 That's good afternoon. First item business this afternoon is portfolio questions. Potfolio on this occasion is social justice. As ever, Members wishing to ask a supplementary question should press the requested beat buttons During the relevant question, and I call question number one, Annie Wells. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the housing emergency in Glasgow. Minister, Poe McLean-y. Glasgow housing, can you vener, say their biggest pressure is increasing numbers of newly thep of the silent process. With no additional support from Westminster, we've provided over £121 million to Glasgow to Fund homelessness services and increased supply of social and affordable homes. Homelessness pressures have been exacerbated to the UK government's freeze of local houses, housing allowance. I've written to the Secretary of State, the head of the UK budget, to urge implementation of the LHUP lift in years beyond 24-25. I hope that the member will help with the calls on our colleagues at Westminster. Annie Wells. I thank the minister for that answer. Homelessness is spiralling out of control in Glasgow, and it should never have reached the point whereby Glasgow City Council had to declare a housing emergency. Unfortunately, the work-around site hill in the red road in the north of the city is moving at a snail's pace, with only a fraction of the demolished homes being replaced with new builds. At the same time, we are faced with the Scottish Government, which has cut £200 million from the housing budget. Therefore, I ask the minister what action is his Government taking right now to increase the supply of affordable homes in Glasgow so that no one is left in the street? I thank the member for her question. I have mentioned at the end about the £121 million that we have funded Glasgow through homelessness services and increased the supply of social services and affordable homes. There are a number of things that I want to mention. The capital budget cut that we have had from our Government equates to 10 per cent in regard to that. There are a few other things. She will be aware of the homelessness monitor that has just come out from crisis. One of the biggest issues that she talked about is the increase in homelessness through the LHA. I will refer her back to the letter that I have just written today, and I hope that she can support that request. We also have the asylum process, the dispersal process. It is good that the asylum process has been quickened up, but there is no additional funding coming from the UK Government on that at all. None whatsoever. There is a couple of questions that I would have of Annie Wells on that. Restore the capital budget cut, LHA uplift has to come back, and the asylum process, there has to be funding that follows that. I have also met with the housing associations on a number of occasions, and through the city's alliance, which Glasgow is part of, we are looking to bring forward some of the developments that they have and working with them in terms to bring that forward as quick as we possibly can. The Scottish Government must adopt a range of approaches to address the housing pressures, not just in Glasgow, but right across Scotland. Part of that approach should be to ensure that existing housing stock is being used effectively. Can the Minister update Parliament on the work to ensure that long-term empty homes are brought back into use? I feel that it would go some way to address the current situation. Investment of £396,500 in 2324 continues support for the Scottish empty homes partnership, which has worked closely with local authorities, including Glasgow, to bring back more than 9,000 homes back into use since 2010. The role of the partnership was recognised by an independent audit into the effect of the interventions to bring empty homes back into use that we commissioned and published last year. We have already acted on some of the audit recommendations, such as working with local authorities to improve the statistics about empty homes and providing powers, granting a grace period from council tax premiums for new owners of long-term empty homes. My letter of 19 September 2023 to the local government housing and planning committee set a range of other activities that we are doing to bring back more houses into use. The Scottish Federation of Housing Association released YwGov poll and which showed that 80 per cent of people believe that we are in the grips of a housing emergency. A number of authorities have declared an emergency and there are more to follow. Why is the Government so reluctant to acknowledge what everyone else seems to see that we are in a housing emergency? Fully accepting that some of the factors, as he said in his response to Annie Wells, are out with his control, but why not declare that emergency and get everyone around the table to start addressing it? I acknowledge that we are in a difficult position at the moment. That is the same position as it is in the UK Government and the Welsh Government. I think that the most important things are the actions that we take place, that we undertake. As Annie Wells talked about in Glasgow, I meet local authorities on a regular basis and we talk about actions that we need to take. I think that one of the key things that Mark Griffin would ask Mark Griffin, if there is an income in Labour Government, again is looking at restoring the capital budget cut. We have already asked, and I think that I have mentioned in the chamber here about the LHA uplift rate, and again that is something that I hope that he can take back to an income in Labour Government on that. We