Chamber and committees

I want to get a sense of what might be a way forward. Dr Tickell, at the time of the outcome of the Supreme Court case, you commented on the opportunity that the ruling might present to look at Scottish acts in terms of some of the things that we are talking about. I appreciate what you said in your previous answer about the complications surrounding all this, but do you have a view of what would be the most appropriate way forward?

I would like to hear COSLA’s position, as it differs slightly from what we heard earlier this morning.

Good morning, and thank you for providing a helpful overview. I am going to ask questions about legal complexities, and about some of the views that have been shared by other organisations that we will hear from this morning.

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and Social Work Scotland have both indicated that the legal complexities that will be created following the amendments will be challenging. Indeed, Social Work Scotland told us that it viewed it as a “potentially impossible legislative landscape” to navigate. We have heard quite clearly from all of you in evidence that the approach that is being taken is the only option. What do you think that the impact will be on duty bearers under the bill? How can we help them to navigate and address those complexities?

In the previous answer from Dr Tickell, we started to touch on the audits and the difficult debate that exists in that space. Earlier, a number of witnesses, including the children’s commissioner, spoke about the approach that they would like to see, not least looking together at the sort of audit approach that they would like. Obviously, COSLA had a different view, to some extent. Dr Tickell, will you comment on the principle of audits and on what, in your view, might happen in that space? Then I will come to Councillor Buchanan on the COSLA point.

As Bob Doris said, we have had some interesting exchanges this morning, which covered a lot of the ground that I am interested in. However, I would like some information and clarity on transitions for young people, particularly young people with a learning disability. The age of 18 is a crucial point in young people’s lives in terms of their transitions more generally. What interaction has Social Security Scotland had with third sector support organisations that are helping young people at that point in their life, when they are going through all kinds of transitions, to focus specifically on their application to move to ADP?

Could we do more to streamline the process and make it more passported or automated? Given that we know who these people are and when their birthdays are, and that, at that stage in people’s lives, their conditions have not changed considerably, could we do more to make the process far more automatic? We know that the Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) Bill—a private member’s bill—is currently before Parliament, but how can we ensure that we do everything possible to make transitions, in a broader sense, easier?

Thank you. Both responses were helpful in understanding the importance of data.

My next question is about barriers. Many of the groups that we have spoken about this morning are, in a broad sense, represented by organisations, but often there are barriers to getting everyone’s point of view. The committee is keen to understand what you feel the barriers are to people feeling that they are part of a representative voice. How might we address that better and how might we get to the root of people’s issues?

Good morning. I have the last few questions, so I am keen to try to pull together the themes we have been discussing. A lot of what I will ask about has come up already.

Transparency is obviously a key issue in terms of people being able to make informed contributions to budget consultation processes. The committee wants to look at transparency in more detail in the next budget process, so I am keen to understand to what extent a lack of data, or a lack of accessible data, hinders people’s participation. The subject has been woven through the answers this morning, but is any particular data missing? Could we make data more accessible?

Dr Hosie wants to comment, and I saw Emma Congreve nodding. I am keen to understand your views on the prioritisation. Following on from Chris Birt’s point about whether the challenges are surmountable, I would also like to know whether we can do more in the reserved/devolved space.

Helpfully, the Government’s timescales are the subject of my next question. You expressed the desire to see the changes happen as quickly as possible. The Government said:

“We recognise that Carer Support Payment from launch will not immediately fully achieve all of the aims … for carers. These aims are intended to continue to guide the development of the benefit on an ongoing basis.”

That is quite woolly. What discussion has there been with the Government about the hard-and-fast timescales that people are looking for?

I will bring Paul Traynor back in, because he started on this topic.