The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
The Official Report search offers lots of different ways to find the information you’re looking for. The search is used as a professional tool by researchers and third-party organisations. It is also used by members of the public who may have less parliamentary awareness. This means it needs to provide the ability to run complex searches, and the ability to browse reports or perform a simple keyword search.
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
Depending on the kind of search you want to do, one of these views will be the best option. The default view is to show the report for each meeting of Parliament or a committee. For a simple keyword search, the results will be shown by item of business.
When you choose to search by a particular MSP, the results returned will show each spoken contribution in Parliament or a committee, ordered by date with the most recent contributions first. This will usually return a lot of results, but you can refine your search by keyword, date and/or by meeting (committee or Chamber business).
We’ve chosen to display the entirety of each MSP’s contribution in the search results. This is intended to reduce the number of times that users need to click into an actual report to get the information that they’re looking for, but in some cases it can lead to very short contributions (“Yes.”) or very long ones (Ministerial statements, for example.) We’ll keep this under review and get feedback from users on whether this approach best meets their needs.
There are two types of keyword search:
If you select an MSP’s name from the dropdown menu, and add a phrase in quotation marks to the keyword field, then the search will return only examples of when the MSP said those exact words. You can further refine this search by adding a date range or selecting a particular committee or Meeting of the Parliament.
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
There are two ways of searching by date.
You can either use the Start date and End date options to run a search across a particular date range. For example, you may know that a particular subject was discussed at some point in the last few weeks and choose a date range to reflect that.
Alternatively, you can use one of the pre-defined date ranges under “Select a time period”. These are:
If you search by an individual session, the list of MSPs and committees will automatically update to show only the MSPs and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of MSPs and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of MSPs and committees will update to show the information that was current at that time.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 1141 contributions
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 9 October 2025
Shirley-Anne Somerville
One area that we have been asked to look at, and which we have looked at in the past through our consultation, is carers who currently only have an underlying entitlement to the carer support payment. That is usually because they receive another income replacement benefit instead, which in this example is the state pension.
We recognise that there have been calls to allow people on the state pension to receive the carer support payment but, in essence, that would change what the benefit is for, because it is an income-replacing benefit. However, it is important that we encourage carers to apply for carer support because they can have an underlying entitlement to other reserved and devolved benefits.
The recognition payment to recognise the contribution of long-term carers came up in our past consultation. It would be done in an alternative way, by paying that carer support payment to all carers with underlying entitlement. That option ranked relatively low when we looked at the multicriteria analysis of the options.
The idea of a recognition payment received positive feedback. I refer back to my original remarks—we have said that we were processing the new payments and completing the case transfer, and that we would deliver the changes, which we are doing today. In essence, we have carried out some initial internal work on a recognition payment, but we have not taken it forward because what we said in our consultation response is that we would deliver on the improvements that we are laying in front of the committee today.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 9 October 2025
Shirley-Anne Somerville
Certainly. As I referred to in my opening remarks, this is the most complex benefit that has been devolved. That is, in many ways, because of the integral links between the devolved system and those benefits that remain reserved to the UK Government. Even more so than in relation to all other benefits, it requires us to ensure that there are no unintended consequences to changes to a carer’s benefits here, in that they are detrimental to a carer by then impacting on their reserved benefits.
We are also very conscious of the fact that we still need to make this as simple as we can for the carers. Any difference between our rules and Department for Work and Pensions rules can add to that complexity. We are therefore developing targeted communications to ensure that the right information is there for carers, at the right time.
Carers who are currently in receipt of the carer support payment will receive a notice of determination to let them know that their benefits will be transferring to carer support, with details of their award. That will outline the components of the carer support, and invite them to inform Social Security Scotland of any additional people they care for, should they wish to receive the carer additional person payment. It is important that the agency makes that proactive effort in order to ensure that carers are aware of the additional support that they might be entitled to.
Moving from the carers allowance supplement to the Scottish carer supplement is a change for carers, who have been used to receiving that twice-yearly payment. However, as I said in my original remarks, it is important to recognise that the change means that carers can receive that benefit more regularly, and that it will be more accurate, because there will not be those two weeks in which they have to be eligible. Sometimes, carers missed out because of a change in income, which we know is a key challenge.
The changes that we are making are, therefore, very much an attempt to make things as simple as possible. However, we recognise that we are doing so in a complex system. We are particularly concerned to support people when circumstances change, and particularly when those circumstances are the death of a cared-for person. We are ensuring that there is a way in which carers can be provided with additional support from the agency if, for example, they receive the carer additional person payment, but one caring role ends, perhaps through bereavement. There is work within the agency to ensure that carers are supported.
Those are just some examples of what we are trying to put in place within the agency in order to recognise that complexity. We are working with carers and, of course, with carers organisations directly to ensure that we design the system with them and provide that support, where at all possible.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 9 October 2025
Shirley-Anne Somerville
I know that some stakeholders have asked for that in the past.
