 The next item of business is to debate on motion 11802, in the name of Jane Freeman, on stage 3 of the Social Security at Scotland Bill. May I ask those who wish to speak in the debate to press the request to speak buttons? We do have a little time in hand because the amendments finished earlier than was expected. I can be a little generous with the speaking times, as long as no one goes over the top. Plenty of space for interventions too. I call on Jane Freeman to speak to her and move the motion around seven minutes please, minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This is a historic day for this Parliament. When we vote on the Social Security at Scotland Bill, we will be marking the single biggest transfer of powers since devolution began. It will herald the first social security system in Scotland. More than that, it means that we now have a new public service for the people of Scotland, a principle now enshrined in legislation. That, I believe, is something that we should all be proud of. Presiding Officer, this bill has been an opportunity to set up a new service and to do things differently. To remake the system in a way that better fits with the ambition that we have for ourselves as a Parliament and for our country. Our shared ambition, to live with dignity, fairness and respect. I would like to thank the many Scottish Government officials who have worked tirelessly on this bill and to set up our new agency, Social Security Scotland. In particular, I must thank the bill team who have been outstanding in their commitment and dedication. Let me also express my thanks to the clerks and to both conveners of the Social Security Committee, Sandra White, who steered it in its early days and Claire Adamson through the latter part, particularly through stage 2, and members, of course, of the Social Security Committee. I want to thank them for the spirit in which they have taken part in our collective work on the bill and for rising to the challenge, to do things differently and to do them better. I thank them for their amendments, their views and their considered deliberation and engagement with me throughout. I also want to thank the many, many organisations that I have met with and listened to. They have helped to shape this bill enormously and I am grateful to them for their input at every point. Most of all, I want to thank the people of Scotland who have been at the forefront of this bill at all times. From the start of our engagement programme in 2016, I have been thankful and humbled that people fell able to open up and tell me about their personal experience of the DWP and the current UK welfare system. Not an easy thing for anyone to do, especially when talking about a system that recently has not served them well. For the first time ever, this Government—a Government—has recruited people to help them to shape the service and the system that they are establishing. We were and remain determined to make sure that our new public service works in the interests of the public. More than 2,400 people have agreed to be part of our experience panels and we are working with them closely on each stage of the process. I want to thank them for their help and their support so far and for the work that we will continue to do with them throughout the lifetime of this Parliament. Our system will be rights-based, recognising that social security is itself a human right with a set of founding principles at its heart and the central requirement that the system should treat everyone with the dignity and the respect that they deserve. That is why, as just one example, we have introduced a right to have a supporter with you at every stage of the process and a right to access independent advocacy for anyone who, because of a disability, needs that support to engage fully and effectively with the system. That rights-based approach is one that Parliament, I believe, should be proud of. Let me quote Inclusion Scotland from an evidence session with the Social Security Committee when they said, We consider the greatest strength to be some of the principles in the bill and that people who use the system will be treated with dignity and respect. Those are important rights that disabled people have sought for many years. The principles that now underpin the bill are an important signal of how social security will be delivered. The greatest quality of the bill is that human rights-based approach. That is why, when it comes to disability benefits, for example, we are committed to making the right decisions from the outset. The onus will be on Social Security Scotland to get the information needed to make decisions. Doing that means that we can reduce the need for one-to-one assessments, significantly reduce the anxiety and distress caused by these unnecessary assessments and move, described by Citizens Advice Scotland, as the highest priority for the social security system in Scotland. We will not require anyone to undertake an assessment delivered by the private sector. Improvements such as our new short-term assistance will ensure that the fear of losing benefit payments won't act as a barrier to pursuing your right to challenge the decisions that affect you, a significant improvement on the current system. If people disagree with our decisions, rather than making things more difficult, we will help them to make an appeal. We will work with you to make sure that the process is as simple and straightforward as possible, but that you remain in control deciding what you want to do about your situation. Thanks to that bill, we will make sure that all our agency staff communicate with people in an accessible way. An improvement that the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists recognises is that the first time inclusive communication has appeared in any legislation anywhere in the United Kingdom. Members have made decisions on some very important and sometimes very difficult issues. I think that this bill, in its final form, which we have arrived at by working together, not just today, but right through the bill process, is the stronger and the better for it. Presiding Officer, I have spoken before about how the devolution of social security represents the greatest single increase in the responsibilities of this Parliament since devolution. Today we write a new chapter in our history, a system built for the people of Scotland, designed in partnership with the people of Scotland, a system with dignity, fairness and respect at its heart, a system, and I quote, quite unlike any other that has gone before. I am proud and I am honoured to move the motion in my name. I now call Adam Tompkins. Around six minutes please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and if I may say so, well said minister. This is, as the minister said, another one of those very important days in the coming of age of our Parliament. As the minister said, it is indeed historic. What we are doing today, Deputy Presiding Officer, is delivering on the welfare devolution that was legislated for after the All Party Agreement in the Smith commission by a Conservative Government at Westminster in the Scotland Act 2016. The devolution is something that I have throughout my entire life enthusiastically supported, and devolution of social security is something that I have worked with others to try and deliver for a number of years. It will allow us to experiment, to try something new, it will allow us to learn from others' experience and to build on experience, including failed experience elsewhere, and it will allow us where we can to lead by example. The bill delivers on all of those ambitions, or at least it promises to, depending on what happens next. Devolution in social security or in welfare also brings with it significant challenges, and those challenges should not be underestimated. The biggest single challenge is how we navigate our way through the inevitable labyrinth of shared rule between Scottish ministers on the one hand and the DWP on the other hand. That is the wrong metaphor to use, because I need more hands than two. There is in fact shared rule not only between the Scottish Government and the DWP, but also with local authorities and indeed with the third sector. Figuring out how the biggest single challenge that we were presented with in the Smith commission when we were thinking about social security was, whatever you do, don't make it more complicated. Devolution inevitably makes it more complicated. Social security in Scotland has never been so complicated as it is now, but it will only get more complex. The challenge that we have as lawmakers and ministers as people charged with the responsibility of executing the law that this place makes is to ensure that that complexity does not become