Chamber and committees

Yes. It is not just about bricks and mortar, is it? It is about all the other support that someone needs. We must recognise that housing is itself an important anti-poverty measure in that it gives a safe and sustainable route for us to provide the support that the person or family needs. Whether that is support to deal with addictions, mental health problems, debt or employability, having a safe and sustainable tenancy is important to someone being able to deal with all the other issues that are in their life.

It is our ambition to supply a big number of affordable homes—110,000—but it is not only about building or acquiring new houses; it is about ensuring that people are successfully supported in those tenancies.

It was revealing that a UK Government adviser said—I might have used the quotation in my speech last week—that the UC cut would drive up homelessness. You can see why. If a tenancy is just—I emphasise “just”—sustainable and the tenant loses £20 a week, that can knock what was a sustainable tenancy into being unsustainable for all the reasons that we understand.

The cut will have a knock-on effect on homelessness. That is why it is absolutely wrong headed and, at this late stage, I hope that sense prevails and that, given all the other pressures, the UK Government thinks again.

I am always open to considering such matters. Let me say a couple of things. The housing to 2040 strategy sets out the need for barrier-free housing and the need to ensure that, rather than trying to retrofit homes, all homes are built in a way that is barrier free. That is absolutely right and proper. As we take forward the housing standard that we want to apply across all tenures, there will be opportunities to make the improvements that are needed.

We will consult on the rental sector strategy, and a housing bill will follow. There might be opportunities to make some improvements around some of those things.

If we set the target in statute, we need to be confident that it can be delivered, so there would need to be a lot of work. However, I will give that further consideration. I am also happy to have a follow-up discussion with Pam Duncan-Glancy about the case that she cited and how that might work in practice.

That is fine.

It is very challenging. We have made it clear that we want to play our part in the Afghan resettlement programme. Angus Robertson and I have been involved in a number of calls with UK ministers around Scotland playing its part and stepping up to the plate to do what we can to help people who are fleeing an intolerable situation.

The approach that we have taken is captured in “Ending Destitution Together”, which was published back in March and is a joint document between the Government and COSLA. It looks at how to improve and strengthen the provision of support and services for people living in Scotland with no recourse to public funds. The strategy is informed by powerful testimony, which I have heard myself, because I have met—virtually—a number of asylum seekers and refugees and heard directly some of their challenges.

Third sector organisations that provide front-line support are critical, as is the expertise of legal practitioners and others in supporting people and helping them to deal with trauma, for example. The strategy sets out the initial actions to deliver essential needs, which will enable access to specialist advice and advocacy.

In answer to the convener’s other question, we will continue to press the UK Government to make changes to reduce the risk of people falling into destitution as a result of their immigration status. There are very strict rules; someone’s ability to remain here can be jeopardised if they get access to public funds that are regarded as not being acceptable or as breaching the rules. There needs to be caution in that respect. We have also specifically asked the UK Government to remove the Scottish welfare fund from the list of restricted public funds, as that would give us a flexible way of helping people in crisis. Unfortunately, we have not yet reached any agreement on that, but we will continue to pursue the matter.

Thank you, convener, and good morning, everyone. It seems strange being in this position, given that I used to be a committee member, but it is nice to be back for the first time in this role.

As the programme for government made clear, the Scottish Government has an ambitious schedule of work ahead on social justice and social security, and I would like to update the committee briefly on some priority areas, including driving forward our national mission to tackle child poverty and our social security programme as well as combating homelessness and violence against women and girls.

First, on child poverty, we will publish in March our second tackling child poverty delivery plan, which will set out ambitious actions across the three drivers of poverty to deliver our interim targets and will be backed by a further £50 million fund.

We are on track to deliver the Scottish child payment to under-16s by the end of 2022, subject to United Kingdom Government co-operation. We will also double the payment to £20 a week as soon as we can in this session, and we will set out details of exactly when and how when we publish the budget bill. To ensure that we are immediately reaching around 148,000 young people, we are making bridging payments of £520 a year to children who receive free school meals. We’ve already paid out £200 of this year’s total and agreed dates with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities for the next two £160 payments in October and December. That, of course, stands in contrast to the UK Government, which in a week’s time will cut universal credit by £20 per week, meaning a loss of over £1,000 a year for 6 million households.

We are determined to build a social security system that is based on dignity, fairness and respect. Delivery remains a joint enterprise with the Department for Work and Pensions, and I am grateful to the department for its support and recent constructive ministerial discussions.

