Chamber and committees

We want women and girls to be empowered to exercise equal rights and opportunities, to have equitable access to economic resources and decision making and to live their lives free from all forms of violence, abuse and harassment. We continue to take forward work to protect, promote and improve gender equality, while recognising intersectional inequality, in Scotland. To achieve that, we are working to deliver and implement the ambitious recommendations from the First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls, alongside the women’s health plan and the equally safe strategy.

Thank you, Presiding Officer.

As I was saying, trans people continue to suffer poorer outcomes relative to outcomes among the wider population, and that needs to change. Our “Evidence Review: Non-Binary People’s Experiences in Scotland” highlighted that existing research suggests that non-binary and trans people face discrimination in multiple sectors of society—

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I will continue. The Scottish Government is committed to increasing equality and improving the lives of trans people in Scotland. Trans people continue to suffer poorer outcomes relative to outcomes among the wider population—

Much has been said in the debate about protection of women. I reiterate the actions that we are taking to support and empower women in Scotland. Gender equality is at the heart of the Scottish Government’s vision for a fairer Scotland.

Through collaborative work on the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021, access to free period products is enshrined in law for anyone who needs them, which has built on Scotland’s world-leading work in that area.

Violence against women is a fundamental violation of human rights, which is why we are implementing the equally safe strategy to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls and to tackle the underlying attitudes that perpetuate it.

—such as education, health, communities, work, benefits and issues around homelessness.

Trans and non-binary people are a small marginalised group, at 0.44 per cent of Scotland’s population—

—and race equality organisations that we fund via the equality and human rights fund.

I conclude by restating our position—

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, for giving me the time back for Mr Kerr’s lengthy intervention.

I do not accept that this Government does not support people getting into work. We have a raft of investments in ways to do that.

This debate is uncomfortable both for the Tories and for Labour because their approach to welfare benefits is based on punishment and stigma, and this Government rejects that approach whole-heartedly.

Despite the fixed budgets and limited powers of devolution, we have transformed social security provision in Scotland and we are committed to ensuring that finances remain on a sustainable trajectory. We will publish our next medium-term financial strategy later this year, alongside a fiscal sustainability delivery plan.

In conclusion, as I and many members in the chamber have highlighted, the recent statements by UK Government ministers on welfare reform and benefit cuts show no regard for the reality of people’s lives. I will close the debate with a clear and urgent message to the UK Government: remember your pledge of no austerity; do not punish those who most need our help; recognise the hardships that mean that people may require help from the benefits system; and join us, in the Scottish Government, in working to banish stigma from social security rather than amplifying it through aggressive soundbites and rhetoric.

I thank Marie McNair for bringing this debate to the chamber. I have listened carefully to the comments that have been made and I hope to respond to some of the points that have been raised.

Any one of us might find ourselves at any time in our lives unable to get paid work due to sickness or disability or because we are caring for a loved one. If that happens, social security should provide us with a safety net. It should provide protection from poverty and financial insecurity no matter what life has thrown at us. That is what social security should be.

However, what we are seeing from the current UK Government, ahead of the publication of its green paper later this month, raises significant concerns for the future of that social security safety net. When the previous UK Government initially set out proposals for changes to the work capability assessment, the Scottish Government, along with poverty campaigners and disabled people’s organisations, roundly condemned the targeting of vital benefits that support disabled people and those with long-term health conditions. It is deeply disappointing that the current UK Government is continuing with those plans.

With reference to Paul O’Kane’s intervention, I know that this is a very uncomfortable space for Labour. Although the reforms originated with the previous Conservative Government, Labour has defended them. In fact, at the judicial review it was found that the consultation on the reforms was based on the need to save money as opposed to getting people back into jobs. The UK Government is now reconsulting, and we will see the results of that reconsultation in the green paper that is meant to be forthcoming.

As Marie McNair points out in her motion, the UK Government’s language when discussing disabled people and people with long-term health conditions is deeply concerning, as it seeks to further stigmatise and blame the sick and disabled for accessing social security benefits that they are legally entitled to and on which they rely.

In Scotland, we know that there is a different way to deliver social security. As a devolved nation, we are able to do that, as Maggie Chapman pointed out. The Scottish Parliament unanimously created the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, which enshrines the principles of dignity, fairness and respect, reducing poverty, and advancing equality and non-discrimination at the heart of a radically different social security system. As Stuart McMillan so eloquently pointed out, we must retain compassion at the heart of any social security system, and those are the principles that guide this Government’s social security decision making.

While the UK Government is focused on reducing the amount of money that is spent on supporting the disabled and others who need help, the Scottish Government believes that social security is an essential collective investment in Scotland’s people, its communities and its future. It is an investment because, as we all know, inequality is bad for our health, our communities and our economy.

In the recently passed budget, the Scottish Government made a conscious decision to invest in social security for the people of Scotland by investing around £6.9 billion in benefits and payments for 2025-26. That investment will support approximately 2 million people and amounts to around £1.3 billion more than the funding for social security that was received from the UK Government.

In Scotland, we are taking a positive and compassionate approach to delivering the adult disability payment. That approach is ensuring that more disabled people get the support to which they are entitled while making sure that accessing that support is as straightforward as possible. In 2025-26, we will invest around £3.6 billion in the adult disability payment, which is £314 million more than we are forecast to receive from the UK Government through the social security block grant adjustment.

We are also using our limited budget to mitigate some of the UK Government’s most damaging policies. Over the past 14 years, we have spent around £1.2 billion on mitigating the effects of policies such as the bedroom tax and the benefit cap, including almost £154 million in 2024-25. Furthermore, from 2026, we will mitigate the effects of the pernicious two-child cap, thereby helping to keep thousands of children out of poverty and reducing the depth of poverty that many more face.