 I welcome everyone to the 17th meeting of 2019 of the Social Security Committee. I remind everyone to turn off mobile phones or put other devices to silent mode so they don't disturb the meeting. We don't quite have a full compliment yet, hopefully we will have, but no apologies have been received. I move to agenda item 1, Poverty and Equality Commission. The committee will consider the nominees for appointment as members of the Poverty and Equality Commission and the content of a draft report. Prior to this meeting this morning, three members of our committee met with nominees for appointment to the commission. The committee agreed at the very beginning of the recruitment process that this should be done in private to ensure the process was, and as I say this, we needn't have worried, but it was the right thing to do that the process was not intimidating and off-putting for applicants with no experience of public committee meetings. I have to say that it was a hugely positive meeting. We will say more about that in a second. It's important to note that the nominees have already passed our rigorous public appointments process. We were not interviewing the applicants earlier on this morning. Our role was not to interview them again but rather to confirm that as a group, working with the chair, Bill Scott, that they would be able to fulfil the functions of the Poverty and Equality Commission as set out in the act. Before I say any more, I was joined by Jeremy Balfour and Alison Johnstone. I don't know if Jeremy or Alison wants to make any comments at this point. Thank you, convener. I was pleased to be part of the meeting this morning. It was a welcome opportunity to get to know the nominees better and to hear from them directly. It was noted in the meeting that individually they have a wealth of experience and expertise, and I think it's fair to say that they will, as was suggested, be greater than the sum of their parts, because together they are a formidable group. They will challenge politicians. They will be stridently independent. They won't sit on the fence and mince their words. They reminded me that poverty is not an intractable issue, that we do have policy choices. They spoke to, off the fact that social security is an area where UK and Scottish policy meets, and it often diverges. There are challenges there in that some of the policies that are made at Westminster impact on what we may choose to do here, but we also discussed the fact that we do have options. There are things that this Parliament can do, too. I'm very welcoming off the appointments, and I think that the nominees individually and in their combined force will make a real difference to the ability of us all to tackle poverty and exclusion and inequality. I think that it was a really helpful hour together where we could just learn about some of the skills of the new commissioners. We do bring a diversity veil, which is something that we were very keen on the committee to get, but we are a veil or a merit as well, which I think is really important. I think that how the process has worked is something that, hopefully, other bodies can learn from, that we do get that diversity, but yet we get that expertise. I do hope that they will be able to bring my independent scrutiny and challenge not only Scottish Government but challenge the Parliament and this committee over the next few years. Thank you for those comments. I'll make a brief comment. I was hugely impressed by the diversity of the appointees, the skills and the talents that they will clearly bring to the commission. I think that Alice is absolutely right that they will be greater than the sum of their parts. Already, it was really important to see that the candidates were seeking to be challenging and inquisitive of each other, as well as committee members, which is precisely what we want. It is for the commission to be fiercely independent, to be challenged to the Government, to be challenged to this committee and, without fear or favour, to look at the hard reality of poverty as it impacts the communities that we all serve in this country. It's worth pointing out their direct lived experience of poverty within the appointees and a huge range of talents. I was very struck by comments around it's not just about how Governments seek to implement manifesto commitments, it's about the why of why Governments are doing what they're doing, not just that they've said they will do it and what the outcomes might look like, but also what might make the biggest impact in relation to tackling poverty. It was a privilege to meet everyone and it's great that they're in the public gallery here this morning. I thank them for coming along with Bill Scott, chair of the commission. I don't have any other comments to make, but comments or questions from other members or deputy convener? I want to echo everything that has been said so far. I would also like to put on record that the fact that we've arrived here with such a fantastic commission with individuals that you would have hoped to have is a testament to the parliamentary process here. It seems so long ago that this committee, and I think it's a testament to the robustness of the committee system that we pushed hard for it to be an anti-poverty and inequality commission. Through ingenuity of the Government ministerial team in Geneva and Campbell, in particular when Angela Constance was the minister, we found a way forward and I think that I should not be forgotten that that's where we started off. I know that we've arrived at a point where I think that the commission and all of you who are going to serve on it will have one of the most important jobs to do in a Scottish public policy. We've read through all the CVs and I just think that we've arrived at a tremendous, and as Bob said, a really diverse group of people who have got fantastic CVs. For my part, all of the individuals that have been appointed to this really important role show the lived experience, all of the things that you would have hoped from a commission that's going to take forward the work of people of Scotland. As Alison Johnstone rightly says, this is achievable in our country. It might take some years to do so, but I just want to put on record to convey my thanks to all of the individuals who have agreed to take forward this important role. Thank you, Pauline. Any other questions or comments, Michelle? Obviously, good morning and I'd like to echo the sentiments. I've read through the CVs and haven't met the members of the commission yet, but it is an impressive array, a good range of experiences. I'd just like to ask one question really just to check. In terms of when you were speaking to everybody, was anything raised in terms of any gaps or was everybody satisfied that all the skills were present? I know we talked a lot in the run-up to this in terms of making sure we had all the skills we need. I couldn't spot any that we're missing, I have to say, going through the CVs, but I just wanted to ask that question. Were you comfortable that they were all there? I don't know what Jeremy and Alison are thinking, but I was struck by when we were having a private conversation, but it's not given away any secrets we were talking about. The child supplement might look like going forward. The commissioner is having a discussion about international comparison, greatest impact, data analysis, but you can do all that, but what will that mean to the lived experience of those who need that money as quickly as possible in their pockets who are experiencing poverty now? That absolute double check, if you like, to make sure it's not just about doing the academic piece of research and looking at the data, it's about what will that mean on the ground, what is the reality on the ground, that there seem to be quite a broad range of skills and everybody seems to be covered from what I could see. It's pretty impressive that Alison and Jeremy want to add anything to that. I think that it's from the nominee CVs to meeting them in the room, you can see that there's a great range of diverse lived experience and academic expertise, so I think that there's that mixture of people who really, really know what they're talking about, but also a desire to make sure that any actions are evidence-based, that we're doing all we can to improve data collection, what we're looking at, why we're looking at it, and how we can use that to get the best outcome, so I feel very reassured after this morning that this group can make a great difference. Any additional comments? It might also be worth finally saying that it's part of our discussions. I thought that the commissioner spoke very well about not just analysis and scrutiny, but coming up with constructive solutions towards Government, as well as analysing what Government are doing in terms of their policy intent and implementation of that, so I thought that it was really, really interesting to hear as well that it was appropriate to put on the record this morning. There would be no other questions or comments from members. The committee has asked to recommend to the Parliament that the eight nominees should be appointed. I'm going to put on the public record their names and then I'll seek good agreement. That would be Linda Bamford, Yvonne Blake, Alex Cobham, Lindsay Graham, Katie Schmucker, Shona Stephen, Morag Traynor and Douglas Wright. Is the committee agreed to recommend to Parliament that eight nominees should be appointed? Agreed. I thank you for that and I thank the nominees for their time this morning. The committee has also asked to agree to give authority to the convener and declare to prepare what will be a short factual report to inform Parliament of our recommendation. Is the committee agreed to that? There being no other business before us this morning, he says looking is clear to make sure I've not forgotten of anything. We can now close the meeting. Thank you all.