 I will now turn to the next item of business, which is a statement by Shirley-Anne Somerville on the implementation of best start grant. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, and I encourage all members who wish to ask a question to press their request to speak buttons as front as possible. Today I would like to provide a Parliament with an update on the introduction of the 7 – 7ramatic in scotland. I am delighted to say that the vast majority of carers allowing supplement payments were issued during September 2018 and all payments to carers, including those few that required special handling were processed by May-Deupctbull. I am also pleased to announce that being subject to the successful and timely transfer of data from the DWP, the next payment of carers allowance supplement will be made to the majority of qualifying carers on 14 December. Members of the Social Security Committee, who visited Social Security Scotland's headquarters in Dundee, saw the feedback wall with comments from those who had called in during September. I am sure that they will have been as touched as I was by some of those comments. I want to take this opportunity to tell Parliament about one woman who took the time to send in a card on receipt of her payment. She had given up her job to care for her daughter because her daughter was suffering from a long-term illness. As she says, she does this because she loves her daughter, but she also gets tired sometimes and that the payment had made her feel appreciated. We should all be proud of that, and I know that I speak on behalf of the chamber when I say that we all value and welcome what carers do for society. Today is International Children's Day, so I am particularly delighted to be able to tell you more about her progress to deliver the best start grant, which will support low-income families in the early years on such an appropriate day. I gave evidence on the best start grant regulations at the Social Security Committee at the start of October, and I am pleased that the committee and now Parliament have approved the regulations. They put in place a benefit that is fully in keeping with social security principles. It is an investment in the resilience of families, providing support at key points in their children's early years. It also respects the rights of the applicant and the rights of the child, ensuring the right to social security. BSG is deliberately designed to be accessible in terms of eligibility and the service that will support it, and we have improved access for BSG, giving families longer to apply both before and after their baby is born. In addition, BSG will foster dignity and respect, minimising intrusive questioning where possible by making the most of existing sources of information. Finally, BSG will have been built on modelling, research and collaboration with stakeholders, engagement with users to provide a sound evidence base for our decisions. This morning, I signed the commencement regulations for the relevant sections of the Social Security Scotland Act 2018, which gives Scottish ministers the powers to pay a form of early years assistance under the act. I am proud to announce that we will use our new powers to take applications for the best start pregnancy and baby grant from 10 December. I am delighted to say that that means that payments will be made before Christmas 2018. The best start grant will pay a £600 pregnancy and baby payment for the first child in a low-income family. That is £100 more than it would have got from the DWP Sure Start maternity grant that BSG replaces. Importantly, unlike the UK Government, the Government does not put a cap on children and payments will no longer be limited to the first child in the family. All second and subsequent children will also receive a payment of £300 each. Let me be clear that this is not just for second children born in the future. Our increase in window for applying means that, from 10 December, parents with a second or subsequent child who is not yet six months old can apply for the best start grant. Under the Scottish Government, those children will be eligible to receive up to £800 in the early years. They would, of course, have received nothing from the UK Government. In addition to the pregnancy and baby payments of £600, we are also committed to the introduction of two new additional payments for every child. Those payments will be introduced by summer 2019 and made at key transition points in a young child's life. That is £250 at around the time that a child can start nursery to support families with the costs of early learning and £250 around the time that a child can start school. Based on 2019-20 figures, when the early learning and school payments are added, we estimate that the total number of payments annually will be in the region of £39,000 at a cost of £12.1 million. That is a substantial investment to ensure that our under-fives get the best possible start in life and reflect this Government's emphasis on the early years. As outlined in our programme for government, I am delighted to be able to deliver the baby and pregnancy payments for BSG six months early, which of course means paying families on lower incomes more money more quickly, vital help at a time when they are seeking support through UK Government social security spending drastically reducing. While we are in the final stages of preparation and testing for the launch, that has not been without its challenges. As part of programme for government, the First Minister announced