Chamber and committees

Good morning, panel, and thank you for joining us.

One of my questions has already been answered. I do not think that anyone on the panel disagrees that there should be a flat rate fee, not a percentage, if the levy goes ahead, and that it should be a national scheme.

I want to ask about flexibilities in the bill, levies being charged at certain times of the year, and those being reduced or removed at other times. What are the panel’s views on that and any other local exemptions or discounts that you would like?

Thank you.

That is helpful.

On the administration of exemptions, as an Edinburgh MSP, my focus is on people who come to Edinburgh to work in the city, to visit a child who is in the sick kids hospital, to provide care for a family member—we know the difficulties with getting people to provide personal care in Scotland—or to visit a family member in prison. What potential do you see for such people to be exempt and for a system to be put in place for that? For example, if it were me, could I book accommodation and provide my City of Edinburgh council tax number as proof that I am an Edinburgh resident? Should we look at that, and could it be taken forward?

I, too, thank Collette Stevenson for securing the debate. Challenge poverty week was launched in 2013 by the Poverty Alliance with the aim of highlighting the injustice of poverty in Scotland and with a desire to find solutions based on compassion and collective action. I congratulate all those who helped to organise, and took part in, this year’s challenge poverty week, with more than 400 events taking place between 2 and 8 October.

Challenge poverty week is important. It is important that we recognise that the Poverty Alliance has been pushing the Parliament on such issues, and its strong advocacy has helped to make the Government and the Parliament act in many areas. That is why there is continued strong cross-party consensus on the objectives of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. That legislation, which was passed unanimously by the Parliament, sets a target to substantially reduce child poverty rates in Scotland, and, collectively, we must continue to focus on delivering the outcomes that are set out in the 2017 act.

In the time that I have today, I want to concentrate on three key sections of our society that need more focused and targeted support. Poverty levels among Scotland’s ethnic minority communities remain disproportionately higher than those among the general population. It is estimated that the poverty rate stands at 48 per cent among mixed, black and other ethnic minority groups and at 49 per cent among Asian ethnic minority groups in our society. Clearly, specific factors are having a negative impact on the minority ethnic groups that experience higher levels of poverty. We need more focused action on removing the barriers that exist for those groups that are furthest removed from accessing welfare and support. In the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, we have heard that a key factor continues to be language barriers.

There are also higher poverty rates among lone-parent families—92 per cent of which involve single women—with a single source of income. Almost 40 per cent of children in relative poverty in Scotland live in a lone-parent family, so it stands to reason that we need to look at what targeted support can be provided to them. When we consider future increases in targeted support such as the child payment, I hope that the Parliament and the Government will consider how targeted support could be provided to those specific groups. In many previous committee sessions, those asks have been made, and there is the opportunity for us to look at that.

Collette Stevenson mentioned unpaid carers, and I hope that that group will be given more targeted support in the future. I welcome the fact that the Scottish Government has listened to some of the concerns that I and others have outlined. In relation to people undertaking a caring role, once the person who is being cared for dies, the guillotine comes down on payments, which has an impact on many people, so I welcome the fact that the Government has committed to extending the carer support payment for a further six months after a person who is being cared for dies.

There is a lot more that we could do. For example, I hope that we can have a conversation about the additional support that people might need in order to get them back into the workplace or society.

I welcome challenge poverty week 2023. Above all, I hope that this year, once again, presents the opportunity for us all to rededicate ourselves to delivering the policy outcomes to which we are all committed and to working as a Parliament and with the Government to lift people out of poverty.

Good morning, colleagues. For me especially, and probably for Alex Cole-Hamilton as well—as Edinburgh MSPs—when we had in Edinburgh the ship that housed Ukrainian refugees, we warmly welcomed them. As a society—especially in our schools—Edinburgh stepped up. During that period, I felt that it was key for our Parliament to establish something to discuss their concerns and issues. We did not have that. We could invite people into the Parliament for meetings, but formal arrangements for working with that community needed to be improved.

As Colin Beattie has outlined, for most of us, our support for Ukraine needs to be fully taken forward, and the group gives the Parliament an opportunity to do just that. I hope that the committee will consider our application so that we can build that formal opportunity for the Parliament to take forward long-lasting relationships with Ukraine.

