Did you mean Scottish Welfare find?
Margaret Burgess: As I have explained, the white paper clearly indicates how we will take forward welfare reform and what we intend to do with the welfare state. Under our proposals, the welfare state will look after all our citizens and we will all have a stake in it, which is the way things should be. I think that it was Patrick Harvie who talked about working together. A welfare state is not just for other...
Richard Leonard: ...to the question that I asked is, “Not a penny more.” It was £33 million in 2013, and it is £33 million today. Members should not just take my word for it. A new report out today—“The Scottish Welfare Fund: Strengthening the Safety Net” by the menu for change campaign—concludes that: “The overall SWF budget ... including both the administration budget ... and programme...
Elaine Smith: The cabinet secretary mentioned the Scottish welfare fund. This week, the Poverty and Inequality Commission highlighted local authority spending as a key issue in the Scottish welfare fund’s underspend. It also noted that many people using food banks were not aware of the Scottish welfare fund. Does the cabinet secretary agree that that highlights the impact of underfunded authorities and...
Kevin Stewart: I welcome the fact that we have reached the first stage of putting the Scottish welfare fund on a statutory footing, and I agree with Councillor Norman MacDonald of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, who said: “legislation will give certainty not just to local authorities but to the clients about what is in place.”—[Official Report, Welfare Reform Committee, 30 September 2014; c 18.] However,...
Kevin Stewart: The Government is aware of 11 councils that underspent their Scottish welfare fund allocation by £30,000 or more: East Ayrshire Council, City of Edinburgh Council, Falkirk Council, Fife Council, Highland Council, Inverclyde Council, Moray Council, Scottish Borders Council, Shetland Islands Council, South Ayrshire Council and South Lanarkshire Council. The Scottish welfare fund is a lifeline...
Margaret Burgess: Rather than criticise the Scottish Government on the Scottish welfare fund, Jackie Baillie should congratulate us on establishing that fund and topping it up by £9.2 million. The Scottish welfare fund, which came in in April this year, is a new fund that has not bedded in yet, but we are doing everything that we can to encourage people to use it. I spent the summer recess travelling up and...
Margaret Burgess: The chief statistician has announced that statistics on the Scottish welfare fund, covering the period 1 October to 31 December 2013, will be published at 9.30 am on 15 April 2014. Dates for all Scottish welfare fund statistical publications that are due for release in 2014 are available on the Scottish Government website. Annual statistics on the fund, covering 2013-14, are due for...
Shirley-Anne Somerville: Scottish welfare fund funding is allocated to local authorities in accordance with a formula that is agreed by the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. The formula is based on the income domain of the Scottish index of multiple deprivation, so that local authorities with more people on low incomes get higher allocations, ensuring that the Scottish welfare fund...
Margaret Burgess: As the member will be aware, the Scottish Government has set up the Scottish welfare fund of £33 million, which should assist people who are struggling with food poverty. At present, we do not have statistics on food banks, but they are part of the overall monitoring of the welfare reforms. We have to consider what things people cannot afford because of welfare reforms such as the bedroom...
Pam Duncan-Glancy: A Scottish Public Services Ombudsman report has found “a 36.7% increase in Scottish Welfare Fund independent review applications received from the previous year”. When will the minister be able to tell us about the review of the Scottish welfare fund, and when will the review be complete?
Margaret Burgess: I make it clear at the start that the guidance on the Scottish welfare fund states that local authorities must ensure that items awarded meet applicants’ needs. For example, if people need specific items because of a medical condition or their family make-up, that is a question not of choice but of need. I wish that we did not need a welfare fund and that applicants did not need the support...
Bob Doris: My constituents in Glasgow who rely on the Scottish welfare fund for money, often because of draconian United Kingdom benefit cuts and sanctions, sometimes face a variety of other challenges and have other support needs. The cabinet secretary alluded to that. Can the cabinet secretary give some more details about how the Scottish Government measures the successful outcomes for those who...
Jamie Hepburn: ...is that 560,000 people in Scotland will not be impacted by the cut from the Westminster Government, which Ms Davidson supports. Professor Steve Fothergill from Sheffield Hallam University told the Welfare Reform Committee that people in Scotland are comparatively better off as a consequence of that move. We have also seen around £8 million being set aside to support advice agencies, and...
Rhoda Grant: ...desperately need assistance to meet even their basic living costs. However, the data that the Poverty and Inequality Commission has published show that throughout April, May and June this year, the Scottish welfare fund was underused. Only £8.6 million was spent across those months, which is more than £1 million less than in the same period last year. That spend is only 15 per cent of...
Margaret Burgess: No. At the moment, we have an interim fund that is discretionary; it is not statutory. The criteria for the Scottish welfare fund are laid out according to what is in the section 30 order, which is why the bill has followed the section 30 order that gives the Scottish Parliament powers over aspects of welfare. I would like the Scottish Parliament to have all powers over welfare; if we did, we...
Nicola Sturgeon: I think that the member will accept that I will always agree that Glasgow should not be unfairly penalised. I do not have any evidence that Glasgow is being unfairly penalised in that respect. The welfare fund is administered by local authorities. I will have a look at the particular issue that James Kelly raises. The Scottish Government has increased the money that goes to the Scottish...
Bill Bowman: In 2017-18, Dundee overspent its share of the Scottish welfare fund by more than £104 million, and Dundee City Council paid for that overspend from its own pocket. Despite the clear need to support those living in deprivation, the Scottish Government has cut by £100,000 its 2018-19 allocation of the Scottish welfare fund to Dundee. Will the cabinet secretary explain to the chamber why this...
Pam Duncan-Glancy: Does Rona Mackay recognise that 76 per cent of applications to the Scottish welfare fund and 66 per cent of awards from the Scottish welfare fund are repeat applications for crisis support? That suggests that financial support is not really being given to the families that need it.
Clare Haughey: No, thank you. Shamefully, continuing UK Government welfare reforms have left more and more families throughout Scotland and the rest of the UK in crisis situations. It should not be for the Scottish Government to continually plug the gaps that are left by UK welfare reforms or to paper over the cracks of the Tory Government’s mistakes and incompetence in the universal credit debacle....
Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government has already topped up the Scottish welfare fund with an additional £45 million to take cognisance of issues such as [ Temporary loss of sound.] We ask people to look at boosting income in other ways first, through universal credit or other means, before resorting to the welfare fund. However, the welfare fund is there for emergency circumstances. Beyond that, last...