that, assuming DWP get the necessary systems in place, we would be accelerating delivery of the best start grant. Although I am pleased to have been able to confirm today that we will do that, the caveat about DWP activity proved to be well founded and, unfortunately, the DWP had not kept to schedule on its implementation plans. In the summer of 2017, the Scottish Government formally requested the use of the DWP's customer information system and a planning schedule for doing this was agreed in spring 2018. However, the dates for accessing the system have consistently slipped and, on 21 September, the DWP confirmed that it could no longer meet the most recently agreed dates. That has involved adjustments to our social security system to, in effect, unpick the computer code that had been put in place to speak to the DWP system. Despite the challenges arising from the DWP missing deadlines, Scottish Government officials have worked hard to put an alternative system in place due to our planning processes that implications of the delay to accessing the DWP's customer information system were recognised at an early stage. As a result of that, the impacts have been minimised. Under our contingency arrangements, it will take slightly longer to process applications, but that will not have any impact on parents or the delivery of payments. Our priority is to ensure that parents can access the best start grant, and, although we could wait for the DWP to catch up, I did not want parents to be affected by the DWP delay. Clearly, the DWP has its own challenges to grapple with right now. I have written to the new working pension secretary, Amber Rudd, to welcome her to her new role, and I have also taken the opportunity to reiterate the Scottish Government's call to halt the roll-out of universal credit, out of eight such letters in 18 months. I am committed to collaborating with the Secretary of State, however, to ensure that we develop the best possible systems and processes for our shared clients, and my officials have strong and effective relationships in place with their DWP counterparts. Where there can be a mismatch, however, is in the way that we prioritise this vital work on the devolution of social security benefits. I have and will continue to strongly urge that the devolution of benefits is given a higher priority within the DWP to ensure that such slippages are avoided and that we do not have a pattern developing. I am pleased to report the significant progress in building a new social security system for Scotland. As I have said, it is not without its challenges, but today marks another important milestone in the smooth transfer of benefits. However, our future success is only guaranteed if others also play their full part, primarily the DWP, if they do our programme will remain on track. I want to conclude by reassuring this chamber that we will never compromise on safety or security. Social Security Scotland is Scotland's first new public service in a generation. It has only been established for two and a half months, but we are already demonstrating what we can do with our social security powers when they are in our hands. Delivering a social security system that always treats people with the dignity and respect they deserve and ensuring that we support those on the lowest incomes. I look forward to reporting further progress in 2019. The cabinet secretary will now take questions. Can I thank the cabinet secretary for her advance sight of her statement? I am sure that this chamber and mothers across Scotland will welcome the roll-out before Christmas of the second of the devolved benefits that are coming to Social Security Scotland. Indeed, on the Social Security Committee's excellent visit to the Dundee HQ, we did indeed hear positive feedback from recipients of care that's allowance supplement. However, there was also some surprise from some recipients who were unaware that this new entitlement was coming. Can I therefore ask the cabinet secretary what actions will the Scottish Government be taking to publicise the best start grant and ensure that new mothers do not miss out on the grant because they are unaware of its existence? I think that that raises a very important point about encouraging take-up. I'll be frank, I would have liked to have been able to make this announcement to the Parliament earlier. However, because of the challenges that we have had around the contingency matters in Social Security Scotland, we needed to make sure, within the agency and the Government, that we were very confident about our start date. That is the earliest that it was possible to make the announcement because we have had to work a lot to ensure that the contingencies were in place. That therefore leaves us with a very important priority to ensure that people know what is happening. There have been a number of roadshows that have gone across the country that the agency has held to deal with those people who will be coming into contact with potentially eligible parents. We will also be ensuring that, as we did with the carers allowance supplement, there will be advertisements on local radio and in local papers. There has been a great deal of work dealing with professional bodies, including midwifery, nursing professions and local authorities, to ensure that the message has gone out to stakeholders, to those who will be in contact with potentially eligible parents and to ensure that we are trying to contact the eligible parents. We will make sure that the communications and marketing process