Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:30 pm on 20 June 2024.
Jamie Greene
Conservative
2:30,
20 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Audit Scotland’s analysis showing that Social Security Scotland’s benefit expenditure budget was £5.1 billion in 2023-24, which was an increase of 22 per cent on its 2022-23 budget, what action it is taking to reduce expenditure on Scottish social security benefits, including through assisting people into meaningful paid employment. (S6O-03612)
Shirley-Anne Somerville
Scottish National Party
Social security is a priority for this Government, and we are proud of our significant investment to ensure that people receive the support that they are entitled to. When all our benefits have been introduced and clients have been transferred from the Department for Work and Pensions, Social Security Scotland will support around one in three people in Scotland, the vast Majority of whom are disabled and unpaid carers.
We continue to support employment opportunities within the limits of our devolved powers, with up to £90 million for employability services through the no one left behind plan this year, and the remaining delivery of fair start Scotland funding.
Jamie Greene
Conservative
I am pleased that the Minister mentioned those with disabilities in our workforce, for example. One of the points of feedback from Inclusion Scotland was that many people who had to leave the workplace due to the pandemic have struggled to get back into work, and have found the whole process quite daunting. What is the Scottish Government doing to support jobseekers and employers to assist those who have been out of the workplace for a particularly long time to make that move, which can be daunting, and to get them back into the workforce?
Shirley-Anne Somerville
Scottish National Party
I thank Jamie Greene for that question. It is important that we look at the disability employment gap and what can be done. Some of the responsibility and powers for that lie with the Scottish Government and some with the UK Government, and both Governments need to do more on it. We are determined to do just that.
A number of mechanisms and policies are in place—I mentioned no one left behind in my original answer. That is a very important way of making a tailored service available to everybody. The Government also works with employers to ensure that they recognise the importance and significance of the role that disabled people and their carers can play in the employment market—even those who have perhaps not been in the labour market for some time. That is a commitment that we are absolutely determined to take forward.
Kenneth Gibson
Scottish National Party
On 4 June, in the stage 1 debate on the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill, Tory social security spokesperson Jeremy Balfour said:
“As a Parliament, we should be demanding that all benefits in Scotland are inflation proofed.”—[Official Report, 4 June 2024; c 28.]
That should be a priority even if our block grant from the UK Government is below inflation. Mr Greene clearly disagrees with that. Does the Cabinet secretary agree that it is astonishing that the Tories are utterly incapable of speaking with one voice on something as fundamental as Social Security Scotland’s budget?
Annabelle Ewing
Scottish National Party
Cabinet secretary, please respond on the matters within your responsibility.
Shirley-Anne Somerville
Scottish National Party
Mr Gibson is quite right to point out the variety of different calls that I receive from the Scottish Conservatives on the issue. In his original question, Jamie Greene seemed to suggest that we may wish or need to cut social security expenditure. I say to the Conservatives and to the Labour Party, which shares its policies on social security with the Conservatives, that the best way that we can do that is through changes in the UK social security system so that we do not have to spend, for example, £134 million a year mitigating some of the worst excesses of the UK Government’s system. That would allow the Scottish Government to work to introduce more anti-poverty measures, which we are determined to do. It is disappointing that the current Government—and, I would suggest, any incoming Government—is refusing to take up that challenge.
Annabelle Ewing
Scottish National Party
That concludes portfolio questions on social justice. There will be a very short pause before we move on to the next item of business, to allow front-bench teams to change positions, should they so wish.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
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The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
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War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
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The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.
With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.
