Chamber and committees

You might have strayed into what my next question was going to be about.

That is a helpful comment, Maggie, because my final question was going to be about whether we should expect additional applications as a result of the change to the Scottish carer support payment. It is forecast that, in 2025-26, we will be paying out £32 million more than we would have been had we stayed with the carers allowance at UK level. That means more money going into the pockets of carers, which is a good thing, but only £7 million of that relates to the increased eligibility criteria, which include, for example, advanced full-time education applicants. The rest of the cost is assumed to be the cumulative impact of more people applying for the new payment. That goes back to Maggie Chiwanza’s point about clarity and accessibility.

Does any of the witnesses want to say a little more about whether the new payment will mean that people who currently qualify for carers allowance and carers allowance supplement but do not apply for it will be emboldened to do so? Is this an opportunity? Fiona Collie is in the room and she is nodding her head.

I will endeavour to be as concise as possible.

I want to look at the Scottish Government’s policies and budgets, and the impact that they have had on reducing or—dare I say it?—stopping an increase in child poverty. I want to disaggregate those things into policies that are working and the budgets that are around those policies. They interact with each other, but they are not the same thing. Maybe a couple of the witnesses could put something on the record about the impact that the policies and budgets that the Scottish Government is directing towards tackling child poverty are having.

Perhaps not. I will ask it now. After I have asked it, I will bring in Fiona, and maybe Paul Traynor could come in after that—I see him nodding his head—for the best use of time.

At the launch, carers will be signposted to other support—some of the signposting will be there—but the provision of wider support is meant to develop over time. I think that we were starting to move into that kind of area. What are your priorities for what the wider support should look like to make it meaningful for carers?

Thank you, Mr Traynor. I have a final—

Good morning, everyone. The business and regulatory impact assessment associated with the legislation states that there should be

“an improved service from launch”

of carer support payment. We have heard that incremental improvements and changes will be made further down the line. Everyone understands that but, at the start, from day 1, what should that improved service look like?

Fiona Collie was trying to come in towards the end of the previous question, so I will go to her first.

That is a fair point. For clarity, this is about initial signposting. The wider support should follow on from that—in short order, I hope.

Paul, do you want to add anything?

My apologies, Maggie; I was not aware of that.

That is a point well made.

I hate to cut across you, Mr Scott, but the convener will have my guts for garters if I do not try to keep the questions moving. I apologise.

I have another question on this. We know that this is a challenge in the financial context. A change of approach has to be taken by the Scottish Government because we do not have the budget for every airt and pairt of the policy programme that would impact on child poverty. To give an example, one suggestion that I have made is that, if we cannot increase the Scottish child payment significantly above the £25 a week that we are already giving, and given that poverty does not impact uniformly across the year, could a summer supplement to the Scottish child payment make a difference to the lives of young people in families living in poverty? That is one idea. Is there another policy approach that you would like to recommend? You can throw that one out or you can support it, but are there other approaches that the Government could take, within a tight budget, that could have a direct and significant impact, hopefully relatively speedily?