a burden to the people in our society who rely on the laws and regulations that we make. That is a bill that we will enthusiastically support at decision time tonight, as we have throughout its parliamentary process. Like the minister, I would like, if I may, to say a few thank yous. First of all, to the Social Security Committee, on which I have the privilege to serve. In particular, it is still relatively new, convener Clare Adamson, and our clerks, notably Simon, who is about to retire from the Parliament after long service. I would like personally to thank Simon and his clerking team for all the work that they have done in steering us through what was not a straightforward piece of legislative work. I would like to thank my Scottish Conservative colleagues in social security and welfare and social justice team, especially my good friend Jeremy Balfour, whose pioneering work, particularly on terminal illness and other aspects of this bill, has been inspirational, if I may say so, Jeremy, and it is a real honour to work alongside you in this field. I would also, so long as it is not going to damage her political career too much, I would like to thank the minister, Jeane Freeman, and, indeed, her officials and special adviser, Jeannette Campbell, for the constructive and mature approach that she and they have taken to the passage of this legislation, and, indeed, for her generous comments earlier on this evening. The Parliament, I think, has worked well through the process of the legislative passage of this bill to improve this bill. I want to give three examples of areas where I think the bill is stronger now than it was when it was introduced last year. The first example is with regard to the social security principles, and we all agree on the importance of a principles-based approach to social security. But turning that political ambition into statute law did run some risks of unnecessary litigation as the bill was first drafted, and we fixed all that and we tidied it up, and I think those provisions of the bill are much stronger now than they were a few months ago. Likewise, I think that it's fair to say that we all support the idea of the social security charter. But again, writing that policy into law generated unanticipated complications which were first identified and then resolved through the process of parliamentary scrutiny, making the bill stronger as a result. More importantly, Presiding Officer, the bill has introduced conferred exceptionally broad rulemaking and regulation-making powers on ministers with no provision for external or expert scrutiny and with only minimal and plainly unsatisfactory provision for effective parliamentary scrutiny. Thanks to the detailed work on this undertaken at stage 2 by the Social Security Committee and by the Delegated Powers Committee, this area of the bill has now been substantially amended, including earlier on this afternoon, and improved. The minister deserves credit, if I can say so, for engaging constructively with the Parliament's committees and, indeed, with Opposition MSPs on this critical matter. But notwithstanding the fact that the bill is significantly improved on the bill that was published upon introduction a few months ago, it remains the case that much of this bill, important though it is, continues to be only a framework bill. I don't mean only in any derogatory sense at all. The critical questions in social security are who is entitled to what. And this bill answers neither of those questions. All the rules about eligibility criteria and about fixing the amounts of benefit to be paid will be provided for in regulations to be made by ministers. And these are matters which are not addressed in the bill at all. The bill sets the framework through which these regulations will be made. It feels like we have achieved something today in passing this bill, but there is an awful lot of work to do before devolved Scottish social security is actually in operation. And there will be a lot of very detailed and painstaking parliamentary work and legislative work to do. So looking forward in my closing remarks, Presiding Officer, what next? Well, I hope that we will turn away from framework questions, from process questions, from procedural questions to the substantive questions of who is going to be entitled to what. And as we do that, we on these benches have three concerns that we would ask the minister to bear in mind as we go forward in the delivery between now and the end of this parliamentary session of devolved social security. The first is a concern around the pace of transfer. Are we transferring powers from Westminster to Hollywood as expeditiously as possible, or are there hints of delay? The second concern which perhaps relates to this is an on-going concern, actually a deepening concern that I have about the transparency of the inter-governmental process. We know that there are probably irregular but nonetheless frequent meetings of the joint ministerial working group on welfare. We know that we as members of the Scottish Parliament are entitled to see the agendas of those meetings before they take place and the minutes of those meetings as soon as possible after they take place and I'm not sure that that always happens. The more transparent ministers can be about the conversations they have at official or ministerial level with colleagues in the DWP and elsewhere in Whitehall, the better able we as MSPs will be able to do our job of helping ministers to deliver these powers as expeditiously as possible. The third concern going forward, Presiding Officer, is of course cost. These are concerns which the Auditor General has recently brought to the attention of the Parliament through her recently published report on the implementation of the Scotland Act 2016. I don't want to dwell on those as negatives. I think that they are all challenges which we share right across the political spectrum, whether we are in government or in opposition. There is an awful lot of work to do to deliver devolved social security properly in Scotland, but today marks been a very important step along the way. Thank you. I call Mark Griffin, a generous five minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I want to thank the parliamentary clerks, my committee colleagues, the minister, the ministers, officials and the third sector in civic society for getting this important piece of legislation to where it is today. I think that it's fair to say that when it was lodged the bill didn't quite live up to the hype, and if it wasn't for the support from across the third sector who have the real expertise in social security, we might have been in a very different position. Almost 350 amendments later, a good debate at stages 1, 2 and the amendment stage 3. I'm proud to say that I think that the bill is stronger than it was when it was introduced last summer. At stage 1 I reminded the chamber that we only get one first go at this. Today I hope the chamber will consider whether we've got it right for the 1.4 million people who will come to rely on the system. The young mum worried about her child being born into poverty. The disabled person with hundreds of pounds of additional monthly costs, and the pensioner worried about the heating bill. On banning the private sector, protecting against means testing and securing a new right to advocacy on social security, I'm delighted that our Labour colleagues and indeed colleagues from across the chamber in government and in opposition have led the way. Again, at stage 3, we on those benches have secured a commitment to work towards automatic split payments, protected carers from the benefits freeze, secured the automation of benefits and ensured assessments are conducted by suitably qualified persons. All of those might seem like small changes, but they are hugely significant and should improve the new system. We still have our differences. We still want to see child benefit topped up. We'll soon look again at how we truly embed human rights into the system when the First Minister's advisory group reports. Together with my colleagues, Pauline McNeill and Jackie Baillie, we've tried today to push the Government further on offences, redebrenation and overpayments. I think we'll all keep a watching brief on. We again should ask ourselves if this is landmark legislation. Given the circumstances that led to the devolution of those powers, the referendum, the Vow, Smith and the 3rd Scotland act should be, though we've put the powers on the statute books, it's for the people who experience the system to decide whether we've put those powers to good use. Given recent news stories about delays to the abolition of the bedroom tax, ministers asking for an extra year and the DWP readying itself to step in, it's