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I am certainly happy to write to the committee with more detail around this, but the overall direction of travel is to make all homes barrier free, and there are standards for new housing that will help to deliver that. We have been supporting registered social landlords and local authorities on retrofitting and aids and adaptations. On the local needs assessment, it is important that local authorities report back regularly to us about the levels of accessible housing in their areas.

There is more that we need to do, though. The media interview that I did was on the back of a quite challenging case of someone with very complex needs. At the moment, I am not sure that our systems provide for those who have particularly complex needs and who need bespoke solutions. We have systems of aids and adaptations that can be made to existing housing for those whose mobility changes over time. With new stock there are higher standards on accessibility and being barrier free.

However, there are people who have particular complex needs that require a bespoke solution and I am not sure that we have that quite right yet. One of the commitments that I have made—and I have asked officials to do this—is to look at how we can do more to help to resolve those very complex cases and support local authorities and RSLs to do that. I am happy to come back to the committee with more information about that if you would find it helpful.

As I have mentioned on a few occasions, all of these things will be entered into the resource spending review, which provides the opportunity and the platform to discuss them. It is not just the third sector that is wanting to move to multiyear settlements; it is local government as well. Kate Forbes has already agreed with local government that we will start discussions on a multiyear fiscal framework, if you like. Therefore, through the resource spending review, we will want to have a parallel discussion on moving in that direction with the third sector.

Let me try to answer those questions in turn. The Scottish welfare fund provides a vital safety net for people experiencing a financial crisis or needing help. Obviously, it cannot be a regular source of income for someone, but it can help in crisis situations.

In 2022-23, we are investing £41 million in the Scottish welfare fund. Forty-five per cent of crisis grant applications are made by people requiring help due to their benefits or income having already been spent. Local authorities are able to carry forward any underspend from the previous year’s budget, which means that the total available in the current financial year is £45 million. Last year, more than £49 million was paid out from the fund and more than 200,000 individual awards were made to low-income households. Of course, a number of councils add to the fund.

In addition, £25 million of flexible funding, which is part of the £41 million winter support fund, is available to support people experiencing financial insecurity. We recognise that this winter will be tough because of rising costs, and that £25 million of flexible funding should help local authorities to meet people’s needs.

The distribution of funds is based on the number of low-income benefit recipients in each local authority and has been agreed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, so any changes would need to be agreed with COSLA.

We committed to undertake a full independent review of the welfare fund to ensure that it works as well as possible across the country, and it will look at issues such as funding, administration, promotion, take-up and accessibility. I can tell the committee that, following our competitive tendering exercise, a preferred contractor has been identified to undertake independent research, and we are finalising the contract with the organisation. I am happy to update the committee when that is done and the work begins. I expect the work to start imminently—by the end of the month—and the final report is expected by the end of this year.

A key element is about gathering the views of applicants to the fund to hear what they have to say about whether the fund is successful or not, and a review advisory group has been established to provide oversight of the research process. That will include membership from the key organisations that you would expect.

I hope that all of that helps us to address any issues that need to be addressed in improving the welfare fund.

I reiterate what I said to Miles Briggs at the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, where he asked the same question. First, it is obviously for local authorities to decide their council tax level; it is not for the Government to tell them where they should set their council tax.

Secondly, council tax levels in Scotland are significantly lower than those elsewhere in the UK, so we are starting from a lower baseline. We also have the council tax reduction scheme, which supports huge numbers of people who struggle to pay their council tax. Again, I am happy to furnish the committee with details of that. That scheme is available—to an extent, it is not available elsewhere—and it recognises Miles Briggs’s point that we need to support people who are struggling with their council tax. The £130 pandemic payment was also paid to those in receipt of council tax reduction.

If we take all those measures together as a package, we see that the money that I have talked about throughout the meeting to support low-income households will be important as we face rising living costs, including food and fuel costs. The package of measures and the funding that we are giving to low-income households will help to keep people’s heads above water over the next few months.

First, I acknowledge that women probably have been hardest hit during the pandemic, for all the reasons that we understand. We have tried to support households during the pandemic because we know that that will disproportionately support women and families who are struggling. Women, particularly those with children in low-income households, are major beneficiaries of the £130 pandemic support payments, the bridging payments, the Scottish child payment and all the other supports that I have outlined during the meeting.

Earlier, I laid out the additional support that we have given to carers over the past two years and the support that we are giving them in this year’s budget. Additional support is being provided to unpaid carers, with an additional £4 million being provided here and now to support carers who are facing challenges. Again, all that support will disproportionately benefit women. We recognise the burden that women have carried throughout the pandemic, and we want to do what we can to support them. We believe that we have done our best to do that through the mechanisms that I have laid out.

Let me try to be as brief as possible on a very complex issue and say some key things. First, the safe and secure transfer of people on benefits, who rely on that money, to the adult disability payment is critical. The committee is well aware of that. It is well aware of the view of the Scottish Commission on Social Security and the disability and carers benefits expert advisory group of the need to make sure that people’s payments are not jeopardised in any way.

