared by working with key bodies such as the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Social Work Scotland, the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration and Children’s Hearings Scotland. I am aware that all those organisation appeared before the committee last week.

The projected maximum costs have risen for four key reasons. First, we have moved from projections that are based on the maximum age of 17 and a half for real-world practical illustrative purposes on some matters to projections based on all children up to 18 years of age. That approach acts on a committee stage 1 recommendation.

Secondly, new 2022-23 annual data sets have become available that are less tainted by Covid pandemic impacts.

Thirdly, we are using the higher window of estimates, even with the acknowledged levels of uncertainty and the likelihood that those will not be reached in full.

Fourthly, the information has been updated to include the significant increases in inflation, partly reflecting inflation increasing across the years since the referral levels captured in pre-pandemic data but also reflecting how it has been affected by UK fiscal policy and Brexit.

Our multidisciplinary resource and implementation group has allowed us to address those matters and met three times over the summer. Those discussions will continue and will deepen in tandem with Parliamentary scrutiny.

I know that the committee took evidence from victim support organisations last week. We have been working closely with them following stage 1, and I met Kate Wallace recently. We have worked closely with those colleagues on the development of positive proposals, and we are considering those as part of our 2024-25 budget processes. We will be able to give more detail of that at stage 2. Therefore, today, it would not be appropriate for me to get into too much detailed discussion of our post-stage 1 policy development work or to enter into provision-by-provision commentary. Both of those aspects are for future bill stages.

We will work with partners to consider plans for the commencement and sequencing of any future act. We will do so in a way that acknowledges the capacity of core agencies, that assists them to prepare and that works sensibly in the context of other change programmes that are at various stages of maturity. That is in keeping with our approach to any legislation.

I look forward to your questions and our discussion today.

On your first point, matters relating to the timing do not sit directly under my portfolio, so I could perhaps come back to the committee on that question. I do not have information on the timeline to hand.

In relation to other work that is going on, there is a review of pay in the advanced practice framework, which remunerates qualifications and experience. It also provides a defined career pathway for social workers, supporting work to address the retention challenges that the convener mentioned. [Interruption.] I have just noticed that the framework will be published next year. I apologise—as I said, I am not directly involved in that work.

To ensure that we have adequate data to inform workforce planning and resources allocation at a national level, we have assembled a short-life working group to provide strategic leadership and oversee the delivery of a Scottish Government data project that is seeking to establish and document a baseline for the demand for services and to monitor workforce figures and trends—as I alluded to in my previous answer—as well as the project demand and the resources that are needed to meet it.

As I said, the Government is very switched on to recruitment and retention issues, and we are taking measures to try to improve that landscape.

The voices of those involved will be key as we move forward. You picked up on a couple of points.

This work stretches across various portfolios, and there are a range of matters. Much of the work that I am involved in in relation to keeping the Promise is not limited to one portfolio; it stretches across a range of Government areas. Across the Government, we are working well together on that.

As I said, the voices of those who are involved will be key as we move forward. We are working collaboratively with stakeholders—including COSLA, Social Work Scotland, Unison and the Scottish Social Services Council—to ensure that the improvement plan will be influenced and informed by the voices of social workers and other key stakeholders.

I am sorry, convener—I thought that I was here to answer questions on the issues with the bill as it progresses, and those relate to the longer term. As I said, I completely appreciate the recruitment and retention issues with social work, and my colleagues are working through those. I have laid out steps that should help in both the short term and the long term, and I have been clear that we are listening to the voices of social workers and other key stakeholders in order to try to improve matters.