quite clear that this is very much the beginning of a process full of questions. Last week's change on the definition of terminal illness was very welcome, as I said in the stage 3 amendment debate. It should make us a bit uneasy. We appreciate the First Minister's pledge to listen and the minister's action, and that victory is well deserved for campaigners and those who are terminally ill. However, that experience can't be a template for how ministers are going to set up the system. With swathes of regulations still to come, including intricate policy design of nine forms of assistance, the Government has to be sure that they're ready for that challenge ahead. The two areas that we made early progress on were agreement to use a super-affirmative procedure married with a new independent commission. They both included in our response to the bill ahead of stage 1, and while that scrutiny process may seem burdensome, I think that it's clearly vital. Alongside that scrutiny, last week Parliament showed the Government that it should be far more transparent in its policy design, its listening and how it works across the chamber. First site of the Government's initial amendment came on Tuesday evening, a few hours ahead of the final amendment deadline. For something so fundamental to disability benefits, it would be much rather that key detail would be published further in advance and look to that example going forward. The overriding message from stage 3 is that we as a Parliament have much more work to do so that the people of Scotland can be proud of its new social security system. That work here will get vital support to disabled people, win to fuel payments to their elderly, and then time to truly overhaul carers allowance. That's both the responsibility of Government and Parliament. Like we've done on tax and on this bill, we look forward to ensuring that we have a functioning social security system that invests in the people of Scotland, and we're ready for that challenge ahead. I call Alison Johnstone. Around four minutes, please. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I, too, would like to begin by thanking Simon Watkins and his clerking team, the witnesses who took time to give us their expert advice, and the many organisations that we've worked together with throughout this whole process, there are too many to name. I'm truly thankful to them all. It's fair to say that MSPs from every party on the committee have made the most sincere efforts to strengthen this bill. Labour, SNP and Conservative MSPs have improved the bill significantly with their amendments. At times, we've discussed very difficult issues on which we fundamentally agreed, but I think that we have done that always with civility, and I thank them for that. I would also like to thank Jeane Freeman. Setting up a new social security system is quite possibly the biggest-ever challenge that has faced a Scottish minister since 1999, and I believe that the First Minister chose wisely in selecting Jeane Freeman for that task. She's undertaken it with passion, dedication and, when required, good humour. The promise of devolution is that Scotland should have the powers to do things differently. Sometimes that can be taking existing UK policies and improving them with the knowledge and experience that we have here. At other moments on other issues, it's a more fundamental change and I think that social security is such an issue. Right now, it is such a moment. For too many people, the current system is fostering insecurity. We only have to look at the trust-and-trust figures that have been announced this week. In 2017-18, it issued 170,000 3-day emergency food parcels here in Scotland and 55,000 of those were to children. We appear to be losing the idea that society is strengthened to when everyone is enabled to live a decent life. That's how we've got to the situation where disabled people have their benefits cut to bridge the deficit. I think that we have the opportunity to reclaim the idea that when we provide a good reliable income for the most vulnerable people in society, everyone benefits. The question before us today is, does the bill allow us to do that? On the whole, I believe that the bill has progressed towards that and Greens will support it at decision time. Dignity and respect are absolutely at the heart of the bill. The problem with the current system isn't just that support has been cut, though that is quite bad enough. The culture around the current system is hugely problematic, a culture of suspicion of people who ask for help from the benefits system. When those attitudes prevail at the top, they filter down and distort the entire system. If we set up a new system that is from the outset founded on the idea that social security is a right and that we all expect to be treated with dignity and respect when applying for help, it will give rise to a quite different, more empowering, more positive system. I am pleased that, having begun with no provision on this at all, there is now a statutory mechanism for upgrading four of the forms of assistance, but I will continue to push for automatic upgrading to apply to all benefits. I urge the Government to continue to look at that. Of course, as colleagues have said in passing the bill today, we have yet to help a single applicant or recipient, so we have much work yet to do. The new forms of assistance will be established in secondary legislation for each and every new regulation. We will need to debate, discuss, highlight issues and ask the Government to think again just as we have for this bill. We see progress on some issues, topping up carers allowance as a welcome start, but there is a whole range of unfairnesses in the current allowance that Scottish ministers should examine and then eradicate. Disability assistance represents around half of the value of all the payments being devolved. The abolition of DLA and the introduction of PIP have been singularly disastrous. 44 per cent of DLA claimants have either lost their entitlement entirely or have had it significantly reduced, and that rises to over 50 per cent for some mental health conditions. Constituents are being driven to the depths of despair by the current PIP system. Quite rightly, expectations for the new disability assistance payments will be very high indeed. That will be a great test of the Scottish Government's resolve. Presiding Officer, I am conscious of time. Too many Scots have been pushed to breaking point and some sadly beyond it by the current system. The bill, if passed, will set rightly very high expectations of a more humane, a more generous and more respectful system of providing financial help to those who require it. It is central to the credibility of this Parliament that we meet that challenge and Greens look forward to playing a role in that in the coming years. Thank you. Alex Cole-Hamilton I would like to start by reminding members of my register of interests that I jointly own a property that we rent out to tenants to receive the direct payment of housing benefit. I start by lending my voice to the almost universal acclaim to the work of Jeane Freeman, her ministerial team and her special advisers. She has conducted her dealings with me with great tolerance given that I am not being represented on the committee. I was not always cited on many of the issues that I was often told to lobby her about. She gave me great consideration. She gave freely of her time. She sought out my council when developments were moving very quickly and always sought to include me in that. I am very grateful for her forbearance in that. For the consensus that she fostered, I referenced in the debate the agreement reached around the definition of terminal illness. I think that I used the hashtag rabbit out of the hat because I think that she squared a circle nobody else fully expected to do. I think that she did so to great effect. In the stage 1 proceedings of the bill, I lent on the words of a Liberal who helped to preside over the creation of the modern social security system in the islands as we know them. William Beverage said, in establishing a national minimum, we should leave room and encouragement for each individual to provide more than the minimum for themselves and their family. That is the central tenet of social mobility around which he sought to build the UK social security system. I am gratified to see that very much at large in the Scottish social security system that we will launch today. That is the first pillar. The second pillar has to be accessibility and we have heard a lot about that today. It is very significant that this Government recognises and puts front and centre the very real problem that 500,000 families in this country do not currently receive the full uptake