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Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 05 March 2026 [Draft]

05 Mar 2026 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
First Minister’s Question Time
Social Security Scotland Investigations
Findlay, Russell Con West Scotland Watch on SPTV

Anyone who is daft enough to trust the SNP with their cash needs to give their head a wobble.

However, I am more interested in taxpayers’ money. That case illustrates so much that is wrong with the SNP’s benefits system. Thanks to The Scotsman newspaper, we know that Sally Donald may have claimed tens of thousands of pounds in adult disability payment to which she was not entitled. I have repeatedly challenged John Swinney over the SNP’s deliberately light-touch benefits system being wide open to abuse, but he is in denial. He told me:

“if there is evidence of fraud, those issues are already addressed by the systems that Social Security Scotland has in place.”—[Official Report, 18 September 2025; c 11.]

Does he stand by his claim that the system is strong enough to catch benefits cheats?

In the same item of business

1. Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con
John Swinney personally backed Sally Donald to become a new Scottish National Party member of the Scottish Parliament. At her glitzy campaign fundraiser, he ...
The First Minister (John Swinney) SNP
I am going to do my level best to answer the questions that Russell Findlay has put to me, as I always do, but I am not going to talk about individual cases,...
Russell Findlay Con
John Swinney’s star candidate used a crowdfunder to raise more than £1,200 for her campaign. Interruption.
The Presiding Officer (Alison Johnstone) NPA
We are going to hear Mr Findlay.
Russell Findlay Con
Anyone who is daft enough to trust the SNP with their cash needs to give their head a wobble.However, I am more interested in taxpayers’ money. That case ill...
The First Minister SNP
Yes, I stand by those comments because I believe that to be the case.I cannot be the only person who is surprised that Russell Findlay has not managed to mak...
Russell Findlay Con
Here is a reality check for John Swinney. Last year, my party revealed that Social Security Scotland had referred just 29 cases of potential fraud to the Cro...
The First Minister SNP
I reiterate what I said in my answer to Mr Findlay’s second question: the system is working, because investigations take place when they are required. There ...
The Presiding Officer NPA
Let us hear one another.
The First Minister SNP
—is that Russell Findlay and the Tories, with their credentials as the nasty party of Scottish politics properly restored, are going after vulnerable people ...
Russell Findlay Con
I remember the old John Swinney, who preached about being respectful in here. The mask has again slipped and he has gone back to the angry John Swinney who r...
The Presiding Officer NPA
Let us hear one another.
Russell Findlay Con
The party of gravy-bus grifters and camper-van capers mugs its own members and robs the taxpayers of Scotland. It has built a benefits system that shouts, “F...
The First Minister SNP
I am always respectful in my engagement in Parliament, and I will not apologise for setting out some hard truths to the Tory party.I did not conjure up the d...