Date: 30 January 2025 

Time: 14:00 

Venue: Microsoft Teams 

Present— 

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

 Apologies: None 

 In attendance (SCoSS Secretariat)— 

• Stephen Herbert, Secretary
• Andrew Strong, Head of Policy and Scrutiny
• Christopher Galloway, Analysis and Participation Support Officer
• Lisa Kinnear, Governance and Engagement Officer 

The Chair, Ed Pybus, welcomed the Commissioners to the first meeting of the Board in 2025.  He declared that he has been appointed a member of Kilfinnan Community Council.  Mr Pybus also declared that he is a Research Associate with the Resolution Foundation on a project on ‘wealth in the welfare system’.

Marilyn Howard declared that she is a former recipient of the DWP Winter Fuel Payment.

The draft Minutes of the December Board meeting were agreed.

In attendance— 

•  Owen Allen, Team Leader, Winter Benefits and Scottish Welfare Fund Policy, Social Security Policy Division, Scottish Government. 

 Owen Allen provided the Board with an update on the development of the draft regulations since he last discussed them with Commissioners on 12 December. The Board discussed the content of the draft regulations with Mr Allen.  Subsequently, the Board had an initial discussion regarding the approach to scrutiny of the draft regulations. 

Mark Simpson, as Chair of the Charter Sub-Committee, provided an update on the progress of the ongoing research report on experiences of people with communications needs in the context of the Social Security Charter. The Board discussed the structure and content of the draft report and agreed to further develop the report, including a summary of recommendations. 

Members also agreed to submit additional comments on the draft report by 7 February.  The Board noted that the Charter Sub-Committee will consider a revised version of the final report on 11 February. 

Judith Paterson provided the Board with an update as the Commissioner leading scrutiny of the draft regulations. The Board considered the approach to reporting on the regulations and agreed to report on the draft regulations via a letter. 

The Board agreed, subject to formatting changes, the content of the draft letter. The Board agreed that the reformatted version of the letter be signed off by Judith Paterson and the Chair. 

The Board discussed the main points of the stakeholder meeting held by SCoSS on 20 January 2025 to discuss the draft regulations which was attended by representatives of nine organisations and the response received from Scottish Government officials to questions from the Board.  The Board then considered a draft report on a page-by-page basis.  Lastly, the Board agreed to hold an ad hoc meeting, to further consider the draft report, on 18 February and noted the laying date for the report is 28 February. 

Stephen Herbert spoke to this agenda item and noted that the paper for this agenda item provided an update on progress against the strategic objectives and priorities in the current SCoSS 2024-25 Business Plan. 

 The Board agreed to provide initial comments, via e-mail, on the potential content of the business plan via email.  It was noted that a draft 2025-26 business plan will be considered at a future Board meeting. 

The Chair provided the Board with an update on his recent meetings since the last Board meeting.  These were— 

• Meeting with Citizens Advice Scotland; and 
• Meeting with officials on the Free School Meals Expansion Scottish Child Payment data sharing regulations. 

Lisa Kinnear provided the Board with an update on fee claims.  Adam Bennett suggested that a Style Guide should be developed to provide a consistent approach to SCoSS reports.  The Board agreed that Mr Bennett would lead on the development of the guide.  Lastly, Andrew Strong provided an update on staffing of the Secretariat.

Meeting closed at 17:12

Date of next meeting: Thursday 27 February