Chamber and committees

It might be interesting to come back in a year’s time to see how that is all working, but that will be for the committee to look at.

I will start with a very basic question. Do you see the charter as an aspirational document, or does it reflect the reality today? Where does it sit on that spectrum?

It would be helpful to get more detail on those specifics in writing after the meeting.

Perhaps I have been sitting next to Mr Mason for too long, but how much did the very full review that you carried out cost? Is the cost being covered by the Scottish Government or by Social Security Scotland?

Thank you. Cabinet secretary, when the original charter was being scrutinised, there were lots of discussions about what status it should have and whether it should have legal status. The Parliament came to the view that it should remain as was proposed rather than have legal status. The Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill, which seeks to make changes to the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, is going through Parliament at the moment. As part of your work on that, has any thought been given to whether the charter has the right status or whether it should have a higher status?

Jack Evans, you mentioned council tax. Do you want to add anything at this point?

That is helpful. Let me now start the bidding war with Jack Evans, and I will then work down the line. What should the Scottish child payment be, figure-wise, and can you give me a justification for your figure?

I wonder if I could go back to something that was said earlier. We do not want to cause confusion, but terminology and words matter. The reason why I asked the question about how the money is being spent is that I wonder whether “Scottish child payment” is good terminology to use and whether we would use it if we were starting again. It can make parents feel guilty if they spend the money on heating and food rather than on their children, even though their children obviously benefit from heating and food. Would you call it something different? We would not want to change it now, because it would cause too much confusion, but, as a philosophical issue, is it the right name? Ruth, you are smiling, so I will pick on you first.

The other side of the coin is that the Scottish child payment has to be paid for. If the Scottish Government were here, it would tell you that it has a fixed budget and that we will have a £1.2 billion deficit in the social security benefits budget in two years’ time.

I will start with Ruth Boyle, because Stephen Sinclair may not want to answer the question. Which other budget would you take that money from—healthcare, education or transport? Which budget is less deserving than this one?

Sorry, Paul. Good morning and welcome to the panel. Thank you for coming. I appreciate that it is early days and we may not have this information yet but, from talking to people, do you know where the money is being spent? Is it being spent on general family requirements or specifically on children and the care and help that they require?