Chamber and committees

Good morning to the panel, and thank you for the submissions that you sent us in advance of the meeting, which have been really helpful. I put on record again my support and thanks for the work that your organisations have done not just in this year, which has been particularly difficult, but in all the years that you have been working with the people whom you work with.

My first question is about the context of the pandemic. Zero Tolerance said in the submission that it sent to us that the

“failure to address equality and human rights in the terms of reference for the Covid Inquiry indicates that we have some way to go in the mainstreaming of equality and human rights.”

Will you talk a bit about whether enough information is available on the effects of the pandemic on domestic abuse and violence against women and, in particular, against black and minority ethnic women and disabled women? Are you seeing some of the fears that have been expressed about the effect that lockdown could have on violence against women and girls being realised? What can we do to encourage the Covid inquiry to look at that as well?

If possible, could Mariam Ahmed and Tumay Forster answer those questions, please?

Yes. I will be brief as I know that we are quite short of time.

Glasgow Women’s Aid spoke to me about problems about the ability of people with no recourse to public funds to access support. Dr Scott, what could we do to address that? Specifically, do you think that women’s aid organisations would be able to use the “it satisfies immediate need for protection of wellbeing” case, which is being used in relation to the Scottish welfare fund during the pandemic, to get funding for a refuge place for someone does not have access to housing benefit that would otherwise be used to pay for it?

It does. That is really helpful. Thank you.

Sorry, convener. Would it be possible to have time to ask another question, or do you want to come back to me at the end?

Thank you. Joy Lewis, Mariam Ahmed and Sara Medel Jiménez want to come in. We will go to Joy next.

I thank the panel for their opening statements and for the testimonies that they have already given. I have been furiously trying to take notes as I have been listening. It has been very helpful. I also thank you for everything that you have done during the past couple of years. It has been a significantly more difficult two years for the people that you represent than for many of us in Scotland.

My first question is about the financial security of the women that you support and the risk that women’s unfair responsibility for unpaid care and domestic work could get worse during the budget process. Farah Farzana, Joy Lewis and Mariam Ahmed might want to answer. Has the ability to find paid work and an income been put seriously at risk during the pandemic? You have already touched on some of that. What is the current picture of the financial situations of the families that you represent?

Yes, please—that would be helpful.

Earlier on, a comment was made about the unpaid work of people—[Inaudible.] That particularly struck me, because I can see how you will have had to put in considerably more hours of support. What do you think the solution to that is? Do you think that the people and organisations that you work with are getting enough financial support to recruit the number of staff who are needed to address some of the problems that you have raised?

I did not write down the name of the person who made that comment early on. If the person who said that remembers that they said it, maybe they could come back on it. Otherwise, maybe Mariam Ahmed or Farah Farzana could answer the question.

Thank you.

Good morning, panel. Thank you for your submissions and for your answers so far. I find the variation of allowances across the country quite staggering—for one age group, from ages 0 to 4, it can be anything from £77 to £200—so the conversation that we have had around the need for a national allowance has been really helpful.

Laura Caven, your submission said that local authorities can choose how they cover the cost of the 16 items as part of the allowance. Does that mean that, in some cases, it is not a cash payment, or is it always a cash payment?