Chamber and committees

I believe that Ms Forbes has participated in a number of social security debates in which we have had this interaction before. I am very clear that Labour wants to fundamentally reform the system, because universal credit does not work and it is not working for all parts of our United Kingdom. We need to fundamentally reform the entire system so that it works and ensures that people have a sufficient safety net, as I have said. It is clear to me that we have opposed all that the Tories have done, and we are clear that the system needs fundamental reform. However, we will have to do that in terms of the fiscal situation that we inherit.

I move to the challenges that we are facing in Scotland. The current Scottish Government is presiding over a system that faces significant challenges. Today, the cabinet secretary has again repeated the words “dignity, fairness and respect” when referring to the social security system. Just saying that does not make it so, because we know that, in many ways, Social Security Scotland has failed to live up to people’s expectations and their aspirations.

We should reflect on waiting times. Last summer, the chief executive of Social Security Scotland told the Social Justice and Social Security Committee that he expected the waiting times for child disability payment to fall below the 80-day mark on average by the end of the summer. The end of the summer came and the statistical releases in September showed that the waiting times were stuck very stubbornly over 100 days, at 106 days.

Last week, at the committee’s evidence session, we asked Social Security Scotland when we would see a marked improvement in the waiting times and when it would get below the 80-day mark. I am not sure that we got any clarity on when that would happen or, indeed, on how that will happen.

It would be good to hear from the cabinet secretary about what part of keeping many families with vulnerable children in that waiting period for more than three months is meeting the aspirations of dignity, fairness and respect, because we know that people really are struggling as they wait for benefits.

It is not just child disability payment, either. As was reported over the weekend and as my colleague Michael Marra has already referred to, there are reports of almost 50,000 Scots having to wait for three months for their claims to be processed. Some have waited longer than that, and many people waiting have terminal illness. Many have also had to turn to food banks as a result of the wait. Charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support are sounding the alarm and urging the Government to take urgent action. We absolutely must reflect on that, because I do not think that people would recognise that picture as according with the aspirations of dignity, fairness and respect.

Social Security Scotland has been in development or existence for five years now. We have heard in the debate about the many benefits that it delivers and much of its work that is going on. However, I think that we are past the point where many of the delays can be blamed on teething problems. It is high time that the Government accepted that it has responsibility and must be held accountable for the significant challenges in the system.

We know that social security alone cannot solve the problem of poverty in Scotland and across our United Kingdom. More than 1 million people in Scotland still live in poverty—nearly half of them in very deep poverty—according to reports from various third sector organisations. In-work poverty is on the rise, with more than 10 per cent of workers locked in persistent low pay. The Scottish Government’s statistics show that lower and middle incomes have decreased over the latest three-year period. Yet, we hold this debate in a week in which we will debate a budget that will do nothing to stimulate economic growth and will take actions such as cutting the housing budget by 27 per cent, which will clearly impact on people who are struggling on low incomes.

It is against that whole backdrop that we consider today’s motion, which is rich in praise but perhaps lacking in the reality of the situation. If we want to tackle the cost of living crisis, inequality and poverty, we need a Government that is willing to take the decisions to make work pay and to tackle the structural causes behind poverty and inequality. Positive change can be delivered by a Labour Government that is willing to get to grips with the challenges that surround the system. The previous UK Labour Government, as I have said already, understood that when it removed 2 million children and pensioners from poverty through its action. We can do the same again, by making work pay and so ending in-work poverty, by growing the economy and by fixing the broken social security system across the UK. That is the change that I believe the people of Scotland want, the change that the people of Scotland need and the change that Labour will deliver when the SNP has failed to do so.

I move amendment S6M-12079.1, to leave out from “Government’s” to end and insert:

“Child Payment; notes the stubbornly high waiting times for Child Disability Payment, where the median processing time was 106 days, and for Adult Disability Payment, where the median processing time was 83 days, according to the latest statistical releases; is concerned by the Scottish Government’s failure to sufficiently and swiftly address these long processing times, which are driving some people to rely on foodbanks, according to reports from third sector organisations; is further concerned by the rise of in-work poverty in Scotland, with over one in 10 workers locked in persistent low pay according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and agrees that a UK Labour administration will implement a New Deal for Working People that will end in-work poverty and implement a fundamental reform of the Universal Credit system to provide a real safety net for those who need it.”

Does Jim McBride or Nicky Brown want to comment on that point? While Glasgow and Edinburgh have declared housing emergencies, the Scottish Government has not. Would there be a better unity of purpose if those local authority areas and the housing emergency were recognised more formally?

I have one question for the regulator. In December last year, the regulator’s update to the thematic report said that there had to be added urgency to the Scottish Government addressing the problems that we are discussing this morning. Michael Cameron, it would be useful to get your general sense of whether that added urgency has been accepted and responded to. What more could be done in the immediate period?

Are you confident that the numbers will continue to fall and remain below the 80-day mark when we are provided with the next set of management information?

Okay. I will wrap this up into one question if I can.

Partner agencies have real challenges in getting through—they have said that in the survey work that you have done—and I am keen to know what has been done on that. The other issue that I want to raise is that, as MSPs, we do not have a dedicated line that our offices can contact when we receive issues from constituents. The DWP has such a line. What consideration has been given to that?

Thanks for the clarity. It was email that I was referring to. That is helpful.

I will start with a question for Gordon MacRae. In your first answer, you referred to a housing emergency, and Glasgow and Edinburgh city councils and other local authorities have declared such an emergency. It is not language that the Scottish Government has chosen to accept or use as a definition. Some people would argue that it is about semantics, but could we have your view about whether there is a housing emergency and whether it should be defined nationally?

Thank you.

Good morning to the panel. The committee has been particularly interested in waiting times. In June last year, David Wallace told us that he hoped that, by the end of summer 2023, average processing times for child disability payment would be “under the 80 mark”. The statistical releases for September show that that was still being missed, by about 26 days—the figure was at about 106 days—although the figure subsequently came down in October, to just over 80 days. Can you give us the most up-to-date picture of whether that under 80-day target that Mr Wallace outlined is being maintained?

What has been most effective or has made the most difference in the work that has been done to bring down the wait times?