Chamber and committees

Before I move to questions from my colleague Pam Duncan-Glancy, I see that Martin Canavan and Betty Stone would both like to come in. I must ask you to keep your comments brief at this point.

Do you want to come in on that, Betty?

That reminds me of the fact that councils hold a lot of data and information. There is a need for them to passport where a family is eligible to receive another payment, whether it is school meals or other things. We need to make sure that councils do that as well, because they hold that data.

Thank you very much for that, Kirsty McKechnie. I have seen cases in which tax credit debt, which is sometimes from years ago, is in the thousands of pounds. A family can never get out of that debt, particularly when they cannot find the historical information to try to defend their position or change the outcome.

Betty Stone would like to respond, and then we will hear briefly from Kirsty McKechnie.

I will take two final questions before we stop for a wee pause, from Paul McLennan and then Foysol Choudhury.

That would be helpful.

We will move on to our fourth theme, which is about the role that the social security system plays in relation to debt. I will bring in my colleague Emma Roddick, who is online.

Pam Duncan-Glancy has a supplementary question.

Thank you for that compelling evidence—it is important for us to hear the testimony from those young people. Young people always know when there are issues with poverty and debt in the family, and they carry that huge responsibility on their shoulders.

Emma Roddick wants to come in with a question on data.

That is an important point as well. We always need to remember that people in work are among the people who are experiencing severe hardship at the moment. More people who are in work will perhaps find themselves in that position further down the line.