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There are a number of variables in how an individual responds to the request for information. If they respond within 28 days stating that assistance being suspended would place them in hardship or that they are not able to provide the information, that would of course initiate a further process of engagement with the individual on their circumstances.

To be clear, suspension will be used as a last resort by Social Security Scotland and it will be used only when an individual fails to engage for a minimum period of 28 days. When assistance is suspended, Social Security Scotland will issue the individual with a notice explaining that their entitlement to assistance might be ended if the requested information is not provided within 28 days of the notice. As I said, ending an individual’s benefit will be a last resort and will be done only if all alternative means of obtaining the requested information, which is needed to accurately determine entitlement, have been exhausted.

Those are two important questions, which I will touch on briefly just now. It might also be helpful for Mr Briggs if I get a response from Social Security Scotland as to our current position.

I have regular calls with senior members of Social Security Scotland staff and, from a very recent call, I can say that recruitment is going well—we are pleased with progress. Part of the recruitment is of health and social care staff and that has been progressing successfully. Wider engagement with health boards is also in a positive place. If it would be helpful for Mr Briggs and the committee more widely, I will elaborate on that further in an update in writing over and above what I have just said.

We encourage parents with shared care to decide who should make a claim. The number of people who will be affected by the changes to the rules is likely to be minimal, as I said in my opening statement. We do not anticipate that the proposed change will deter parents from undertaking shared care. We shared the draft regulations with our stakeholder group and no feedback was received about such an outcome, so I do not believe that our approach will disincentivise shared care.

That is certainly not the position that we envisage as things stand. As I set out in my opening statement and my previous answers, we are making these changes because of issues that have arisen as a result of the entitlement to reserved benefits and the effect that that has on our devolved benefits. We are making changes to make sure that the person with responsibility for the child receives the devolved benefit. We will continue to keep the regulations, as we do all our regulations and our benefits, under continuous review and seek to make improvements where appropriate and where possible.

That is an important point. The chair of SCOSS and I have discussed these issues and the amount of consideration that SCOSS has had to give to different sets of regulations over the recent period. We are very mindful of that. I have spoken previously at committee about the extra resourcing that we are providing to SCOSS in the period ahead. The ambition is to give SCOSS adequate time to evaluate as appropriate and as required.

We have faced a number of developments in recent months that have required evaluation and engagement from SCOSS that were not anticipated—for example, the regulations around those coming to the UK from Afghanistan required consideration quickly, and that was unexpected.

Is the ambition to reduce the demand on SCOSS in the period ahead? Yes. Are we grateful for SCOSS’s engagement and work over the last months? Absolutely. Will we continue to work constructively with SCOSS to make sure that it has the resources that it requires? Yes, we will.

There are wider considerations in Mr Balfour’s question around the qualifying benefit, which also relate to the regulations that are before us today. Of course, under the agency agreement, the DWP continues to deliver the carers allowance and the supplement and, this year, the additional payment, so the considerations are around the qualifying benefit.

The points that Mr Balfour raises are pertinent and important with regard to the development of the Scottish carers assistance in the period ahead, and we will publish our consultation on that shortly. These are points of consideration. I am happy to respond with any further points of information or interest above what I have said, but I can say right now that those issues will be considerations in the period ahead as we look at the development of Scottish carers assistance.

I can emphasise that, from a Scottish Government position, we are making it very clear to the DWP when we require to receive the data and how we require to receive it to meet that deadline. I do not want to say anything more at this stage, as officials are engaged in good faith on the matter. However, I will certainly update the committee in due course as appropriate.

I thank Miles Briggs for that important question. A situation where two parents are in receipt of a qualifying benefit for the same child should not be possible. If a situation arises where both parents have an exact 50:50 split of care and both are in receipt of a qualifying benefit, we would trust that the process of applying for the qualifying benefit would provide clarity by awarding the child element to the parent responsible for the child. Where that fails for any reason and triggers a competing claim for the Scottish child payment, the rules that allow the Scottish ministers to consider the circumstances of the child will apply. The evidence that will be considered by the Scottish ministers in determining awards in these cases will be set out in the published guidance. The guidance will be important in relation to those questions.

The Scottish Government continues to evaluate and consider how all our benefits are performing and what revisions we may need to make to regulations to make sure that they take into account the different situations of different families in different circumstances. The fact that we have brought the regulations to the committee today is evidence of that continued work to improve the benefits that we provide.

Pauline Torley might want to say a bit more about engagement or any other points that Mr Briggs has raised.

Yes, the guidance will be published to coincide with the amending regulations coming into force on 23 December. Organisations are being consulted. We intend to consult with the five family payments reference group, which includes the third sector, NHS and local government representation and the Child Poverty Action Group.