of benefits that they could be entitled to. It is great that the amendments that we have passed today will see the system and the process for applicants far easier than counterparts in Westminster, but not just process of application process of appeal as well. We have been happy to support those amendments today and in the passage of this bill which will make it easier for people who, through no fault of their own, have been found against who should not have been. It is also important to reflect on many representations that we have all had from organisations that provide and deliver independent advocacy, particularly in the benefits landscape. The benefit landscape can be a terribly confusing place and one that is often filled with stigma as well. Independent advocates lend that navigation, that communication and articulation for people who might otherwise struggle to speak for themselves. For me and everybody else in this chamber, the final key principle of the system has to be its humanity. It is fair to say that we have seen the disruption of that humanity in systems in the rest of the UK, and I think that we are restoring some of that humanity today, whether that is in the way we conduct assessments for people that is not fostered around an atmosphere of suspicion and puts them very much in the driving seat around that. In the things like the overpayment recovery, one of the most important amendments that we passed today for myself and many others is the splitting of payments. The fact that we will hopefully drive the DWP further to that end to end coercive control and abusive relationships. I referenced this earlier that hugely important recognition of the difficulty faced by those people who received that awful diagnosis that they only have just weeks if not months to live left on this planet. I think that it is important that there be no impediment to the state's protection of them and their family so that they can conduct their affairs and quit their life in the knowledge that they will be supported. It is a fantastic start and it is an important day for our history as a country and as a devolved nation. I want to remind the minister that we will be working closely with this and I will not accept the excuse that there are things that we have the power now to do in terms of introducing new benefits particularly around the erosion of benefits to young widows and the waspy women. But today is a day for consensus so let me finish on the note that I started with and thank the minister, her team and indeed the committee which I wish I sometimes was a member of but I commend this bill to the Parliament and assure them of the Liberal Democrat support for it tonight. Thank you. The speeches are four minutes but I do have a little bit of time in hand so I can be generous and I call Clare Adamson to be followed by Michelle Ballantyne. Presiding Officer, I'm delighted to speak in this historic debate in the Scottish Parliament. It brings into statute the most significant transfers of powers following the Smith commission and since devolution. This bill will see the devolution of £2.9 billion of social security benefits to Scotland. It transfers 11 benefits and will impact 1.4 million of our citizens in Scotland. I'm not speaking today as convener of the social security committee but I also would like to thank those who between June and October last year took the time to share their experience and views with the committee. We received 119 written submissions from individuals, charities, councils, universities, advice services, volunteering networks and professional bodies. I too would like to thank the clerking team for the social security committee and particularly Simon Watkins not only for his help in the stewardship of this bill but for his service to this Parliament since 1999. Of course I would like to thank my colleagues on the committee for the diligence, the engagement which has been well rehearsed by other members this afternoon. I'd like to talk about the aspects of the bill that underline the ethos and approach that will underpin the Scottish social security system. Our approach which is markedly different from what we have at the moment and one evidence by the Scottish social security charter. For the first time we have a rights-based approach and continuing Scotland's long-standing tradition of support of human rights we have enshrined this in the principles of the new system and in this legislation. The charter within the bill strengthens our guarantee of going beyond warm words but creating a binding contract between the Government and its citizens who will be supported by the Scottish social security system. As the minister said in the deliberations this afternoon increases the accountability of this Parliament to its citizens. Earlier Mr Balfour said that the committee and the minister had been on a journey in one particular area. I would say that the whole thing has been a journey for us on the Social Security Committee and those involved in the bill. We have had obstacles on the way sometimes mole hills, sometimes mountains. We have not often taken the same path some of us in the high road and some of us on the low road but I do believe that we have all arrived together at a destination and one that we should all rightly be very proud of. I believe that the strength of this bill is testament to the Parliament. Mr Adam mentioned maturity earlier on and I would go further than that. The maturity, the consultation and the collaboration that has been mentioned by many members have all brought us here today. I am struck by how often the consultation and the willingness of ministers to work with members and also the third sector and interested organisations have been mentioned in the chamber today not least of which was the work of the social security expert system mentioned by Ms Johnson earlier on. During the debate, Alex Cole-Hamilton mentioned brutal application of the rules. It is fair to say that a lot of the challenges we have experienced has been because of that because of brutal application of the rules and that people whose experience has to date of the DWP system has been one of punitive application of rules and not a positive one. The current system is broken. A failure rate where over 50 per cent of tribunals have the decisions overturned is broken. As we move forward, I look with interest to the Work and Pensions Committee in Westminster who are now doing an inquiry into the benefit system which I think will enlighten this area even further. I am confident that this bill will change the experience of our citizens. It will be conducted in a way that is not punitive, bureaucratic. It will be done with dignity, fairness and respect. I welcome it and I hope it will be a beacon to other legislatures as to how our citizens should be respected and how their rights should be enforced. I call Michelle Ballantyne to be followed by Pauline McNeill. Today, as people have said before me, we have taken a historic step in creating a Scottish welfare system that is accountable to and tailored for the Scottish people. As Adam Tomkins has already intimated, the bill is enthusiastically supported this evening on these benches. Through the mechanisms of devolution and in line with the proposals set out in the Smith commission, the UK Government has transferred legislative competence over 11 social security benefits as well as the right to top up benefits reserved to the UK Parliament and some rights to create new benefits enhancing not only the power of this Parliament but also its responsibilities. The bill sets out seven principles for Scottish social security but perhaps the most important of that is that respect for the dignity of individuals is to be at the heart of Scottish social security. Colleagues across this chamber have worked hard to ensure that legislation delivers that respect and, although there were some disagreements for such a complex and challenging legislative area, progress has been characterised by mature and thoughtful debate at every stage. During today's debate, it was acknowledged that the most difficult aspect of this bill was delivering a system that delivers fair and dignified benefits for those who are facing life-limiting illnesses. I would like to thank my colleague Jeremy Balfour who brought forward amendments in this area and has worked hard to secure a fairer deal for the terminally ill and also to pay tribute to the advice and support of MND and Marie Curie that has guided us through this complex issue. I am delighted that the Minister came forward last week with an amendment that could be unanimously supported and I hope that it will provide flexibility and a person-centred approach to benefits for those who are facing terminal illness. However, despite