I note at the outset that the fact that we are extending the young carer grant to 19-year-olds follows feedback from stakeholders, who quite rightly pointed out that some carers who are aged 19 and are in full-time, non-advanced education were falling through a potential gap between the young carer grant and the carer support payment. The change has therefore come in because we are listening to stakeholders and moving forward with improvements. We estimate that the change will provide support to an extra 1,200 carers in the first full year of the grant, in 2026-27. We are therefore listening to stakeholders and adapting.
Ensuring that we provide young carers with support is an area that we have considered carefully over the years. It is about ensuring that we do not make a change in the system whereby a young carer might feel that they should be taking on more caring responsibilities, which might impact on their life choices. We are very conscious of the fact that we need to not only support young carers, but ensure that we are doing that in the correct manner.
Having said all that, and as I hope that we have demonstrated in the changes that we are bringing in today, I am keen to ensure that we continue to review and discuss, with young carers in particular, the impact of these changes and any concerns that they might have in the future. I have said to the committee on a number of occasions that I am exceptionally proud of the devolved social security system. However, it is still very young, so we may need to make changes in relation to feedback, and there may be iterations of the benefits.
As we do with all benefits, and as we have discussed at committee in the past, we will carry out evaluation work around the carer support payment and the young carer grant to ensure that we consider the impact of benefits on a young person’s engagement with training, employment opportunities and so on.
I hope that that gives the committee reassurance that we are continuing to improve and to listen, and that we will continue to be willing to listen in the future and to adapt if we need to do so.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 9 October 2025
Shirley-Anne Somerville
That is an example of the complexity of the devolved changes and the need to ensure that we understand their consequences for reserved benefits. The extension to the bereavement run-on for carer support will provide additional support. We understand the importance of ensuring that any extra support that we provide for carers through improvements such as the run-on extension does not put at risk support that they receive from elsewhere or mean that they lose support through reductions in the reserved system. That is one example of the complexity of the situation.
The universal credit rules will apply to the new 12-week run-on in the same way that they apply to the current eight-week run-on, while carers will get all the additional carer support payments, including the carer supplement and any additional person payments, that they are entitled to. As a result of the extension, some may not get a universal credit carer element for that full period. That will depend on where they are in their universal credit assessment cycle when the bereavement occurs.
The Scottish Government has raised concerns about that issue with the DWP, which told us that it considers the current approach to be acceptable. Its view is that there are limited circumstances in which the carer support payment run-on would continue for longer than the carer element run-on, so in most cases, carers will get the full benefit of the change.
Nevertheless, there is a possibility that some carers will not. I have asked the minister responsible and the DWP to consider that as part of the DWP’s on-going review of universal credit—I referred to that in a letter that I sent earlier this year. That has been noted, and we will continue to work with the DWP to see whether a solution can be found. However, it lies solely with the DWP to assist us with that, given that the issue is in the universal credit system.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 9 October 2025
Shirley-Anne Somerville
Thank you very much and good morning, convener. I am very pleased to be able to come to the committee this morning to speak to these draft regulations, which represent a major milestone for the devolution of social security in Scotland and provide further recognition of the immense contribution of unpaid carers in our society.
I previously attended the committee in September 2023 to discuss the Carer’s Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023, which introduced the carer support payment to replace carers allowance. At that time, we promised that once the carer support payment was rolled out nationally and we had completed the safe and secure transfer of all carers allowance cases, we would begin to make further improvements to the carer support payment.
You know already that the carer support payment was successfully rolled out across Scotland last year and I am pleased to report that we have now completed transferring all carers allowance awards for unpaid carers in Scotland to the carer support payment. Therefore, I am pleased to be speaking to you today about the planned improvements.
The regulations will introduce carer support, which is a single benefit that is made up of three components: the carer support payment, the Scottish carer supplement and the carer additional person payment. We are making further improvements to how the Scottish Government supports carers: we are increasing the amount of time during which a carer can continue to receive support after the death of a cared-for person from eight to 12 weeks, and we are removing the requirement for carers to have cared for someone for a certain period before they can continue to get support when they have a temporary break from caring.
The Scottish carer supplement will replace the carers allowance supplement, which is currently paid twice yearly. Instead, the Scottish carer supplement will be paid alongside the carer support payment, so that carers no longer need to be receiving the carer support payment on specific qualifying dates, and can receive their payments more regularly.
The carer additional person payment is a new extra payment of £10 a week, available to people receiving the carer support payment who care for more than one person for at least 20 hours per week. People who are already receiving the carer support payment do not need to apply for carer support when it is introduced. Their award will be automatically transferred. Only those who wish to receive the carer additional person payment need to get in touch when their award transfers to ensure that we can add that payment to their award.
We are also extending the young carer grant to 19-year-olds in order to ensure that those in full-time, non-advanced education are able to access some form of carers assistance.
The regulations also make further relatively minor amendments to the principal regulations in order to clarify existing provisions—including earnings provisions and those that allow for additional backdated support to be given after an initial award—as well as revoking some provisions that are no longer needed.