To ask the Scottish Government what additional resources are being allocated to help to support the City of Edinburgh Council to address housing shortages, including the number of families in temporary accommodation, in light of figures showing that over a quarter of all children in temporary accommodation are in Edinburgh. (S6O-02606)

I am not sure whether the minister or the cabinet secretary are aware of the emergency situation that we are seeing in Edinburgh. The latest figures show that 2,265 children are living in temporary accommodation in Edinburgh, which is up 20 per cent on last year and is an increase of 930 per cent since 2002. We need more action than what we have heard in the minister’s three answers today.

As Ben Macpherson said, the capital faces unique challenges, with higher land costs and greater demand for housing. Will the Scottish Government consider a temporary accommodation fund specifically for Edinburgh, to look at new solutions and models to try to address the challenges?

A recent parliamentary question that the minister answered showed the massive disparity between Edinburgh and Glasgow in respect of the number of homes that have been retrofitted through the social housing net zero heat fund. In the past two financial years, Edinburgh has been awarded a total of 116 grants, in comparison with Glasgow's 7,260—Glasgow accounts for 65 per cent of all grants that are delivered in Scotland. I appreciate that Glasgow has a higher number of social housing landlords than other parts of Scotland, but that does not seem to account for the disparity. Why has Glasgow received a disproportionately high number of grants, and what is happening for other parts of the country?

That is not the case. As the member clearly knows, the policy is about fairness for working families as well—all families having to take difficult decisions. There is a political consensus on helping parents into work, which should be a Government priority. That requires a balanced system that provides strong work incentives and supports those who need it but that ensures fairness in our taxation system for all working families in this country.

The cabinet secretary did not mention this today, but it is a fact that the UK Government has provided more than £94 billion in direct support to help families during the cost of living crisis. The overall approach by the UK Government is evidenced by the fact that, between 2016 and 2022, the number of people in couples with children in employment has increased by 372,000 across the UK, which is a 2.7 per cent increase in the employment rate for that group.

It is right that the Government recognises that some claimants are not able to make the same choices about the number of children in their family, which is why reforms have been progressed by UK ministers. They have listened and have brought forward exceptions to protect certain groups, and many of us argued and worked constructively with ministers to make that case and ensure that those changes were made. Child benefit can be paid to all children, and the additional amount in child tax credit or universal credit can be paid for any qualifying disabled child or young person.

It is important to note that the cabinet secretary did not want to highlight the fact that, through working tax credit and universal credit, additional help for eligible childcare costs is available regardless of the total number of children in a household. The reduction in the universal credit taper rate and the £500 increase to work allowance, in addition to the normal benefit uprating and alongside the landmark kickstart and restart schemes, demonstrates a focus on supporting families to move into progressive work.

A critical issue that many families continue to face is that of the availability and accessibility of affordable childcare, which is a significant challenge and is clearly impacting on many parents’ decision to take up paid work and the ability of many to increase their working hours. I know from constituents who have contacted me about the issue that people are finding it more and more difficult to access childcare, with families having less flexibility to take up work and training opportunities.

The failure of SNP and Green ministers to deliver on the Scottish Government’s own policy of 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare for three and four-year-olds is not helping to provide that opportunity for people to access the childcare that they need to take up employment or training.

Today, the National Day Nurseries Association warned that

“Childcare businesses in around a third of local authority areas begin the new academic year without knowing how much they are being paid for funded places.”

This afternoon, we could have debated that crisis facing our nursery sector and the fact that just three of Scotland’s 32 local authorities are increasing early learning and childcare entitlement.

As I have said, there is a political consensus that the most suitable way to lift children out of poverty is to support their parents into progressive work, wherever possible. Children living in workless households are approximately five times more likely to be in poverty than those living in households where all adults are working. We should work on the consensus that exists to find solutions.

I would like to make some progress; I have only a few minutes left. I will see if I have time to let the member in later on.

Recent SNP-Green cuts to, for example, employability schemes are continuing to make things problematic for many families who are seeking that support.

The UK Government has consistently said that the best way to support people’s living standards is through good work, better skills and higher wages, and getting people into sustainable employment needs to be a key priority for both Governments working together.