The challenges of large-scale benefit delivery are well known. For example, although the UK Government’s universal credit was originally supposed to be fully rolled out by 2017, that roll-out is more likely to take until 2026. We are proud that, in the three years since we got the powers and legislative ability to deliver benefits, we have introduced 11 benefits, seven of which are brand new. When all benefits are introduced and we have transferred all clients from the DWP to our Scottish systems, we will be delivering 17 benefits, six more than were originally anticipated.

This parliamentary session will see more milestones reached. From 22 November, child disability payment, our first disability benefit, will roll out nationally, and from mid-October, we will begin to transfer awards for Scottish clients currently receiving disability living allowance for children on to that payment. Moreover, from the end of November, we will pay child winter heating assistance for the second year, extending eligibility to severely disabled young people who receive personal independence payments.

If our Carer’s Allowance Supplement (Scotland) Bill passes, we will make a double payment of the supplement in December, totalling £462.80. I thank the committee for carrying out its work on the bill in what was a very short timeframe.

Next year, we will launch the adult disability payment, which will replace the personal independence payment, and begin transferring around 300,000 Scottish clients on to our new benefit. Thereafter, my immediate priorities will be delivering Scottish carers assistance—on which we are working with the DWP to agree a timetable—and our winter heating benefits. Following discussions with the DWP, we will start in winter 2022 with our new annual £50 winter heating payment, which will specifically be for low-income households that are currently eligible for cold weather payments. That will be followed by pension-age winter heating assistance, which will mirror the current winter fuel payment and is provisionally scheduled for winter 2024.

That is clearly a packed programme requiring significant amounts of legislation, and I am grateful for the committee’s support. When all those benefits are rolled out, we will reach 1.8 million people—around one person in three in Scotland. Social Security Scotland is preparing for that now. It expects to recruit more than 2,000 permanent employees over the next year and, by autumn next year, it will directly employ more than 3,500 people. That recruitment provides secure, long-term employment in Dundee and Glasgow and across the country through our local delivery service, boosting economic opportunities for communities throughout Scotland. I hope that that will be welcomed by all.

I am pleased that members of the committee have joined our cross-party steering group to take forward a minimum income guarantee, which is potentially revolutionary. We are also acting decisively to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, investing £50 million this parliamentary session in a new ending homelessness together fund. We are also investing more than £100 million to support front-line services and prevent violence against women and girls through our equally safe fund and other measures.

I am happy to take any questions.

I look forward to working with you on many of these areas of joint responsibility and interest.

As I laid out in my opening remarks, Social Security Scotland has been building up over time, but it is clear that there needs to be a significant increase in staffing, not least with the transfer of the disability benefits. Therefore, we are heading towards a staffing complement of around 3,500 to ensure that the agency has the capacity to deliver the type of service that we want to deliver for clients. That is good not only for clients but for the local economies not only in Dundee and Glasgow but throughout Scotland, where local teams will give a direct face-to-face service to people.

I ask Alison Byrne to say something more about the pace of build-up in the staffing complement.

Again, we raised that issue directly with the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, I think last week. It is a critical issue, and we need movement on the data from the DWP. In the meantime, we have brought in bridging payments to ensure that families get money for their kids this year and next. However, we need the data in order to be able to move across to the new system.

It is fair to say that there is yet to be an agreement on the method for that. The DWP has suggested one route, but we do not have full confidence that it will deliver that within our timeframes. Our officials have suggested a different way, which has not yet been accepted. Officials are working very closely on it, and I have to put on record that we have a very good working relationship, particularly at official level, and I am confident that a solution will be found. Alison Byrne is very close to these discussions, so I will perhaps let her add a bit of detail.

The issue is constantly under discussion. I have a lot of sympathy with the desire for multiyear funding so that organisations know the lie of the land beyond just one year. Indeed, Kate Forbes has said that local government has that desire, too. However, such funding will be possible only if the Scottish Government itself has certainty. If it gets only a one-year funding settlement from the UK Government, it is very difficult to go beyond that for the organisations that the Scottish Government funds. It therefore all depends on the certainty that we get.

I was able to give an indication of the funds that will be available over five years for affordable housing, but that was only because of the Government’s commitment to meeting the affordable housing targets, which is a key priority for any funding that we get. I was able to do that in that instance, but it is more difficult to do that on a larger scale.

In short, those discussions are on-going. We know that it would be better for the third sector to have that certainty, and we will continue to discuss the opportunities to work towards that.

I will come back to you on the detail of that.