Date: 28 August 2026

Time: 13:30

Venue: Microsoft Teams

Present—

• Ed Pybus (Chair)
• Adam Bennett (Member)
• Dr Marilyn Howard (Member)
• Judith Paterson (Member)
• Dr Mark Simpson (Member)

Apologies: None

In attendance (SCoSS Secretariat)—

• Stephen Herbert, Secretary
• Andrew Strong, Head of Policy and Scrutiny
• Keith Rae, Analysis and Participation Manager
• Lisa Kinnear, Governance and Engagement Officer

For agenda item three—

External Expert Panel

• Nicole Busby
• Moira Escreet
• Will Hadwen
• Juliet Harris
• Paul McCormack
• Grainne McKeever

For agenda item four—

Scottish Government officials

• Elizabeth Hurst-High, Head of supporting access to social security;
• Caitlin Forsyth, Policy manager; and
• Jack McAllister, Policy manager.

The Chair welcomed the Commissioners to the meeting and no interests were declared.

The minutes of the August Board meeting were agreed.

The Chair welcomed the panel to the meeting and introductions were made. Discussion focussed on the Commission’s future scrutiny work programme. The Chair noted that the panel would operate as a pilot until September 2027.

The Board were joined by officials from the Scottish Government to discuss their approach to producing the latest version of the benefit take-up strategy.

The Board agreed its future strategy for charter research. The minutes of recent Charter sub-committee meetings were also agreed.

The Board considered the discussions that took place with a range of stakeholders at the June Board meeting.

The Board considered and agreed a draft style guide.

The Chair provided the Board with an update on his recent meetings, which were:

• Meeting with the Independent Monitoring Authority.
• Meeting with the Tribunal service.
• Attendance at a Poverty Alliance discussion on welfare experiences.
• Meeting with a Scottish Government official to discuss ADP.

The Chair also noted his upcoming meetings in September which include, meeting with David Wallace, Chief Executive of Social Security Scotland, the Scottish Human Rights Commission, Poverty Alliance and CoCABs Welfare Rights Officers.

The Board agreed meeting dates from January to June 2027.

The Board agreed that the use of Artificial Intelligence would be discussed at a future Board meeting.

Meeting closed at 16:54