The instruments are largely technical, but I will provide a bit of background and context on their purpose. As the committee will be aware, the independent living fund was a UK scheme that made care payments to severely disabled people. The scheme was closed to new applicants in April 2010 and ceased to operate on 30 June 2015.
The Scottish Government made a commitment to maintain ILF payments in Scotland and it established ILF Scotland from 1 July 2015. That fund makes payments to all persons in Scotland who remain eligible and who received funding from the ILF before its closure. Recipients use the funding for services that offer the flexibility that they might not otherwise have to live in their own home and to take up employment or education, and the funding helps to reduce social isolation.
An agreement has been reached for ILF Scotland to distribute packages of ILF support, on the Northern Ireland Executive’s behalf, to existing ILF recipients who live in Northern Ireland.
In addition to supporting existing ILF users, the Scottish ministers have committed a total of £5 million annually to extending the ILF’s reach in Scotland. In December 2017, the ILF Scotland transition fund opened to new users. The new fund supports young people aged 16 to 21 who are living with disabilities to be more independent during their transition from education and children’s services. Since opening access to the payments, 200 applications have been received, with a total liability of around £600,000.
When ILF Scotland was established in 2015, it was decided that it should be a company limited by guarantee in order to meet the very tight timeframe for delivery and to ensure that payments were protected. At that time, there was insufficient time to list ILF Scotland in various pieces of legislation as a public body.
In discussion with the Scottish Government legal directorate and officials of public bodies, we have identified a number of pieces of legislation in which we consider that ILF Scotland should be listed in order to ensure that it operates in line with other public bodies in Scotland.
The two instruments that are being considered today—the ILF Scotland (Miscellaneous Listings) Order 2018 and the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2018—will achieve that, along with a third instrument that is not being considered today, the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc (Scotland) Act 2000 (ILF Scotland) Order 2018, which is subject to negative procedure. I will provide brief details of the two instruments that are being considered today.
The ILF Scotland (Miscellaneous Listings) Order 2018 lists ILF Scotland in a number of pieces of legislation. First, it will be listed in schedule 1 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Although ILF Scotland is already bound by the act, listing it makes it subject to the duties relating to climate change that are contained in part 4 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.
ILF Scotland will be included in schedule 2 of the Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc (Scotland) Act 2003. The purpose of listing it is to regulate appointments that are made by the Scottish ministers to the ILF Scotland board by requiring that the Scottish ministers comply with the code of practice for ministerial appointments to public bodies in Scotland.
ILF Scotland will be listed in part 3 of schedule 19 of the Equality Act 2010 so that it is required to comply with the public sector equality duty.
ILF Scotland will also be listed in the schedule of the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011, which will require it to manage its public records in accordance with a records management plan that has been agreed by the keeper of the records of Scotland.
Lastly, ILF Scotland will be in schedules 1, 3 and 4 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. Being listed in those schedules means that it will be subject to the duties of public authorities in relation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and it will become a listed authority in relation to children’s plans, and a corporate parent.
The purpose of the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2018 is to add ILF Scotland to the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012. That will make ILF Scotland subject to various duties, including assessing the impact of new or revised policies and practice on the needs that are set out in the public sector equality duty, reporting on mainstreaming equality, publishing information on the gender pay gap and equal pay, and taking account of the equality duty in the context of procurement.
I am happy to answer questions.