Chamber and committees

I thank the minister and his officials for attending today.

Item 6 is consideration of a negative SSI. Members are invited to consider the regulations, the background to which is outlined in paper 4.

I see no indication that members have any comments. Is the committee content to note the regulations?

Members indicated agreement.

That concludes the meeting. At our next meeting on 3 February, we will take evidence on refugees and asylum as part of our work to explore the breadth of the committee’s remit and establish key priorities for the session. I look forward to that.

Thank you very much for that, Janet. It was very helpful. Minister—do you have anything to add? I know that Natalie Don would like to come back in with another question.

Thank you, minister. Pam Duncan-Glancy will explore some of the issues in theme 2.

I am sorry if you can hear the dog barking outside the door. I do not know whether that is coming through BlueJeans.

As I am not seeing any members indicating that they wish to come in at this juncture, I will put a question to the minister.

It is clear that the regulations will herald a new benefit for disabled adults, which is a major change in social security in Scotland as well as being a change in how people are treated. To somebody who has personal and professional experience of the benefit system, that is really important.

Minister, would you like to round up this part of the meeting by explaining to the committee how you will measure the success or failure of the benefit and, vitally, how you will ensure that disabled people who are in receipt of the benefits will be involved in that evaluation?

I have no further indication of anybody wishing to speak, so we will move on to item 4, which is the formal debate on the motion. I remind the committee that only members and the minister may take part in the formal debate. I invite the minister to move motion S6M-02604.

Motion moved,

That the Social Justice and Social Security Committee recommends that the Disability Assistance for Working Age People (Scotland) Regulations 2022 [draft] be approved.—[Ben Macpherson]

Miles Briggs, do you have a further question?

Before I move to my colleague Marie McNair, as we have quite a lot of themes and questions still to explore, I ask everybody to try to make their questions and answers succinct. I know that I sound like the Presiding Officer, but I am conscious of time and we have a lot of questions to put to the minister and his officials.

I hand over to Marie McNair and I will bring in Jeremy Balfour after that.

That concludes the debate.

Motion agreed to,

That the Social Justice and Social Security Committee recommends that the Disability Assistance for Working Age People (Scotland) Regulations 2022 [draft] be approved.