the smooth progress of the bill as a whole, I do still hold some reservation about some aspects of implementation. We have created the framework but, as my colleague Adam Tomkins made clear, the detail will now be with the ministers to sort out. I also take note of the Auditor General's recent report on the implementation of the Scotland Acts which makes clear that much like the expansion to 1140 hours of free childcare, there is still much work to be done if Scotland is to have a successful social security system that delivers on time and within budget. Worryingly, the Auditor General's report states that the Scottish Government has not estimated the total cost of implementation or the extent to which this will exceed the UK Government's agreed contribution with the excess-requiring funder from the wider Scottish budget. Although I understand that the Scottish Government is developing a five-year financial plan to examine the issue, I agree with the Auditor General's opinion that more detailed estimates of costs are required as the social security system develops, particularly in relation to IT systems, service delivery and recruitment. In conclusion, under the Smith commission, further tax-raising powers have been devolved to Scotland and the Scottish Government should ensure that the costs of this programme are kept within our means, both for the benefit of taxpayers and to ensure that our other public services maintain their current levels of funding in keeping with the principles of this bill. In the spirit of this principle I asked the Scottish Government to take heed of the Auditor General's recommendations to provide greater transparency and to implement as soon as possible the proposed fiscal policies of the Director General's Scottish Exchequer to ensure that costs do not spiral. That said, this has been a historic day and a day that we can all be proud of. Thank you. Pauline McNeill, followed by George Adam. It has been an emotional journey for everyone involved in the creation of Scotland's very first and new social security system. We have all learned so much and I know that there has been an incredible amount of hard work involved. Creating a system that has dignity and respect at the heart of it is easier said than done, but that is what we all want to achieve. After months of hard work, scrutiny, the stages of the bill, we are certainly a lot closer than we were. I would also like to put on record my thanks to the clerks, all of the witnesses, organisations and the legal team, who have been absolutely brilliant when they phoned them and said that they would like to do this and an amendment appears by magic. I know that there is an awful lot of hard work behind that. I would also like to put on record my thanks to Jeannette Campbell, Chris Borland and all the other officials who I know have been up in the many small hours of many mornings. I am guessing that Jeannette is very much in the last few days at all by the amount of emails that I have had and I know that she is emailing everyone. I would also like to put on record my thanks to Jeann Freeman for the way that she has worked with us all in this bill. I think that she should be personally proud of getting to this stage and I was very pleased to work with Jeann Freeman on the issue of uptake and the automation of benefits and the review on that. I also hope that we will return to some of the outstanding issues in relation to the tribunal system itself. It is also worth thanking all those in the Smith commission and around the bit who argue for more powers to be devolved to this Parliament. I think that they have done society a great service in doing that. Alison Johnstone said that this act probably is the most important statute that we have done this session. We did not get everything that we would have liked but there is a lot that I do like. I, Daniel Blake, a very powerful movie account of one man's experience of trying to claim benefits after years of working hard for a living brought many people to tears but unfortunately that experience is a real one so it is clear that we had a system that needed overhauled and a more humane and responsive system. We are very fortunate in many ways that we have had the opportunity to design a new system for Scotland and its opening cannot come soon enough. The process has been very much a living one as I have said. Every day there is something new in your inbox from Jeanette or from the minister and I have to say that it has been a bit of a nightmare trying to search for anything because all we get is hundreds and hundreds of headings on social security. A fact is that we have a rights based, human rights approach to social security and I do think that it is in tune with the devolved settlement for the people that we seek to help and empower for the poorest, the most vulnerable and the most in need. People who have lived a full and active life who for one reason or another find themselves jobless in a period of economic uncertainty or they are disabled by an illness or accident. If I learn anything from this process is that any one of us and wider society could fall upon this misfortune. So acquiring help and assistance for a social security system is vital. So much progress has been made in so many areas but payments, terminal illness and advocacy and I am particularly pleased to have contributed to the section of the bill ensuring the uptake of benefits placing a duty on ministers to assist those who apply for benefits to get their entitlement to other benefits without having to complete another forum. In conclusion, it is accepted that it was Adam Tomkins that made the point that there is only a framework for the details still to come down the line by the form of regulation. The Social Security Committee has to establish a high standard of scrutiny in the years ahead because of that. It will be a test of the parliamentary system. It will be a test of whether individual politicians are up for the job and the power that we have been given. The superaffirmative procedure is welcome but it needs close attention to make sure that it actually works. The committee must show that it can take charge of the detail and continue to work with ministers and the new social security commission. There is a lot that can be done to tackle poverty by the social security agency. I think that it is worth a special mention. I have so much more to do but I have been privileged to be part of this process. I want to thank all those who have been involved in getting there. Thank you. I am moving to the last of the open debate contributions but it is an important occasion so if anyone would like to contribute for a minute or two please press your request to speak button. While Mr Adam is making his contribution. I hope that you are not doing that to try to cut my time that you promised me earlier on. First, can I add my thanks to the minister Jeane Freeman and our team because they have been absolutely excellent through this whole process. As a humble backbencher I have been able to go in at any time and discuss any of the issues that I have had with the whole bill. One of the things that we need to when we are talking about how we go about things in the future and how we move forward is to look at how we got to where we are today and how we managed to work together to ensure that we got a bill that was fit for purpose and moving forward. Last week we were in a position where we termed an oiliness but we did not think that we were going to get agreement and we managed to get stick together and get something that is better and what the groups themselves actually want. As everyone else has already said this is a historic debate and it gives us as parliamentarians the opportunity to stand up for the people of Scotland in the way that they deserve with dignity and respect and for me that is not only a debate about social security but this is an opportunity for us in Scotland to finally take the reins and do things how we want to do them. For the first time in our Parliament's history we have the power to make new decisions implement new procedures and above all really put people at the heart of all of this. That is indeed a significant moment for Scotland and arguably the biggest thing to happen here since devolution itself. This bill gives our Government and this Parliament the opportunity to make different choices to show the nation and the rest of the world what we are made of and what we are all about but above all it shows that we can create a fairer and more just society when we take matters into our own hands. Following the devolution of 11 social security benefits in the Scotland act in 2016 this was the first time we as parliamentarians here have had the power to really make changes to