The improvements that we are discussing today build on the support that is already available for carers in Scotland, much of which is available only in Scotland. We introduced the carers allowance supplement in 2018 in order to address the fact that carers allowance was the lowest of all the working-age benefits, and the young carer grant in 2019 in order to recognise young carers.
The carer support payment is our most complex benefit to date. I am grateful to everyone who has contributed their views, and to officials from across the United Kingdom for all their hard work on ensuring that these new improvements work as intended with the benefits that remain reserved to the UK Government.
I am also grateful to the hundreds of carers, and the carer benefits advisory group, who help to ensure that devolved carer benefits meet the needs of those who receive them. I also extend my thanks to the Scottish Commission on Social Security for its formal scrutiny of the draft regulations; its recommendations have assisted us in strengthening the detail of the regulations that are before us.
These changes will put more money into the pockets of our unpaid carers and, alongside our work to help carers to access wider carer support, will provide an improved service for them.
As I have said before, today is an important milestone. I welcome the opportunity to assist the committee in its consideration of the regulations.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 25 September 2025
Shirley-Anne Somerville
The language is very important. It is not just important as we sit in committee in this Parliament, but important for the people that we are here to support. I am reminded of a recent round-table discussion that I had with disabled people’s organisations and others who talked about their worry that the stigma that we had hoped to take away from the social security system in Scotland is coming back. I fear that that is because of the language that is being used, particularly in connection with some of the most recent UK Government welfare changes, some of which have been scrubbed, while others are on-going. The language makes a real difference to how people feel about themselves and how they feel that they are perceived by others.
I think that this is an investment. In my introductory remarks I set out some of the ways in which the investment that we make in social security moves directly into people’s pockets to support them to get out of poverty or to stay out of poverty. It is also an investment to ensure that we are not having to spend the money elsewhere in our public services. We are making proactive decisions: I have sat in front of the committee for every eligibility Scottish statutory instrument that we have had, and we have discussed and debated them. Out of all of that secondary legislation, there are exceptionally few examples where anyone has dissented and voted against the SSI. We have come to the committee and to Parliament with the areas of eligibility and Parliament has voted on them.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 25 September 2025
Shirley-Anne Somerville
An example is how much is spent on mailings. We know that the agency has quite a significant cost attached to simply mailing out to individuals, which is why it is looking at changing the processes to have more email traffic, for example. Those areas are analysed and we recognise that that is a cost that we can make savings on, and indeed the agency already has a workstream to reduce those costs.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 25 September 2025
Shirley-Anne Somerville
I find the minister very approachable and accommodating in the conversations that we have had. It remains to be seen whether that follows through to the minister making policy decisions that the Scottish Government would support. I have had a number of meetings with him over a variety of issues. For example, I have discussed the UC review with him as well as the calls that the Scottish Government has made in relation to the five-week wait and split payments, and we have offered to share with him the work that we have already done on Scottish choices for UC. We remain ready to engage with him on the work that he will be doing on disability benefits, too.
From what I hear from disabled people’s organisations—they can well speak for themselves, of course—there is a slight concern that the minister’s genuine interest and knowledge in this area may not follow through to policy changes that would allow support to disabled people to be increased. That could have an impact on the Scottish Government, and I hope that the minister will find a way for us to have discussions about those types of impact before he makes decisions rather than after.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 25 September 2025
Shirley-Anne Somerville
There is a number of layers to that. We can start with the evaluation of benefits that we have undertaken to date. There have been 14 evaluations across disability and the five family payments. The disability evaluation showed that we have reduced the barriers to applying for benefits through improving support and making changes to the application process, which I hope that the committee finds to be a welcome change. The five family payments evaluation demonstrated a significant positive impact and showed that the investment that we are making will assist in mitigating the most harmful effects of poverty.
We have been able to provide for people who are in work and people who are out of work—as the committee knows, a large number of people are in in-work poverty. We have evidence that the Scottish child payment is reducing poverty, positively contributing to reducing financial pressures on households and reducing debt, material deprivation and food insecurity.
Work that has been undertaken through the Scottish Government and the Institute for Fiscal Studies indicates that changes that were made to the tax and welfare system in previous budgets have contributed to reducing inequality and targeting financial support to those who need it most. That report points to social security benefits promoting equality for women, disabled people and ethnic minorities, who experience higher rates of poverty.
We are seeing improving health outcomes from the early evaluation of the Scottish child payment, best start foods and best start grants, which are enabling parents to provide more and better-quality food for their children. Professor Linda Bauld has done work to look at the impact of social security, and it showed a very positive evaluation.
Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 25 September 2025
Shirley-Anne Somerville
We are looking at and acting on that. Yesterday, when the First Minister and I were at the whole-family support event, I was in a workshop with the chief statistician about the work that he is taking forward to ensure that the Scottish Government has access to DWP data, to allow us to drill into such information, which would provide further evidential support and information and help with policy development. I am happy to provide further details of the work that the chief statistician has done.
I know that a number of other projects are being worked on. We are having to work with the DWP and HMRC to get the data, but both the UK and Scottish Governments are working on that. We can provide further information about what we are doing to support evaluation and the evidential base, which will help us with policy formation in the future.