Chamber and committees

Fencing seemed to come up a lot yesterday in the conversations that we had. We saw a project with a £35,000 fence—it was a deer fence, which was quite a basic fence but delivered the same outcome as a different type. It might be interesting to pursue that barrier and opportunities to get these things built more quickly. Even if the land is there, the fencing issue seems to hold back projects coming on stream.

Do you have anything to add about projects that you know have not gone forward because of that specific barrier—that is, the barrier of not being able to put up a barrier? You can let us know after the meeting if you are aware of any of those issues if you cannot do so now.

I should start by declaring an interest, because I am one of the 5,000 on the waiting list in Edinburgh. You have answered a couple of my questions, but I want to return to a few points, specifically on access to grants and other forms of funding. Stuart McKenzie, you said that you had received a grant for a chipper. What sort of funding streams are available to your organisation? I am specifically thinking about people who are trying to set up allotment spaces. Where would you recommend that they go to get grant funding?

It is not a problem.

Good morning, Mr Dennis, and thank you for joining us.

I have a couple of questions on debt enforcement. Last week, we heard about protections for bank accounts and the scope to increase the protected minimum balance in accounts to £1,000. What is your view on that and, in your experience, how should that work?

On council tax debt collection, we have heard how enforcement can be inflexible and, as you have said, harsh. From your experience, what levels of unsustainable council tax debt do those whom you usually support have? I do not know if you have a percentage that you can give us.

Moreover, how could the system be reformed? Could there be, say, an earlier intervention to prevent significant council tax debt from building up? Indeed, we have heard about individuals moving properties with the debt attached. Do you have any information on that?

Thank you.

Do you have any anecdotal evidence of the council tax debt that people usually have when they begin the bankruptcy process? Perhaps you can provide that to the committee if you do not have it to hand.

I have a brief question about part 4 of the regulations and whether there are any issues that you want to raise in that regard. Do you think that the ambition of creating a more flexible and person-centred approach will be achieved, or are there other issues that the committee needs to hear about and pursue?

Following the sweeping devolution that was delivered through the Scotland Act 2016, the Scottish Parliament now has unprecedented powers and influence over social security in Scotland. That goes to the heart of the devolution settlement following the 2014 independence referendum, whereby the Parliament is responsible for taking a greater number of decisions for the people of Scotland. Not only is the Scottish Government of the day able to top up UK-wide reserved benefits, it has full control over 11 benefits that were previously administered by the UK Government, including child disability payments.

If the pandemic has demonstrated anything, it is the benefit of the broad shoulders of the UK which, through assistance from the furlough scheme to the unprecedented support that was provided to families and businesses the length and breadth of the country, helped to protect and support us through the pandemic. We saw more of that support today in the chancellor’s statement.

I start today with where I agree with the Government, which was in the final point that the minister made. The implementation of a clinically determined definition of terminal illness and the fast-tracking of applications for support from people with a terminal illness is a welcome step forward, as is the introduction of indefinite awards for Scottish disability assistance. Many members from across the Parliament, including the Presiding Officer, have campaigned for that. It is welcome that, today, we see that finally being taken forward.

Despite the Scottish National Party-Green Government motion, it must be said that the establishment and transition to date of Social Security Scotland has not been all plain sailing. We are acutely aware of how ministers had to hand back administrative powers over the severe disability allowance, for example, to the Department for Work and Pensions. Moreover, despite recent welcome progress, the transition has been far too slow. It is worth reflecting on the fact that it will be nearly a decade since ministers received powers over devolved benefits before all cases are transferred from the DWP to Social Security Scotland.

We are talking about holding the Government to account and ministers made the specific promise that the new system would be fully in place before the 2021 election. Indeed, only last week, Audit Scotland warned that the timescales for the delivery of the new benefits are also challenging. As I have said in previous debates, it is in all our interests that Social Security Scotland should succeed. We all want that, but the organisation must deliver efficient and cost-effective assessments and payments, and we will continue to hold the Government to account on that.

As is the case with any Government body or quango, the Scottish people rightly expect its resources to be managed effectively and efficiently, and that they will deliver value for money. As the Social Justice and Social Security Committee has recently heard, projections around spend on devolved benefits estimate that there will be a gap of at least £0.75 billion by the end of the current parliamentary session. As my colleague Jeremy Balfour has previously said, SNP-Green ministers have also not outlined where we are seeing costs for rebranding around the personal independence payment, for example, which is ostensibly just a repeat of the same system. Ministers have not set out any changes that will be made to that payment, and that is something that the committee and members across Parliament want to see.