the welfare system and demonstrate our strong desire to do things differently to put respect and dignity at the top of the agenda and make sure the system does not actually make life harder for our constituents and the people of Scotland but by enshrining respect as the two respect and dignity as the two of our policy, we are taking a definitive step away from the approach that is currently being taken by the UK Government and while the UK welfare cuts continue to cause misery push people into further poverty and attract international criticism for the first time in UK history Scotland is showing the way forward and implementing a system based in a statutory principle that social security is a fundamental human right. This new Scottish social security system the Scottish Government are proposing ond ryerwmd gan ar gyferbwysig, ond d kickingd y bactaf o gymhwyl â rhanion hebawr o'r cydnodau a'r byw ddysgol yn tynnu ddysgol. Ysgolwyddoedd yn gwneud ddysgol iawn – gennym ni'n gwneud am gyda'r byw. Felly, rwy'n gwybod y teimlo cyfaint gefanfa o ddysgoleth a'r byw, mae ei ddysgol yn ynchydig i gael ei ffasig. Rwy'n gweithio'n gallu'n gwybod i chi a wleidio間ig i ddysgolio hynny oedd and tell me this but they're left feeling alone, anxious and frankly abandoned but I'd like to use an example and I mentioned it earlier on this week is MS awareness week and MS multiple sclerosis as Stacy has multiple sclerosis and one of the things that you when you look at this is a very example of a community of people who have actually had difficulty with the system you don't need to look any further than people with multiple sclerosis because as we have often said with previous systems they have had a case of yes they could walk 10, 12, 20 yards one day or meters one day but they'll be in their bed for the rest of the time but it's more severe than that most people with multiple sclerosis are actually diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40 years of age and these are key working years and these nine times out attendee end up in a situation where they're getting benefits and recently well a couple of years ago MS Society Scotland did a MS enough campaign where they did a survey of people in the society and people on benefits they found the vast majority of their members who had MS were on benefits and if there was any change to the system or any change to their benefits they would actually start talking about not buying food not paying for electricity so when we're looking at all these policy decisions and everything we can do I'm talking about people with real issues and problems like that and we have to say that we're dealing with dignity and respect, we're looking after our people in a way that is actually backing that up and I could stand up here, Presiding Officer, and recount many constituents damaging experience at such assessments but as you all know I'm always about the positive things in life and I'm always looking to the future and under our new system people have the right to support her at every stage and an independent advocacy service will provide for those who need them. When eligible people will also be able to receive short-term assistance during an appeal so there's no financial barriers to prevent Scots from taking further action. Additionally, in order to cut down the number of constituents left confused, frustrated and distressed by their assessment interviews, assessments will only be undertaken when absolutely needed and I think that for one is a key, yes I will. Ruth Maguire Thank you Presiding Officer, a bit strange intervening on the person right next to you. I just wonder when we're talking about positive things. Obviously the recruitment of so many people to the experience panels and the input that they had was really a concrete way of showing that we're putting dignity and respect at the heart of things because we listened to people who were directly impacted. Would you agree with me, George Adam? George Adam I'm surprised and after the years that I've worked with you, Ms Maguire, I do agree with you most of the time and I've learned that's a wise way to be, but the whole point is that Ruth Maguire is correct. That has been the reason, that's been the foundation of this whole process and yes, has it been difficult for the minister and her team? Probably it has been, but at the end of the day I think it shows in what we've actually ended up with here now at the moment. I would actually say that this bill tells us that the Scottish Government want to hear from people, they want to hear from them, they want to hear their story, they want to do all they can to make the types of processes when they're going through social security at these very difficult times easier and that is what this really means, that is what dignity and respect means and it's a case of, as I said right from this very start Presiding Officer, this is a case of putting people at the very heart of the process and for me people are the reason why I got involved in politics and the reason why I continue to do the work that I do. So I think that we've got a Government here, we are showing the way forward and I commend the minister once again and our team on some fantastic work. I now call Sandra White to be followed by Ben Macpherson. Two to three minutes each please. Do you have your card in? I do now. Thank you, thank you very much Presiding Officer. I'm delighted to be able to get two minutes or whatever this I think historic moment. It's one of the finest moments this Parliament I believe has ever had and I'm so delighted that I was part of that at the beginning and I must say I want to thank everyone on the committee who went forward with this, the minister and this has been said before as well, all of the clarts and Jeanette and everyone in Simon who worked so hard on this. One of the reasons that I think people are emotional about this particular bill going through, yes it is the largest bill but it means so much to so many people having been out and about as everyone here has in constituency office as well dealing with people who have went round and round endless assessments, don't at their illnesses, never going to go away. For me one of the proudest things we've done is, well two of the proudest things in this bill is no private contractors to look at that because it was an absolute horrendous system. I think that we should be very proud of that and the endless assessments which people are so worried and were so worried about. Basically if you turned up and you looked well dressed they were telling you felt fine and the fact that we're looking at mental health as well in that field I think it's something that we should be absolutely proud of and once again I think there's something that this Parliament, whilst the difficulties at the beginning and I think we all admit that, I think they all worked very very hard all parties to bring this forward and I'm mentally proud that as an MSP in this Parliament that we've managed to pass this fantastic legislation. Thank you very much Presiding Officer. Before we move to the closing speech, she's Ben Macpherson. Thank you very much Presiding Officer, I'm very grateful for the chance to add to this debate. Like others I feel a great deal of pride today, a great deal of pride to have been a member of the social security committee to have worked with the clerks who've helped us so much, to have worked with the bill team, to have worked with members across the different parties and most of all to have worked with Jeane Freeman as the minister and her stewardship through this process has been absolutely remarkable and outstanding. I'd also like to thank all the third sector organisations who've been involved, both those in my constituency and those who make a national impact. I'm proud because I know that this bill will enable this Parliament to make an even bigger difference, it will enable us to increase the carers allowance, that will make a difference, enable us to introduce a young carer grant, that will make a difference, it will enable us to create a best start screen for many children and families, that will make a difference. It will provide the right to advocacy when required, that will make a difference. It will fast track payments for the sufferers of terminal illness, that will make a difference, it will ban private sector medical assessments, that will make a difference, it will promote the take-up of benefits, that will make a difference, it will upgrade carers assistance, disability assistance, employement injury assistance and funeral assistance and most of all and crucially in terms of the ethos of this new system it will deliver social security as a human right based on the principles of dignity and respect that's all something to be