goes on strongly and that we learn any lessons that we need to learn from that to encourage further take-up as the payments continue. Mark Griffin to be filled by Fulton MacGregor. I thank the cabinet secretary for the early sight of our statement and I am particularly grateful for the Government's willingness to use its powers to diverge from the two-child cap in Scotland and to provide support for families who have had a baby in these past six months. My daughter Eva turned three on Sunday and because of an in-service day yesterday started nursery this afternoon. She needed new trainers, new wellies, a bag, scarves and gloves, and she needed a change of clothes just as part of the list of things that she needed for starting nursery today. Those are things that we could afford, but for some of my daughter's new friends at nursery, families who face universal credit in North Lanarkshire, they could really do with that £250 payment just now. Will the cabinet secretary consider making payments to children turning three and starting nursery over the next six months to take pressure off struggling families on low incomes? Given that it is different to the school start term date at the end of the summer where children will be turning three gradually over the next six months and families will be under real pressure? Can I begin by wishing Eva a very happy birthday and sympathise with Mark Griffin that he is here listening to me rather than being there for the first day at nursery? You were there already. That is very impressive for your timekeeping as well. He raises a very important point about the money that is required. I am very reminded by a parent whom I spoke to when I was at One Parent Families Scotland, who were taking part in the stakeholder engagement around the best start grant, when they were telling me about a mother who could not afford to send the child to nursery because they could not afford to afford the plumsoles that they needed to be able to take part in that indoor play. I am very mindful of that and the importance of ensuring that we deliver the early learning payments and the school payments as quickly as possible. I will make further announcements to Parliament as soon as I am confident in when we can do that, but we expect to do that by the summer next year. I am also very mindful of the different timeframes that are involved in early learning and school, and I will look very seriously at that as with all those issues as we move forward with the second and third payments as part of the best start grant. How many families does the cabinet secretary anticipate will benefit by ensuring that there is no cap on children, and so second and subsequent children will be eligible for this small generous grant than the Decronyne UK Government scheme that it replaces? I am pleased to say that, out of our estimated total of 3,400 BSG pregnancy and baby payments, there are forecasts to be made by the end of this financial year. Around 2,000 are estimated to be for second or subsequent births. For the whole of the next financial year, 2019-20, we expect the number of second or subsequent births to benefit to be around 7,400. This is a substantial number of families that will get much needed financial support from the Scottish Government that is not available under the current DWP scheme and would not have been available had it not been for the devolution of powers. Alison Harris, to be filled by Pauline McNeill. I just asked the minister to please clarify, as Mark Griffin already asked, that if those children that are due to start nursery or school in 2019 will be eligible for or entitled to apply for these early year grants, or are you looking at something that perhaps might be backdated for them? I assure the member that, as I tried to do with Mark Griffin, I am very mindful of the different timetables that are available. Obviously, the Parliament and the committees will have an ability to look at what the Government is planning around our payments for this. If there are concerns around those aspects, I am happy to have that dialogue with me. We are keen to make sure that eligibility is as open and encouraging as possible. If there are lessons to learn, as I have said previously, and issues that we need to take on board, I am happy to look at that. Pauline McNeill, to be filled by George Adam. I would like to put on record that I welcome the Scottish Government's commitment that there will not be the two-child cap on this benefit. Former Cabinet Secretary, Jeane Freeman, supported the automation of certain benefits, where there is a qualifying benefit that can establish who is eligible for a West Art grant. Will the cabinet secretary give the same commitment to look at the provisions that we have already passed in the Social Security Act and in the Child Poverty Act, which promotes automated benefits to ensure that all those mothers and parents who are entitled to the best art grant can get it? I know Pauline McNeill, and a number of members have had a long running interest in it. I am determined to ensure that the Scottish Government looks at it very seriously. Our first priority has to be the implementation of the best art grant and ensuring that the payments and the processes are in place. I am also mindful of not simply looking at automation but also looking at ways in which we can encourage people to apply if we believe that they may be eligible for a payment. We are looking at automation very seriously. I know that there are a number of different schemes that are in