Date: 28 November 2024

Time: 14:00

Venue: Atlantic Quay, Glasgow

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 tenth meeting of the Board in 2024.

Marilyn Howard declared that she is a former recipient of the DWP Winter Fuel Payment.  Ed Pybus declared that he has recently been appointed Chair of the Skye and Lochalsh citizens advice bureau.

The draft Minutes of the October Board meeting were agreed.

The Board noted that a Ministerial statement was being made in the Scottish Parliament that afternoon regarding Winter Heating Assistance. The Board agreed to hold an ad hoc meeting on 12 December to consider the regulations in the context of the Ministerial Statement.  The Board also agreed that relevant Scottish Government officials be invited to the ad hoc meeting.

Andrew Strong provided the Board with an update on the regulations and noted they had been delayed and the Board should receive them by the end of the week.

The Board considered an approach to scrutiny and agreed contact would be made with stakeholders in December.

Andrew Strong provided an update on known scrutiny work to be undertaken by SCoSS between November 2024 and March 2025, including referral dates and a timeline for scrutiny of draft regulations.

The Board agreed that Judith Paterson would be the lead Commissioner for the scrutiny report on amendment regulations removing tax credits as a qualifying benefit.

The Board agreed that Dr Mark Simpson would be the lead Commissioner for the scrutiny report on the Cross Border (Amendment) Regulations.

The Board noted that the Dr Marilyn Howard would be the lead Commissioner for the Uprating regulations along with Adam Bennett.

The Board noted and discussed the Scottish Government response, of 1 November, to the SCoSS report on the Disability Assistance (Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance) Regulations 2025.

Dr Mark Simpson, Chair of the Charter Sub-Committee, provided the Board with an update of the meeting which took place on the 21 November. He observed that the Charter Scrutiny had moved from the research stage to the report drafting stage, and that the Sub-Committee had considered an initial draft of the report on the experiences of people with communication needs.  He also noted the Sub-Committee had shared some key themes in the report with Social Security Scotland which would be discussed with Social Security Scotland officials at a forthcoming meeting.

The Board noted that the minutes of the 21 November and forthcoming 11 December meeting of the Sub-Committee will be considered at the December board meeting.

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

• Meeting with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice on 14 November;
• Attending a Scottish Human Rights Commission roundtable discussion on ‘Engaging with the United Nations Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Human Rights in Scotland’ on 18 November; and
• Attending and speaking at The Scottish Government’s Social Security Policy huddle on 19 November.

The risk register had been reviewed by the Secretariat and considered by the Audit Sub-Committee which proposed the removal of two risks in the register both of which related to loss of Board resource and loss of Secretariat staff.  The Board agreed to the removal of the two risks and that these be replaced by two capacity related risks in relation to the Board and Secretariat.  The Board agreed that these new risks should be considered, in the first instance, at the next meeting of the Audit Sub-Committee in February.

Andrew Strong provided the Board with an update regarding the social media platform ‘BlueSky’. The Board agreed to the establishment of a SCoSS ‘BlueSky’ account for engagement purposes.

Meeting closed at 16:23

Date of next meeting: Thursday 19 December