First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 9 October 2025.
Clare Adamson
Scottish National Party
To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of any implications for its work to mitigate the two-child benefit cap of the United Kingdom Government’s reported proposals to replace the cap with a tapered system. (S6F-04378)
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
I have seen the press speculation to which Ms Adamson refers. It is important that the UK Government lets us know as soon as possible about any plans that it might have because, as Ms Adamson will know, the Scottish Government is pressing ahead with our measures to abolish the two-child limit, which should have been undertaken as one of the first acts of the Labour Government. The Scottish Fiscal Commission estimates that 43,000 children in Scotland will benefit from the Scottish Government’s two-child limit payment, and Scottish Government modelling shows that 20,000 children will be kept out of relative poverty as a result.
Clare Adamson
Scottish National Party
In hearing the murmurings, I was not surprised to find out that Labour is now back-pedalling on its plans. With a record 4.5 million children living in poverty under the Labour Government, plans to introduce a tapered system are nowhere near good enough. Will the First Minister join me in calling for the UK Government to reconsider that short-sighted proposal and instead follow the Scottish Government’s lead, dump the cap and dump the so-called rape Clause?
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
I very much associate myself with the comments that Clare Adamson made. The Scottish Government is taking measures that are resulting in a reduction in child poverty in Scotland, but all the estimates show that, as a consequence of the actions of the Labour Government, particularly in welfare reform, there is likely to be a rise in child poverty across the rest of the UK, and, of course, across the rest of the UK, the level of child poverty is already rising.
I make the plea today—and I have made it on many other occasions—for the Labour Government to recognise the absolute imperative of eradicating child poverty, take the measures to lift the two-child cap and enable the Scottish Government to use the resources that we are using on that to mitigate another Westminster decision that is bad for Scotland.
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.
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.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