very proud of all of this process is to be very proud of and i think it demonstrates that when this parliament is given more powers and works together whether it's yellow, blue, red, green, gold or whatever when we work together for a positive change we do make a substantial difference and by creating this public service for Scotland we will take Scotland forward in a very remarkable and important way and I commend all involved for that because it's a really moving and important day in Scotland's political history. We now move to the closing speeches and I call Mark Griffin. You can have up to six minutes please Mr Griffin. Thank you Presiding Officer. As well as my thanks from my opening speech I would also like to put on record my thanks to the British Sign Language interpreters who are at the back of the chamber and have been interpreting all day. I think while we've shared the burden of speaking amongst across the whole chamber there is far fewer interpreting and I can only imagine how tired they are feeling but it's a fantastic advert in light of some of the changes that we've seen around the accessibility changes that again parliament has shown in the best most accessible light so thank you very much to the interpreters today. In my opening speech I welcome the work that we have done and while I raise some concerns I did it with the 1.4 million people who will use the system in mind. After all at decision time Scots law will confirm that social security is an investment in the people of Scotland and while it has been a long day for some of us it's a far bigger day for the people of Scotland. When you look at some of the protections now included in the bill it's clear that we've set a path to a better social security system. The ban on the private sector delivering assessments and new right to independent advocacy for disabled people applying for their disability assistance and protections against means testing of winter fuel payments move us beyond what exists under the UK system. Two of the areas that I'm particularly proud of are the improvements that we have agreed today on split payments and upgrading the carers supplement in 2019. I'm delighted that the parliament accepted those arguments and discussions that have been on-going for months about placing a policy commitment for automatic split payments in the bill. The single payment of universal credit is undermining women's safety and reducing their financial autonomy. Plainly the EHRC says that universal credit has caused a drastic shift in income from women to men and fundamentally is perpetuating gender inequality. Universal credit is systematically diverting money from women taking funds away from raising children. The impact is that children are less likely to go to school having had the breakfast they need, the warm coat that protects them from the elements, and what we know and understand to be the evidence of poverty. Worse still for the women who are suffering at the hands of men, nine out of ten of them are likely to be suffering financial abuse too and single payments can only compound that experience. That's why I'm glad that the way of today changed course on split payments. Yes, clearly we have set the Government a challenge, but they have accepted it because there are real people, women, children and some men who will ultimately benefit. Similarly, the agreement to afford carers protection from the benefits phrase is important and builds on the amendments agreed at stage 2. Then I argued that carers should get uprating guaranteed as they do under the current system. On paper, we've ensured that our joint commitment to the level of GSA is protected as inflation erodes that commitment next year. In reality, we have protected carers from the erosion of a benefit that would have been at a cost to them in one year of £5 million. We should now look forward to improving carers allowance more generally. That includes changing study restrictions, the earning thresholds and the package of support that is passported to the allowance. I think that our biggest job will be to support and scrutinise the Government's plans for disability benefits. We are ready for that challenge, although I hope that as many will be watching today that we move far away from PIP and so long as it is done in a manner that is fair and supportive. This decade, disabled people have experienced that brutal transfer to PIP and we cannot repeat that and protections should be afforded to them just in the same way that income supplement should avoid our reliance on universal credit. The overriding message from stage 3 is that we as a Parliament must be ready for much more work here to get this right. We support the bill and are ready for that challenge ahead. I thank the many people who have helped us get to where we are today, to the clerks of the committee, to the legislative team, to SPICE, to my own staff, to the Conservative group who have helped us or in helping us get to a bill that we can be proud of and a bill that will take things forward. I also thank the minister for all the work that she and her team behind machines have put in. She has been open to suggestions, to meetings, to telephone conversations and even to sending emails in the early hours of the morning. For all those things, I think that we can be grateful for her as a Parliament and, as someone else said, the First Minister made a very good choice in appointing you to prove this through the legislation. I also thank the third sector for their work that they have done over not just the past few weeks, but over the past year or so. Local charities have come to talk to me, but also the national charities. We have not always agreed, and that has been come clear today. However, what they have done is given us the information, the questions to ask, and I think that they too can be proud of what they have achieved collectively in bringing through the bill. I think that there are some things within the bill, and hopefully that will become an act soon, that we can be proud of. I think that setting up a new commission, independent commission, is a massive step forward and something that we can be proud of in that it will help us scrutinise and will give us independent advice, which sometimes this Parliament needs with the pressure that we are on. Having advice and representation in the bill is a massive step forward. Having the right to advocacy where it is required will open up the system to many people. We can all generally be proud of what we have done around terminus owners. It is a horrible diagnosis, but hopefully when the new guidance comes out, it will give people the help that they need at that most difficult time. Can I move on? As I said earlier this afternoon, this is just the start or halfway through the journey. The minister is still committed to making sure that all the benefits will be up and running before the next election. If she is and if the Government is, will she give us some kind of outline as to when the different regulations for the different benefits will come out and what stages they will happen? I am generally an optimist in life, and I think that the minister must be an optimist as well, because she has raised a very high barrier in regard to delivery of what we are going to do. There are going to be challenges around culture, delivery and what is going to happen. I think that we have to be careful in the language that we use that we do not overpromise. I do not want to be pessimistic and I think that we can have a system that can be different and can be good and can help over a million people in Scotland, but I think that sometimes all of us just have to be careful what we promise and how we are going to promise it. Regulations are going to be the key. I can come back to my hobby horse, much to Alison Johnson's annoyance of how far can you walk before you will get a benefit. Those are going to be the key questions. Can I be the first one minister to lobby you on behalf of those with epilepsy, who I think do face real struggles under the present regulations, and we need to look at how we can help people with that condition. I think that, ultimately, Pauline McNeill is right in what she said. My assistant confessed to me last week that she went to bed dreaming of superaffirmative legislation. That cannot be a good place to be. I think that there is now a responsibility not just on the Scottish Government, not just on the Social Security Committee, but on all MSPs to make sure that the scrutiny around the regulations that will come forward are fit for purpose and that will help our constituents as George Adam has spoken about. We can have the best framework, the best motivation and the best charter, but unless the money is delivered into someone to bank out