Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government tracks food insecurity through the Scottish health survey. In 2023, results showed that 14 per cent of adults reported experiencing food insecurity, which is an increase from 9 per cent in 2021, and it is the highest level since the time series began in 2017. Younger adults were more likely to experience food insecurity than older adults, and adults who experience food insecurity have below-average life satisfaction and much lower levels of mental wellbeing.

Scotland is the first nation to publish a plan that works toward ending the need for food banks, and we are taking forward nine actions over three years to improve the response to crisis using a cash-first approach. That is backed up by investment of up to £1.8 million in the cash-first programme, which supports eight public sector and third sector partnerships to strengthen urgent access to cash in a crisis and reduce the need for food parcels. The Trussell Trust and the Independent Food Aid Network agree that that approach is right. We are determined to see what more we can do to ensure that we take a cash-first approach, because it is making a real difference to people by delivering a much more dignified response to an emergency.

As I mentioned in my original answer, carer support payment mirrors carers allowance. One reason for that is that it has the same purpose as carers allowance—it is an income replacement benefit for people who are less able to work because they have caring responsibilities. That means that it is treated as income when other income replacement benefits, such as universal credit, are calculated, but carers are still better off because an extra amount, which is called the carer element, can be included in the calculation.

Carers in Scotland get the extra support of the carers allowance supplement, which is not available in the rest of the UK, and, as I mentioned in my original answer, we are continuing our work to introduce the carers additional person payment. We are working with the UK Government to ensure that receipt of those benefits does not lead to reductions in DWP benefits.

Clearly, the IT systems of local government and the DWP are a matter for those organisations, but Social Security Scotland continually reviews how its processes can be developed.

We are engaging with the DWP, which is investigating the situation and working quickly to resolve any issues, and updated guidance has been issued to local authorities on the matter that Ms Duncan-Glancy has raised. In the meantime, I recommend that clients who are experiencing problems or have any concerns should contact the DWP or their local authority, which can investigate their case and correct any issues.

Thank you, Presiding Officer.

Through social security, the Scottish Government invests in low-income families, disabled people and carers. I am not sure which part of the “dependency” Mr Kerr believes that we need to get rid of—whether it is disabled people, carers or those on low incomes—but I am disappointed that he would suggest that dependency is an issue.

Mr Kerr is potentially unaware of the many people who are already in work but still receive benefits due to the inadequate low pay that they receive. He is also probably unaware of the fact that the vast majority of the increase in expenditure on social security is covered by block grant adjustments because UK forecasts are increasing, particularly in relation to disabled people.

A lot of the increase in Scottish Government expenditure is due to the fact that we mitigate the worst excesses of his party when it was in power. Disappointingly, not only will we have to continue to do so, but we will have to expand that mitigation due to the processes that we now have to put in place to mitigate the decisions of the current UK Government.

I thank Mr O’Kane for his question, because that is one of the areas in which we have to challenge ourselves to continue to do better. Part of the area that we need to work on is our reliance on the material that comes from the DWP. For example, are errors made because people are not due universal credit but are told that they are, so they receive the Scottish child payment?

There is integration between the two systems, which means that we have to check for official error at every stage. We also check that for benefits that are only in Social Security Scotland’s remit. The member raised an important point about the need to continue to challenge such errors, which is why there is continuous improvement and investment in Social Security Scotland’s digital systems to reduce the number of manual workarounds and to improve the IT systems. That work continues.

On the whole, the expenditure related to how Social Security Scotland administers social security compares well with the cost to the DWP. It does not cost more for Social Security Scotland to deliver the benefits, but it delivers them in a more humane fashion.

Through our benefit take-up strategy, we are implementing initiatives to support people to access their entitlements. That includes targeted marketing of payments and assistance from local delivery teams to help people apply, with advisers available at co-located venues in Wishaw and Motherwell.

The draft budget for 2025-26 includes more than £12.8 million for free income maximisation support and welfare and debt advice. Our investment supports advice services, which are delivered in many ways, including face to face, by telephone and on-line.

In addition, welfare advice and health partnerships provide financial advice directly in three general practices in the member’s North Lanarkshire constituency.

I share the member’s concern about some of the language regarding social security that we see being used by the Conservatives, by the UK Labour Government and, indeed, by Scottish Labour in its discussion of “handouts”.

However, unlike the Department for Work and Pensions, we do not have powers to make direct deductions for third-party services. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that we operate with fairness, dignity and respect for all clients, including in our work on debt collection.

The UK Government’s approach, which includes deductions for advance payments and historical overpayments, often leaves people with too little to live on. I will continue to press the UK Government to adopt fairer measures that safeguard people, including the work towards the essentials guarantee. The member raises a very important point about the impact that that can have on our constituents.

Social security is an investment in the people of Scotland. All Governments should be encouraging more people to take up the benefits that they are entitled to. The Scottish Government is investing around £6.9 billion in social security benefits in 2025-26, and that is projected to increase to £8.7 billion in 2029-30. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that finances remain on a sustainable trajectory and we will publish our next medium-term financial strategy later this year, alongside a fiscal sustainability delivery plan.

I think that we have just heard some of that stigmatising language in the chamber this afternoon. [Interruption.] When we talk about “dependency”—