Chamber and committees

From the written submissions and what you have said, there seem to be a number of risks. We have heard about transition costs, the number of boards and a doubling of the running costs, as well as uncertainty on VAT, pensions, staff numbers, scope, impact on the third sector, IT systems, records and training. We have already covered a huge number of unknowns. How do we keep track of them and know what the costs will be to mitigate some of those risks? Can you think of any other unknowns that should be added to my list?

So there is not yet one place where all the risks have been written down so that we can all see them.

I thank the Social Justice and Social Security Committee and its clerks for producing its important report. The Parliament is rightly spending a great deal of time on discussing the cost of living crisis and its impact on our most vulnerable communities, and I welcome today’s focus on those with low incomes who are in danger of falling into debt.

We have many great organisations in Scotland that are working on the matter. In particular, I mention the work of Christians Against Poverty and its service to help people who are struggling with debt. Emma Jackson, its chief executive officer, provided concerning figures when she gave evidence to the committee. She told us:

“A third of our clients at CAP say that they regularly miss meals because they do not have enough income, while a quarter are reporting that they are skipping putting the heating on.”

She went on to say:

“about 65 per cent of our clients say that they have had to borrow from family or friends to afford food or fuel”.—[Official Report, Social Justice and Social Security Committee, 12 May 2022; c 4.]

The situation is forecast to get worse over the winter.

In last week’s debate, I highlighted the work that the UK Government is doing to assist the most vulnerable in our communities with their heating costs and I talked about the measures to get more money into such people’s pockets. I ran out of time in that debate, Presiding Officer, so I will not go over all those measures again; you will be glad to hear that I intend to finish on time.

The committee made many observations about promises of action that the Scottish Government has not yet fulfilled. We welcome the Government’s commitment to a full and independent review of the Scottish welfare fund and ask for the review to be concluded and a report published as soon as possible. I understand that the review is under way and I ask the minister, when he sums up the debate, to clarify to the Parliament the review’s timetable. When can we expect to see its report and recommendations? Will the recommendations be acted on in time to help people during the crisis over the winter? The committee has called for the review to be completed before the end of the year. Can the minister confirm that the report will be published this year?

The committee also called for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Government to work together to develop national standards for council tax collection. In her evidence to the committee, Emma Jackson made the same, important point. However, in its response to the committee, the Scottish Government again passed the buck, suggesting that it is not minded to legislate on a local government issue. The whole purpose of a national standard is that it is developed and agreed nationally, so that someone in Dumfries and Galloway who has council tax arrears has the same experience as someone in Aberdeenshire. It is not rocket science, and a national approach is long overdue.

The committee also recommended that the Government move ahead with free school meal expansion as soon as possible. The Government said in its response that it is committed to doing so within this parliamentary session but, again, there is no timetable; there are just empty promises from the SNP-Green devolved Government.

Let me turn to early intervention and prevention. Councils are on the front line of social care provision and are best placed to make early interventions, but the real-terms cut of £700 million since 2014 has affected councils’ ability to provide services. Advisers and helpline staff who assist people in dealing with debt are cut to the bone, with phone lines often jammed and people unable to get through to someone who can help.

Audit Scotland has urged the Scottish Government to develop a long-term planning approach to address child poverty and has warned that policies are focused on lifting children out of poverty rather than on preventing it in the first place, which should surely be the single most important focus for any Government.

The member mentioned fuel costs. Does she agree that the biggest factor in the rise in fuel costs is the war in Ukraine?

The member misses the point completely. What we want is a society in which people do not rely on welfare but have the jobs and opportunities to progress. The best way to tackle poverty is by providing good education, getting people into well-paid employment and growing our economy. We want the Scottish Government to commit to develop schemes that provide employment for people. We want it to tackle the root cause of poverty and to focus on growing the economy, to provide the opportunity that our people deserve.

I again thank all the organisations that gave the committee such moving evidence about the people with whom they work and the stories that those people told. We face a difficult time. Many households are fearful of the future and are wondering how they will pay their bills and meet their financial commitments.

The Government should be doing all that it can to address those needs, but instead we get empty promises and diversion politics. The Government blames someone else while saying that there is nothing that it can do.

We believe that there is much more that the Scottish Government can do, including delivering on some of its promises of the past. We want to see a fair funding settlement for local authorities, so that they can deliver the help and services that are required in our communities. We want to see free school meals delivered, not only promised; debt services funded properly; economic growth and employment at the heart of Government policy—

Will the member take an intervention?

—and an increased focus from the Government on the day job. The people of Scotland deserve a Government that thinks about their needs rather than stokes division and grievance.

—to provide that kind of support. We hope that both Governments—

This is an important debate as many of our constituents are facing a winter of worry and concern. Bills are going up, food prices are increasing and interest rates are on the rise. I am contacted every day by people who are looking for help and assistance. The UK Government has been quick to offer support, including by helping with energy bills for the most vulnerable, placing a cap on energy prices until April next year and cutting national insurance contributions, and I am sure that more support will be offered as the crisis develops.

The war in Ukraine has pushed up energy prices and also the prices of many everyday commodities, which has pushed inflation to higher levels than we have seen in many years. It was reported just yesterday by the Office for National Statistics that, as Willie Rennie mentioned, many of our everyday food prices are increasing at an eye-watering rate.

What we do not need is the SNP-Green coalition of chaos’s constant focus on division—