are working very hard. We still provide £556 billion in the draft budget so far. We are trying to look at how we work closely with Glasgow, Edinburgh and other local authorities on that. However, the actions are the most important part that we undertake, and I will continue to work as hard as I can to make sure that we build houses as quickly as we possibly can. To ask the Scottish Government what work is under way to ensure that eligible families across Falkirk East and the wider country are aware of and can apply for the best start grant before the deadline of 29 February? We have made it easier for families to get the best start grant school age payment with people in receipt of Scottish child payment, and now paid the school age payment automatically. There is no need to apply separately. Since November 2022, we have made over 43,000 early learning and school age payments. Some people who do not get Scottish child payment are still eligible, and Social Security Scotland is actively promoting the payment across different channels ahead of the application deadline. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. The best start grant goes hand in hand with the best start food grant to benefit families most in need. The most up-to-date figures show the pregnancy and baby and the best start food grant made up the majority of applications at 59 per cent and 81 per cent respectively. However, other aspects of the best start grant, such as the early learning payment and the school age payment, remain at 23 per cent and 13 per cent of applications respectively. Can the minister confirm if the early learning payment and the school age payment continue to work on an auto-award scheme if parents are in receipt of Scottish child payment, and what more can be done to raise awareness of those specific benefits? The member raises a very important point, and that is about ensuring that everyone who is eligible and entitled to a benefit is encouraged and supported to apply so that they can get what they are entitled to. I can confirm that auto-awards is in place. Early learning and school age payments are a very important part of the work that we are doing on automation, making it easier for families to maximise their take-up. Some of the official statistics that are there may be playing catch-up in terms of actually showing that, but we are confident that the automated payments are working successfully in driving up take-up. Latest estimates, for example, of take-up rates indicate a significant impact of automation with the take-up of school age payment rising from 77 per cent in 2021-22 to 97 per cent in 2023. The agency continues to raise awareness, but I am happy to reassure the member that that is something that we will continue to keep a close eye on. I encourage all members to work with their constituents to ensure that we can do everything that we can to raise awareness of the Scottish child payment and the associated family payments that are attached to it. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to attract more working-age people from the rest of the UK to come and live, work and pay tax in Scotland. We will continue to take action across government and with partners to promote Scotland as a career destination, highlighting the breadth of job opportunities available across Scotland. The things that set Scotland apart from the rest of the UK, such as free prescriptions and access to a world-class education system, show Scotland as a welcoming, inclusive and diverse society. As part of the approach in 2024, the Scottish Government will launch a talent attraction and migration service to help to attract, relocate and settle working-age people and their families in Scotland, including people currently living across the rest of the UK. Ethan McKee Scotland already benefits from more working-age people coming to live and work here from the rest of the UK than move in the opposite direction. A modest 20 per cent increase in people moving to Scotland for a higher rate of tax payers has the potential to raise an additional £1 billion in income tax revenues over the cost of a Parliament. Can I ask what work the Scottish Government is proactively doing to attract more working-age people from the rest of the UK and what results this work has delivered so far? Thank you. The member is right to point out the economic impact and benefit of having more working-age people. Employers are helping us to develop the talent attraction and migration service to ensure that the service can support businesses to attract those workers with the skills that are needed from outwith Scotland. Our addressing the population action plan also outlines support for local communities and economies to be sustainable, including attracting the skills and people that are needed. Evidence shows that those who choose Scotland as their home help to grow our economy, increase productivity and innovation, address skills shortages and contribute positively to communities, culture and public services. However, as already stated, the unique benefits of living in Scotland set us apart from the rest of the UK. Thank you. Any understanding of the laffar curve seems to escape the SNP front benches. Rather than increasing the number of taxpayers, the SNP seemed hellbent on sending them away in what has been termed the tartan exodus. One of the main deterrents for living and working in Scotland is the widening tax gap, which is also likely to impede the economic growth needed to deliver public services. When taxpayers inevitably leave, how does the minister intend to protect spending on public