account on the right day, with the right amount and the right award being given, we will have failed as a parliament and we will have failed the people of Scotland. Let us be glad today, congratulate ourselves and let us even have the weekend off. On Monday morning, let us get down to regulations and let us show that we get them right, and then we can be proud of what we deliver in the future. I call Jane Freeman to conclude the debate. Can you take us up to around 10 past seven, please, Ms Freeman? In closing, I think that we have had a debate that is fitting for what is an important moment in the history of this Parliament, fitting in its tone, content and even in its last-minute lobbying, Mr Balfour. I can assure you that when we look at those regulations, the particular issue that you are raising, which affects those with epilepsy, we will take account of that and we will look at all those matters. I am also very grateful for all the very kind comments that have been made about me, but can I just be clear? I am very grateful for those, but behind every minister, of course, is a most excellent team. I have precisely that team across the social security directorate in my private office and, of course, with a very special special adviser, and I am very grateful to all of them. In the Social Security Bill, the Social Security Scotland Bill was introduced last June following a detailed consultation and engagement process. Today marks the end of that parliamentary progression. In the 309 days since, the bill has been significantly improved and made stronger through discussion, debate and engagement, with stakeholders, with experts across the country and with MSPs from all parties and on the Parliament's security committee. However, Mr Tomkins is right, as others have said. There is indeed much more work for us to do. Today is a special moment, of course it is, but we now have to go on and fill in the detail that makes up the flesh, if you like, around that framework. The assurance that I give to Mr Tomkins and to other colleagues in this Parliament is that we will approach that in exactly the way that we have approached all of this until now, looking for consensus, looking for ideas, working in collaboration but, above all, putting the people of Scotland first. For some, that may feel like the end of the process, but it is the start of what matters for the people of Scotland. The delivery of 11 benefits, affecting, as Clare Adamson said, 1.4 million, benefits that will be devolved and benefits that can be transformed. We will start later this year by investing over £30 million, with a 13 per cent increase through our carers allowance supplement, to take it to the same level as jobseekers allowance and benefiting over 70,000 carers. Then, only a few months later, in 2019, we will introduce the new young carer grant, a £300 annual payment for young adults with significant caring responsibilities, who do not qualify currently for carers allowance, because perhaps they are in full-time education. In 2019, we will start delivery of the best start grant, delivered to low-income parents across Scotland. That is a significant investment in children and families and a major improvement on the current UK provision. A one-off grant of £600 of the birth of the first child in a low-income family and two further payments of £250 in the early years of a child's life. We do not do caps on our future generations, so we will reintroduce the grant of £300 plus two payments of £250 for the second and all subsequent children. Finally, and I'm still in 2019, we will also see the first Scottish funeral expense assistance delivered to people, helping them cope with the additional expense at time of upset and distress on the death of a loved one. We have widened the eligibility so more people who need this support can get it. We will speed up and simplify the process so people know quickly what support they will get. From the amendment passed this afternoon, we will upgrade that benefit in line with inflation. We have already begun recruiting the first staff to deliver those benefits and the first of our locally based staff bringing support, advice and that human face to people in their own area so that they can get what they need and are entitled to more easily. When fully operational, our new agency, Social Security Scotland, will have created 1,900 jobs across Dundee, Glasgow and local communities across Scotland, a significant investment to the benefit of all of the country. So, while the legislation is agreed, the work will continue. We will continue to learn about the ambitions people have for our new social security system in Scotland, the way they want to see it set up and to deliver. As one of our experienced panel members, we will deliver a service that is not just a bit better but one that is great. There is no shortage of people that we can learn from. We will continue to learn from stakeholders and the many communities with an interest in the bill, working in collaboration with them, finding out more about what works best for them and welcoming scrutiny and challenge. We will learn from the independent Scottish Commission on Social Security, which will be established through the bill. Ministers and members of parliamentary bodies, including the Social Security Committee, will have the benefit of expert advice from the new commission when they come to consider future proposals for social security in Scotland. As the recent report from Audit Scotland highlighted, we have been learning lessons from previous public sector programmes by delivering emphasis and involving users in designing policies, processes and IT systems, following their advice and best practice to deliver a programme of implementation in a carefully planned and incremental way. I have taken careful note of the concerns that Mr Tomkins raised, Mr Griffin has mentioned and Mr Balfour raised in his last contribution. Now is not the time to be dealing in detail with those concerns, but let me say again as I have said publicly, we are on track to deliver, as we have promised in the lifetime of this Parliament, what I need and what I would welcome from members across this chamber, particularly members who have colleagues in Westminster, is to help me to ensure that the DWP is also on track to match the pace that we are operating to. In closing, let me also thank our BSL interpreters, as Mr Griffin did, and let me especially thank all those who have given up their time to be with us today in the gallery or watching at home. I am very grateful for their support, for their experience and their ideas. Everything that we do in this Parliament, as legislators and parliamentarians, is important, but today I think that we have achieved something that is not only important, it is also a bit special. Special in its content, special in how we have worked together here and across the country, and special in its import for the people across Scotland we are here to represent. At its core, this is about people. This is about how this Parliament and this Government respect the citizens of Scotland and act to demonstrate that respect in all that we do. Legislation to deliver a rights-based social security system for Scotland with dignity, fairness and respect at its heart. A new public service that we can be proud of, one that will meet the needs and ambitions of the people of Scotland, and one that we will now go on to make a reality. Thank you. Before we come to decision time, we have consideration of three business motions. Motion 11835 and 11836 on timetables for two bills. If anyone wishes to speak against them, press their button now, and I call on Joe Fitzpatrick to move the above three motions. Thank you very much. No one is asked to speak against the motions. The question therefore is that motions 11834, 11835 and 11836 be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. The next item is consideration of parliamentary bureau motion 11837 on approval of an SSI. Again, I ask Joe Fitzpatrick and Vaf the bureau to move the motion. As we turn to decision time and we are voting on a bill, we will go straight to our division. The question is that motion 11802, in the name of Jeane Freeman, on stage 3 of the Social Security Scotland Bill be agreed. Members should cast their votes now. The result of the vote on motion 11802, the name of Jeane Freeman, is yes, 119, and that is unanimous. The motion is therefore agreed. The Social Security Scotland Bill is passed. Thank you. There is a final question. That motion 11837, in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick on behalf of the parliamentary bureau on approval of an SSI, be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are agreed and that concludes decision time. I close this meeting.