Chamber and committees

It would very helpful if we could get some kind of indication in writing.

I have two questions, the first of which is procedural. We have touched previously on the time that SCOSS gets to respond. It pointed out in its report that it had a restricted time to get the response done. Are you looking at giving it a longer period of time to consider the recommendations, so that the committee and the Parliament can take that into account?

It is good to see you all here. I will move on to overpayments. We all know that they happen irregularly, but they do happen. When I was a tribunal member, we had to hear some of those cases. It will probably become more of a live issue next year, when adult benefits are transferred. Clearly, we want to keep the founding principles of dignity, respect and so on; at the same time, there are people out there who make fraudulent claims. How will such issues be investigated? What methodology will you use to deal with them?

I have a couple of questions. First, what difference do the witnesses think that it would make if the Scottish Government amended the forthcoming adult disability payment to ensure that those who receive the enhanced daily living component are able to claim the winter heating assistance payment? This has been picked up on already, but would that target funds in a better way than is being done at the moment? That question might be best for CAS.

May I come back to a point that my colleague Miles Briggs made about the funeral support payment? I should declare that I am the convener of the cross-party group on funerals and bereavement. In my initial conversations with funeral directors, they were very positive about filling out the form for the payment and they felt that the process was working well. Again, the 59 per cent take-up rate for the funeral support payment surprises me. What are we going to do to get to the other 41 per cent who have not taken up that payment? I appreciate that some people have organised their own funerals and will not fall into that category, but I do not think that the percentage will be that high. I might have missed this, minister—I apologise if so—but what are we going to do about that? Is there a geographical breakdown of that data? Is it more likely that people in central Scotland are claiming compared with people in the Borders or the Highlands? Is that data being recorded by Social Security Scotland and, if so, could we see a breakdown of those figures?

My question follows on a bit from theme 1 but also relates to this theme. The Social Security Committee made a visit to Wester Hailes when we were looking at the issue of uptake. It came out clearly that a lot of people will not even go to a school or their nearest GP to get information. In fact, one person said to us that, unless we go door to door, we will miss a lot of people. I appreciate that it is not possible to go door to door, but how do we get the information down to those people who, as Pam Duncan-Glancy mentioned, are not already on those benefits? A lot of those individuals are not on Facebook and are certainly not on Twitter. What strategy do we have to reach the hardest-to-reach individuals, who would find it difficult to cross a road to get that information, let alone go elsewhere? How do we get that information out to people, particularly post-pandemic, when there is less access to GPs and we cannot get into schools at the moment?

Good morning, minister, and good morning to your team. It is good to have you back at the committee again.

On page 48 of the strategy document, there is a commitment

“to undertake a review of Adult Disability Payment in summer 2023”.

Will that review look at whether the transition has been safe and secure, and whether it has been done with dignity, fairness and respect? Will it review the descriptors of what ADP might look like in the future? How wide will the review be?

I also ask you to look into your crystal ball. Depending on what the recommendations are and whether there is agreement on them, is your initial thinking that they will be implemented by the Parliament during this session, or are you looking to next session?

Perhaps he is on mute or taking a break.

I would be happy for someone else to jump in if Gordon cannot answer or if he cannot hear us. I am conscious of time.

To pick up on some of those themes, I have had a number of meetings with women’s groups, particularly in Edinburgh and the Lothians. There are concerns about women and children being put in temporary accommodation that is just not suitable. There may be single men there, or no proper kitchen facilities. The spaces may be unsafe.

Gordon MacRae, what is Shelter’s view on how Scotland is providing for homeless families? How could we do that differently, particularly for women and children?