services? Investment in public services, as the member says, is crucial. That is exactly what we are doing with our progressive tax system, which asks those on the higher earning scale to pay a little bit more back into the public purse to allow us to provide the types of services that will encourage people to live and work in Scotland. I think that people will choose where to live based on many factors, not simply their tax bracket. I hope that the offer that we have been putting forward to people, as I have outlined in my answers to Ivan McKee, will encourage those people with the skills that we need to make their lives in Scotland. I am genuinely puzzled. Net migration to the UK was at 750,000 last year, but the population in Scotland is projected to decline. Why does the minister think that we are not managing to attract more of those 750,000 people? I have been clear throughout all engagements in the chamber on the topic of migration that the UK's migration system does not work for Scotland. The fact that people are not managing to move to Scotland that they are not seeing through the routes that they are able to take to come to the UK, the unique offer that Scotland has for them, is a symptom of that issue. That is an issue that we are proposing a range of things to change, including the talent attraction and migration system, which will allow people to be matched to highly skilled jobs that they are able to take up in Scotland, but also proposing to the UK government that, for example, asylum seekers are allowed the right to work in Scotland and that the offers that are here for people in Scotland are communicated properly to those who are seeking a place that they can contribute positively to communities. I warmly congratulate the minister on the work that she is doing in relation to tackling the question of depopulation in parts of Scotland. I think that it gets to the heart of being part of a government that acts in the interests of the whole of the country. Will the minister commit to work with other colleagues in different responsibilities to ensure that we link the work on tackling depopulation to the work on economic opportunity to make sure that in some of the more isolated and remote areas of Scotland we are able to create a growing population based on good strong economic opportunities? Yes, absolutely. An exciting part of the work on addressing depopulation is the fact that it involves every portfolio across government, so I will be working with ministers with all responsibilities because we know that the drivers of depopulation and the ways that we can attract and retain people to those areas that are suffering depopulation touches on every single area of government, so I will be working with those on the economy, on transport, on housing, on environment to make sure that we are allowing people that empowerment to remain in the communities that they grew up in to take up skilled work in areas that are suffering depopulation and to rebalance our population and ensure that public services can be sustainable no matter where they are. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that people are claiming all the benefits that they are entitled to. In light of figures obtained by policy and practice showing that £18.7 billion of benefits went unclaimed across the UK in 2022-23. The Scottish Government asserts that social security is a human right and we are committed to helping people to access the support that they are entitled to. Through our benefit take-up strategy we are implementing a range of take-up initiatives, including access to independent advocacy support and targeted marketing of payments. Local delivery teams assist people completing application forms and can signposts to other information and services. This year, £12.5 million of funding for income maximisation, welfare and debt advice includes over £4.9 million to support organisations that help people to access their social security entitlements and maximise their income. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Scottish Labour leader Anna Sarwar was recently quoted in the new statement, saying that Holyrood has been largely a social policy parliament and that he wants to correct that. With social security and benefit uptake, clearly a low priority for the Labour leadership, can the cabinet secretary assure the chamber that, unlike Westminster, Holyrood will continue to challenge austerity and cruel measures such as the bedroom tax and the two-child cap? The Government will continue to call for an end to measures such as the bedroom tax and the two-child cap. We will also continue to press the UK Government to implement an essential guarantee at the forthcoming UK budget. It is deeply disappointing that Labour is simply promising more of the same Tory austerity. It does not require a review, Presiding Officer, to know that the two-child cap and the bedroom tax are utterly inappropriate parts of any social security system. Meanwhile, the Government will continue record investment in benefits expenditure, much of that to demonstrate our commitment to tackling poverty right across the country. That is exactly why we are spending more than £1.1 billion more than the UK Government gives to the Scottish Government for social security, because we are there to protect the people of Scotland through continued austerity, regardless of the colour of the Government at UK level. The cabinet secretary and the previous cabinet secretary said that no one would lose out because of SNP changes to our social security payments. We know that that is not true. The winter heating payment has