different parts of the country, such as Glasgow, for example. I know that one of them is available for us to learn lessons from. We are also ensuring that we are using the information that we have as an agency to encourage people to apply for payments where we believe that they may be eligible. Those two different standards are aspects that I am very keen that the Scottish Government takes forward as stringently as possible. George Adam is to be followed by Patrick Harvie. I listened to the cabinet secretary's statement with interest and I was shocked to hear of the delays and slippages from the DWP impacting on the work plans and delivery of devolved benefits. With a new secretary of state for work and pensions now in post, does the cabinet secretary expect any change in the UK Government managing to keep to its actual agreed timetables? I hope that the new secretary of state takes the opportunity to ensure that we can have a shared understanding about the priorities for devolved benefits within the wider work that goes on within the DWP. As the member highlights, the delay with BSG has not been a one-off. I should also put on record, however, that my officials have a very strong relationship and strong working relationship with officials within the DWP. I stress again that this is about the prioritisation within the DWP and ensuring that we have a shared understanding of the importance and the fact that this is a shared project and a shared responsibility to ensure that we deliver it on time and effectively. I am grateful for the advance copy of the statement, and I am pleased that the Scottish Government is placing some emphasis on the goal of increasing uptake and setting some targets on that. Even if we reach those higher targets for uptake, there will still be a great many families who could be benefiting from this who will not be. I am keen to know what research the Government relies on to understand the reasons for low uptake. Awareness is obviously a critical one, but it is probably not the only factor that inhibits people from accessing the benefits to which they are entitled. Can the minister tell us what role income maximisation programmes such as healthier, wealthier children may have in helping to drive uptake even higher than the Government's targets? It is very important that we encourage uptake. I am also very mindful that we have to do a particular amount of work with particular groups that would not perhaps be encouraged normally to apply for payments or may indeed not know that those payments exist. I would hopefully give Patrick Harvey the reassurance that we are not just looking at take-up in the round, but we are also looking at the specific challenges that certain communities will face in ensuring that they know what is available to them. He mentioned, for example, the healthy, wealthier children, which is an important aspect, because it is trying to embed knowledge of the best start grant into pathways that already exist. That is indeed one of those. I am also mindful of the work that is being done within financial health checks for those on low incomes and building information on the best start grant to ready steady baby, which is another way to move that forward. The forecasting that goes on within the Government looks very seriously at the issue and the different types of challenges that different communities will face. We will, of course, uptake Parliament on our continued work around the take-up strategy in due course. I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for early sight of her statement and associate those benches with what her Government is doing here. I particularly welcome the provision being made for young parents, whereby parents under the age of 18 will not need a qualifying benefit to apply for a best start grant. What consideration would she give to extending that provision to people of care who are experienced up to the age of 25, given that such young people often do not have the support of parents to lean on, as most other new families do? Alex Cole-Hamilton will be very aware of the importance that the Government has on ensuring that we are delivering for care-experienced young people. The information that we have analysed as part of the best start grant regulation process will ensure that I am confident that the vast, vast majority of those who are care-experienced young people will be included within the eligibility framework that we already have in place through the regulations. I tie in to the point that Patrick Harvie made. It is therefore important that we link into the agencies that care-experienced young people trust to ensure that they have the information about best start grants so that they can get that information out directly. Taking that too-pronged approach, I am confident that we are delivering for young parents and for those with care-experienced in particular. I welcome the Government's commitment to extending eligibility in various ways to the best start grant. The additional payments that will be made is worth the length of time that we will now be given to apply for this grant. Can I ask you how many more children that the Cabinet Secretary estimates will benefit from the best start grant compared with the UK system of benefits that it replaces? Can you provide any additional information regarding those welcome extensions? The member is correct to point to the fact that the Government has extended eligibility and the application window. The focus of that is to ensure that we are making it easier for people