Chamber and committees

We have debated the benefit cap in the chamber a number of times, and we have been very clear in our opposition to it. However, would the member not agree that the entire universal credit system must be fundamentally looked at and reformed to ensure that all parts of it can better serve those who need it?

In the interests of ensuring the accuracy of the record, the UK Labour Party was talking about a plan to uprate defence spending, not to introduce a 2.5 per cent increase in defence spending right away. In the interests of accuracy, it would be useful to reflect on that.

I am pleased to contribute to this evening’s debate. Clare Haughey’s motion provides Parliament with an opportunity to look back at social security across the UK, including here in Scotland, over the seven-year period. We know that those seven years have been part of a longer period—14 years—of a Conservative Government at UK level that has failed to support people who need the social security system most, failed to tackle poverty and wreaked economic chaos on families and the household incomes of people across this country.

We have had a decade or more of so-called reform through universal credit, but it is clear that it is not working. We have 400,000 more children in poverty now than there were in 2010, when the previous Labour Government left office. As we have heard, most people who are in poverty today are in work, and two thirds of children who are in poverty live in a household with someone who goes out to work. It is clear that, in regard to both the social security safety net and work in this country, the system is not working.

Reform has been debated here tonight, including reform of the two-child limit, which is a pernicious policy. I have outlined my opposition to it in the many debates that we have had—I think that this is the fourth debate in the chamber on the issue, including one that was in Government time.

I find this interesting. We have had a number of party-political broadcasts on behalf of the Scottish National Party this evening, rather than a constructive debate. However, the choice in the election will be on whether to go for Labour’s new deal for working people. I have pushed the cabinet secretary on this before, but is she suggesting that the principles that are held in the Labour Party, such as lifting people out of poverty by increasing the living wage, by ending fire and rehire and by ending zero-hours contracts, are not ones that she would stand behind?

Mr Balfour has heard me say before that the entire system is not working. That is why we must take a whole-system approach and look at all the facets and measures of universal credit. We will not take advice from a Tory Government that has, as I have outlined, pushed more and more people into poverty and has not focused on ensuring that the safety net is there for people who need it.

We need to fundamentally reform all aspects of universal credit and have an overarching UK Government anti-poverty strategy, which has been seriously lacking from the Conservative Party over both the seven years and the 14 years that the Conservatives have been in government. Given what I said about in-work poverty, it is clear that we need to reform work across the UK to ensure that we lift people’s wages, put money in people’s pockets and put an end to insecure work.

What a contrast the past 14 years have been for the 1 million children, including 200,000 children in Scotland alone, and the 1 million pensioners who were lifted out of poverty by the previous Labour Government. That will be our focus if we form the next UK Government, through a new deal for working people and fundamental reforms of the social contract.

The motion reflects on what has happened in the past seven years under this Parliament, including the advent of Social Security Scotland. The cabinet secretary and I have often tried to find consensus in many such areas—I know that she is keen to do so. For example, Labour members have supported the Scottish child payment, and I think that support for it will continue as we move forward.

However, the Government and the SNP must reflect on what is not working so well in the system. We talk about a system that is rooted in fairness, dignity and respect, and we hear assertions that those concepts are inherent in the system. However, there are serious challenges with waiting times for benefits such as the Scottish child disability payment—just in the past week, we heard that, sadly and tragically, nine children died while waiting for payment of that benefit. I therefore do not think that it is fair to say that the system in Scotland is perfect or is always rooted in dignity, fairness and respect. There is much more to do to move that forward.

It is clear that there is a huge amount of work to do to rectify the legacy that the Conservatives will leave behind when—I hope—they leave office not too far in the future. There are huge challenges with the social contract, which will have to be rebuilt from the ground up. Crucially, for people who experience in-work poverty, we need to have a new deal for working people that supports them, puts money in their pockets and ensures that they are in safe and secure work and that they can bring in the money that they need to support their family.

Will the member take an intervention?

Thank you.

We are not starting from scratch, because information is shared, but it is useful to understand that extra process at Social Security Scotland.

For the record, and for those of us who were not here when the bill was introduced, do you want to say what some of the additional checks are?

Good morning, cabinet secretary and officials.

We have had a number of meetings on appointees, and we have heard some evidence about the interaction between the Department for Work and Pensions system and that of Social Security Scotland and about the reciprocal arrangements for recognising appointees. We know that Social Security Scotland already recognises DWP appointees as part of the transfer process that is under way, but, because witnesses have spoken about that, it would be useful to know how we can better streamline processes, so that that recognition happens more easily and continues to happen in the future and so that someone who is recognised in one system is also recognised in the Scottish system.

Cabinet secretary, would you like to make a general comment on that? We can then see if there are any follow-up questions.

I am pleased to open on behalf of Scottish Labour in this stage 1 debate, and I am pleased to support the general principles of my colleague Mark Griffin’s bill. I pay tribute to Mark Griffin, his team past and present and everyone who has assisted him, not least those from the trade union movement and workers across Scotland, in the preparation of the bill. What Mark Griffin has outlined is in the best traditions of the Labour Party and the labour movement, representing working people in the Parliament, giving voice to their real concerns and driving forward the change that we need to see. That is where we have always been, and it is where we remain.

We have already started to hear many of the excuses that are being lined up by the Government and Conservative members about why they will not support Mark Griffin’s bill. That will be a real disappointment to the working people who are watching the debate and who have been part of the process of consultation and development of the bill. Timing has been mentioned a lot already. The reality is that we have seen delay and, very often, confusion around what is happening with the development of employment injury assistance in Scotland. In his intervention on Jeremy Balfour, Mark Griffin made clear the need for these things to be put in place, because we are still a long way off from them being put in place.