less many people in the Highlands and Aberdeenshire out of pocket. When she talked about a review, can I ask today if she will undertake a review of that policy so that people living in Avimo, Braymar and Aboyne do not continue to lose out at the hands of the SNP Green Government? I am happy to provide in writing to Mr Briggs the figures for the number of people who are benefiting from our winter heating payment and the investment that is going in. What that has shown over the years is that, because of the vagaries of the previous Westminster system, there was doubt about whether people would get any money at all, how much money they would get and when. What they have now is certainty and what they have now is a much more substantial number of people getting that funding. That certainty and that security for many more people right across Scotland is what came through in our consultation, and that is exactly what we are delivering. The record of the last Labour Government in lifting millions of children and pensions out of poverty through uptake of social security payments and expansion of social security payments speaks for itself, but analysis from the Scottish Government published in November of last year showed that only three quarters of people had taken up young carer grants. Only 61 per cent of people had taken up the funeral support payment, which was down from the year prior, and only 15 per cent of eligible people took up the job start payments. Is that not just another example of the SNP levelling, legitimate and justified criticisms at the DWP saying that they will do things better, but failing to do that? What the member is failing to point out is that, for many of the benefits that he has mentioned, they are not even available with the DWP because they have been brought in only in Scotland because we are committed to delivering for carer experience people and the job start payment again another benefit that is only available in Scotland. While Labour promises a review to see what they might do at some point in the future, we have already made changes to the job start payment because we recognise there is more to do on benefit take-up on that. That provides a Government that is not just delivering new benefits in Scotland but is continuously adapting and improving the service that we give to the people of Scotland. That action and delivery does far more for tackling poverty than the promise of a review. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking for the delivery of benefits to help families with the cost of nappies in light of the reported increase in nappy theft linked to the cost of living crisis. We want to give children the best start in life and are using our new social security powers to make this happen. Our game-changing Scottish child payment, which is only available in Scotland, provides £25 per week per edible child to low-income families. Best start grant pregnancy and baby payment helps with the expenses associated with pregnancy or having new child and families are able to use those payments to best meet their needs, which could include buying nappies. Subject to parliamentary approval, we will increase those payments and indeed all social security payments from 8 April 2024 by 6.7 per cent. I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for that response and notwithstanding the support that is available, we know that not being able to afford essential baby items is a reality for too many of our constituents. Nappy rationing is a horrible reality for many families with a devastating impact on babies, children and parents. Reusable nappies are well known for their environmental benefits but they can also save families significant amounts of money. However, the upfront costs can be a barrier. Scotland's baby box gives families the opportunity to try reusable nappies, but the opt-in for that is quite low, around 14 per cent. Can the cabinet secretary outline ways that the Government can look to understand the low uptake and raise awareness and make it easier for people to use reusable products? I begin by recognising Monica Lennon's long-standing work on the issue. She is quite right to point out that the baby box does raise awareness of the benefits of reusable nappies as well as providing a nappy voucher. The provision of the voucher is intended to help families to start using reusable nappies free of charge. That voucher also signposts families to the Scottish Government parent club website, which highlights the benefits of using reusable nappies and provides helpful advice and tips on nappy use. Research has been commissioned by the James Hutton Institute into the Barriers to re-use nappies, and the final report is expected by the end of March. I'll be happy to ensure either myself or other ministers provide that information to Monica Lennon if she does not have that to hand when that report is published. I also ask her to join with me in the calls that we are making to the UK Government about an essential guarantee, because it is no acceptable in this day and age, in this country, that we have benefit levels that cannot allow people to buy the bare essentials of life, whether that is for nappies or for a baby formula that is required. Those are exactly the types of products that people should not be rationing, and that is why this Government has asked for the essential guarantee. I am disappointed that we have had no reply and no commitment from that from the UK Government. That concludes portfolio questions on social justice. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item to allow front ventures to change.