to access and apply for the best start grant. We estimate that that will mean that around 400 additional pregnancy and baby payments could be made in 2019-20. On eligibility, for example, we have extended the qualifying benefits so that anyone on a tax credit or housing benefit can qualify. We have removed the requirement for a qualifying benefit for young mothers under 18, as Alex Cole-Hamilton has just alluded to. We have extended our responsibility test to kinship carers who have a DWP benefit for the child that they care for. The application window is extended so that BSG can be claimed from the 24th week of pregnancy as opposed to DWP's 29 weeks and increased to six months after birth, giving parents longer to apply. Annie Wells, to be followed by Jenny Gilruth. Thank you. I, too, welcome the announcements made in today's statement. Can I ask will the cabinet secretary consider using the best start grant application process as an opportunity to reach out to expectant and new mothers and provide information on wider issues such as perinatal mental health? As I mentioned in my previous answers, we will be ensuring that we are embedding the best start grant process into the pathways that are already there for expectant parents. We are ensuring that we are speaking to and encouraging midwives, for example, and those who are in contact with potentially eligible parents to encourage take-up of the process. At this point, we are also integrating the systems for delivering best start grants with best start foods. They will both be administered for Social Security Scotland so that clients will only be required to complete one application form in yet another attempt to ensure that we are making the process easier for parents at a very busy time of their lives. Jenny Gilruth, to be followed by Elaine Smith. Given that the DWP's Sure Start maternity grant has one of the lowest rates of take-up of any benefit, will the Scottish Government commit to ensuring that the best start grant is straightforward for claimants to access? I can testify to the fact that there is a very easy application process that has not gone through the online application process recently with officials as part of our go-live testing. Unlike the payment that it is replacing, this benefit can be applied for online in a very simple form, but it can also be undertaken by phone, as well as in a paper format. That includes, therefore, that we are encouraging a greater choice, depending on the needs of the client. That put together with the items that I have already discussed in previous answers, will I hope to give Jenny Gilruth reassurance that we are taking very seriously the challenge that the Sure Start maternity grant does, as she said, have one of the lowest rates of take-up of any benefit, and that is not something that we want to replicate in the slightest with the best start grant. Elaine Smith, to be followed by David Jones. I welcome today's statement, and particularly the fact that the best start grant very clearly opposes the despicable Tory child cap policy approach to social security. However, given the cross-cutting nature of poverty, will the cabinet secretary encourage her Government colleague, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, to consider changing the criteria for post-P3 free school meals to the same as the best start grant, so that the tip 2 applies to more families with children and not just those on the very lowest incomes? We started as a basis for the best start grant to ensure that those that were eligible for the Sure Start maternity grants were eligible for BSG and then looked to see whether further changes needed to be made for that. I do appreciate where Elaine Smith is coming from, that there are different eligibility for different payments with regard to different benefits that are available to those with young children. I am also mindful to ensure that it is not necessarily a bad thing that there are different eligibility, because where I do not want to see is any cliff edge where people either have the ability to apply for everything or they reach the point where they can apply for nothing. I am mindful of any cliff edges in terms of how we treat that. However, I take the point that those are two distinct eligibility, and we look very seriously at both our eligibility for the best start grant, as I am sure the cabinet secretary for education does for free school meals. Can the cabinet secretary confirm what plans the Government has placed for multi-birth families that face additional expenses by having twins or triplets? That is an area where we have specifically wanted to address the particular costs around a multiple birth, and that is why we have introduced a multiple birth supplement of £300 of anacheg addition of those additional costs. If it is a twin birth, which the majority are, the payment made would be £600 for the first birth, £200 for the second birth, as well as the £300 multiple pregnancy supplement, given a total of £1,200 in financial support. I stress again that we always recognise that subsequent children are born within our payments, as there will never be a cap on children under social security Scotland. Thank you very much, and that concludes our statement on the implementation of the best start grant. We will move now on to the next item of business, which is a debate in the name of Kate Forbes, on developing Scotland's digital industries for our economic future. We will just take a few moments for the cabinet ministers and members to change seats.