Meeting of the Parliament 01 November 2022
That would be extremely helpful. Thank you.
We have tried to bring together in one place all the information that I have described, because we know that it can be challenging for people to find out what they are entitled to. That is why we recently launched a cost of living website, as part of the Scottish Government’s website, which provides trusted advice to help people to understand the significant range of support that is available.
We are acutely aware of the growing impact on low-income households of debts to the public sector, which Elena Whitham mentioned. Local authorities have powers to write off arrears, and we continue to encourage them to share good practice on debt assistance and collection and to show empathy and dignity when they are working with people who are struggling with debts.
The UK Government holds many of the levers that would lift households out of poverty, and I remain deeply concerned about its long-standing approach to social security. Although we are using all of the powers that are available to us to support households where we can, including uprating our benefits, the social impacts of real-terms cuts to UK Government benefits are significant, and more people on a low income are being driven into poverty or deeper into poverty. I urge the UK Government to reflect on that when it comes to its budget statement.
We cannot have further austerity inflicted by the UK Government. As the First Minister told the Prime Minister last week, the UK Government holds the levers over energy, tax and the bulk of benefits, along with business support and regulation that could help to address the crisis and support households, public bodies and business in the future. We have called on the UK Government to provide an inflationary uplift to the 2022-23 budget to enable the Scottish Government to take further steps to support people with the cost of living crisis, provide fair public sector pay uplifts and support public services, given the fiscal constraints on devolution.
I once again thank the committee for its comprehensive report and for bringing the debate to the chamber to allow us to shine a light on all those issues.
15:32