Chamber and committees

No, I am talking about the First-tier Tribunal.

With respect, you did not quite answer my question. Are you able to guarantee that, at the present time, you have enough people both in terms of numbers and geographically to cover tribunals? I do not know where your 19 advocates are based, but there could easily be a tribunal in Inverness and one in Galashiels on the same day, as well as some in the central belt. Can you assure the committee that, if someone goes to a First-tier Tribunal within the next few months, you will be able to advocate on their behalf?

How many people are now working for you in Scotland?

I have one final question. In your arrangement with the Scottish Government, is the money that you receive based on the number of people that you employ? Is there an upper limit to the number of staff that you can employ under your contract with the Scottish Government? I think that I saw that the figure that you had in mind for that was £20 million in two to three years. Does that depend on the number of staff that you employ?

One area that we have not covered is the relationships that you have with other advocacy services across Scotland. A constituent who went to one of the local authority services came to me here, in Edinburgh, and told me that the service had a waiting list as long as your arm. Are organisations such as the City of Edinburgh Council’s advice shop and other third-sector organisations aware that you are out there? Why do they not refer cases on to you if they cannot take on new cases at the moment?

When you are writing to the committee with all the other information that you are giving, could you give us a list of who you have been in touch with across Scotland? There might well be gaps and people such as Emma Roddick might know of organisations in the north of Scotland, for example, that are not well known. If you could give us a list, that would be helpful.

Thank you, convener. That was within the four minutes.

If I am honest, I am surprised about the number of people who are working for you. I just did a quick search on Google and there are eight tribunals sitting today, so one sitting per region would mean that half of your staff would be at tribunals. I am therefore wondering about recruitment. I looked at your website yesterday and you are not recruiting any advocates at the moment, but you are recruiting one policy officer. When will the scale-up happen? What is your timescale for recruitment?

Good morning, panel, and thank you all very much for coming. I really appreciate your taking the time to give evidence today.

Advocacy was one of the key areas when we discussed the Scottish Government bill that led to the 2018 act. Indeed, it was one of the things that we were keen to provide for people in Scotland, and I am grateful for the work that you have done on it so far. Obviously it is still early days, but can you tell us how many people you have supported so far?

I do not know whether Jonathan Senker or Emily Johnston will want to take that one. You can fight it out among yourselves.

How do people find out about your service? Is it via Social Security Scotland or through your website? If I have to make a new claim for the adult disability payment, for example, how do I find out that your organisation can offer this service to me?