I congratulate Rona Mackay on securing this important debate and warmly welcome her initiative, which has led to this issue being debated in the chamber today. I also want to place on record my thanks to Victim Support Scotland, Children 1st and the other organisations that have been involved in the opening of Scotland’s first bairns’ hoose.

As Rona Mackay has already mentioned in the debate, the bairns’ hoose model is based on Iceland’s renowned model, and seeks to bring the needs of child victims and witnesses together with justice, health, social work and recovery support services at a single point of contact.

As an MSP for the West Scotland region, I, like Rona Mackay, am pleased that the first bairns’ hoose will be supporting child victims and witnesses in East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and Renfrewshire. However, it is crucial that all eligible children are able to access such facilities, so that they can have access to the trauma-informed support that the model provides. I look forward to seeing how the bairns’ hoose develops and to hearing about its effect on outcomes. I would be grateful if the minister could today provide an update, and commit to future parliamentary updates, on the progress that is being made towards widening access to such facilities and other initiatives that enable child victims and witnesses to access trauma-informed practices.

Ahead of today’s debate, Victim Support Scotland reiterated its concern that some local authorities may choose to use the bairns’ hoose as a place of safety for a child who has caused harm. If that were the case, it could increase the risk of retraumatising victims and witnesses, including child victims, undermining the very purpose of the bairns’ hoose as a service. Therefore, I would be grateful if the minister could respond to the concerns that are being raised and address the reason why Victim Support Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to guarantee that no bairns’ hoose in Scotland will be used as a place of safety under the Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019. I hope that the minister will give that guarantee today and outline how the Scottish Government will establish the trauma-informed support service that is required for children who have caused harm but also ensure that the needs of other victims are addressed.

The bairns’ hoose is a key part of improving the experiences of child victims and witnesses in Scotland’s justice system, but we all recognise that it is not the sole solution to the problem. That is why many stakeholders have raised concerns about the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill that is being scrutinised by Parliament. The concern is that the bill lacks provision to ensure that support and information are in place for victims who have been harmed by children and that it could create an imbalance between the rights of the child who has caused harm and the rights of the child victim. There also issues in the bill with regard to the lack of information-sharing provisions and the lack of safety planning and risk management measures.

As the minister will know, a number of stakeholders, including Victim Support Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland and Women’s Aid, have come together to suggest a number of changes to the bill. I urge the Scottish Government, in responding to the debate, to seriously consider what is being said and ensure that the legislation truly delivers an improved experience for child victims and witnesses in Scotland.

The bairns’ hoose alone will not transform the experience of child victims and witnesses in Scotland, but it is a very important development that I warmly welcome. For that reason, I associate myself with Rona Mackay’s words and those of all the other members who have spoken in the debate and again congratulate all those who have been involved in the opening of Scotland’s first bairns’ hoose.

The chief executive of Scottish Water has been awarded a pay rise that unions have highlighted as being £50,000 above the Scottish Government’s current policy on public sector pay, while lower-paid staff are in dispute over their wages. Will the cabinet secretary listen to unions that are calling for a review of public sector pay policy, including excessive executive pay at the top?

I do not see it as being a comparator either, but claimants have said to me that their experiences with Social Security Scotland are worse than those that they had with DWP. They have also said that they did not believe that that could be possible. Do you agree that we need to ensure that we have the highest standards and the quickest processing times, and that the expectation is that the process will be better than it was with DWP? If DWP’s processes are getting better, I very much welcome that. How quickly can we expect better processing times for the adult disability payment?

I want to ask about the extent to which we are currently still in a settling-in period. In your submission, you said that

“it was always expected that processing times would need a settling in period … while staff gain experience and new systems are introduced.”

You have said that, usually, it might take a member of staff up to a year to really get across the whole role. The child disability payment has been available nationally since November 2021, but there does not seem to be any indication that processing times are going down. Do you consider that we are still in the settling-in period in relation to that specific benefit?

It would be very much appreciated if you could keep us closely advised. Thank you.

I am just a little bit concerned by what you are saying and I wonder whether there is appreciation in the agency of how important it is for people to get money quickly. I very much welcome what you are saying about evidence that claimants are finding that the agency is treating them with more kindness and respect. If that is the case, that is a massive advance on where we were in the past.

As you know, however, the reality is that the reason why most people are claiming benefits is that they are in financial difficulties. Some people are in extreme financial difficulties, such that they cannot heat or eat. Can you reassure the committee that you understand the client group that you are dealing with, the importance of ensuring that cases are processed quickly and that people receive money quickly, for the reasons that I have given?

Can you indicate when you think processing times might start to come down for the child disability payment?

Thank you. Will you keep the committee advised about progress on that and whether there are specific problems? If you could proactively share that with us, that would be very helpful.

You will have seen that there has been a lot of publicity around the personal independence payment and the fact that decisions on it are currently being made more quickly than decisions on adult disability payments. Do you expect the gap to narrow over time, or do elements of the adult disability payment decision-making process mean that it is likely often to be lengthier than the process for decisions on the personal independence payment?

That is helpful to have on the record. Thank you.

But it is obviously very important that we do understand that so that we can take action to try to prevent these kinds of situations. The courts look at these kinds of issues in personal injury cases. Was there a safe system of work? We need to be able to provide safe systems of work for serving police officers.

I do not know whether Gary Ritchie wants to comment on that. I would like to get just a little more detail. I do not want in any way to breach confidentiality or speak about specific cases, but we do need to understand. I could put words in your mouth as to what I think the issues might be, but I think that it would be better if you could maybe outline what you think some of the factors are.