Secondly, there will be a lot of changes in the way in which people are treated and the way in which they experience the system. The look and feel of the Scottish assessment criteria have been widely welcomed and, as I mentioned, the Westminster committee has been given those by the sector organisation as a template to look at.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s projection of an increase in expenditure on the adult disability payment, based on its assessment that more people will apply and more people will get the benefit, suggests that that will be a major improvement and more people will get the support that they require than do at the moment.

In recognition of some of the issues that Pam Duncan-Glancy has raised, we have been clear right from the start that there is a need to review the adult disability payment. That has been scheduled for a year after the safe and secure transfer. Also, the mobility descriptor element of ADP will be turbocharged as part of the review, and that will start this year.

As Pam Duncan-Glancy recognises—as I know the committee does—the complexity of this also involves the DWP. Any changes that we propose to make after that review will be with the full involvement of stakeholders and of course, as you would expect, we need to make sure that the DWP will not remove people’s passported benefits, because the agreement with the DWP at the moment is on a like-for-like benefit. Although all the improvements will be made, there has to be equivalence in order to maintain those passported benefits until we get agreement from the DWP. Any persuasion that can be put to the DWP will be welcome—I know that you will have the minister from the DWP in front of you, and that will be an important question for them. We need to make sure that we have the scope to be able to make the changes that we want to make.

I have tried to condense what is a very complex area into some of the key issues that need to be considered here.

There are certainly pressures on the Scottish Government budget and difficult choices have to be made. We are continuing to mitigate the UK Government’s decisions. That means that there is less money to go elsewhere, which is a challenge. For example, on the bedroom tax, £80 million goes to discretionary housing payments. It would have been much better if the bedroom tax had been scrapped. The £80 million that we have to put into discretionary housing payments could then have been spent on other areas and other priorities. These are difficult choices and we cannot mitigate everything—that is just not possible. We will continue to do what we can to support low-income households as best we can.

I agree. The Scottish Fiscal Commission is projecting that, because of the difference in approach to the adult disability payment, more people will apply for it. The largest component of the divergence is the adult disability payment forecast, where improvements to application, review and appeals processes will remove barriers and are expected to result in more successful applications. The Fiscal Commission estimates overall additional spending of £37 million in 2022-23, rising to £527 million in 2026-27. Those costs represent the additional investment that we are making as a result of our approach to disability benefits. There is no funding for that from block grant adjustments, but it is the right thing to do. We believe that the system will look and feel a lot different for people who are on disability benefits from how the current system looks and feels.

I will respond to that in a bit of detail, because it is important. Yes, I am confident, but it will take both Governments to help deliver that. I will come on to say a little bit about why that is important.

On 5 January, the Minister for Social Security and Local Government, Ben Macpherson, wrote to the UK Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, Chloe Smith, stressing the Scottish Government’s commitment to rolling out the Scottish child payment to under-16s by the end of 2022. He outlined the joint commitment of both Governments and the on-going joint programme of work, stressing the risks involved in the Department for Work and Pensions approach and seeking further assurances around timescales.

The Scottish Government made the Department for Work and Pensions aware of our Scottish child payment delivery intentions back in July 2019, following the finalisation of an impact paper. The DWP has had quite a bit of notice of our intention. There have been negotiations between the Scottish Government and the DWP to solve the data issues and I am pleased to say that a joint delivery plan is in place.

The DWP’s project documentation from August 2019 includes a list of the Scottish Government’s high-level data requirements, plus assumptions and risks. In addition to the normal project management processes, the Scottish Government and DWP senior officials have committed to a series of additional assessments of progress against intended delivery at pre-agreed junctures from January to March. That is important, because if it becomes clear at one of those critical checkpoints that there is a risk to successful delivery, a joint assessment will be undertaken and action taken to mitigate that risk.

As I am sure that you are aware, there have been negotiations between the Scottish Government and the DWP to resolve the data issues. All that I will say about that is that the Scottish Government’s preferred solution has not been agreed and, therefore, we had quite reluctantly to agree to the DWP’s preferred solution, which carries a higher risk. That is why the Scottish Government sought a letter of comfort from the DWP acknowledging that to be the case.

Our preference has consistently been to extend the existing systems that we have in place for the Scottish child payment, but the DWP’s position is that we should build on the DWP’s new strategic solution. That carries a higher degree of risk, but we have mechanisms in place to monitor that risk. I am sure that we could keep the committee apprised of the progress being made on the resolution of the data solutions. To be blunt, convener, we cannot do this without the data from the DWP; it is critical to being able to roll out the Scottish child payment by the end of this year, so it has to happen. From our end, I am happy to keep the committee apprised of progress.

Yes, I am happy to. We have chosen to increase the child winter heating assistance by 5 per cent, which is above the rate of inflation, as we wanted to do all that we can to help families of the most severely disabled children and young people cope with rising energy costs. Those rising energy costs are clearly a big concern for people at the moment. That was the thinking behind that, and I think that that will be important for those in that position.