News / Freeman: ‘social security is a human right’
JEANE Freeman, the minister for social security in the Scottish Government, has pledged that Shetland’s specific issues of poverty and inequality will be addressed in the forthcoming islands deal.
The MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley visited the isles on Friday to learn about the high cost of living and poverty in a community that is generally regarded as being well off.
Speaking after a three-hour session at Islesburgh Community Centre in Lerwick during which she was introduced to Shetland’s own research into tackling inequalities and in-work poverty, the minister said that until now she had not realised the extent of the problem.
“It was new for me. I had a general appreciation that fuel costs were higher, travel costs were higher, and that probably food and other costs were higher as a logical extension,” she said.
“What I hadn’t appreciated was that the estimated cost of living was between ten and 33 per cent higher, which is a significant point.”
Research into the rising issue of ‘In Work Poverty in Shetland’ has found that compared to the rest of the UK, a greater proportion of working households in Shetland face difficulty maintaining a decent standard of living with affected residents struggling with high energy bills and being unable to leave the islands due to the associated travel costs.
In some cases working parents had gone without food towards the end of the month to ensure there was enough to feed their children.
Freeman said the government regarded social security as a human right and needed to ensure that its policies “addressing inequality and poverty in Scotland are sufficiently nuanced to make a difference here [in Shetland] as much as it would make in Glasgow”.
The minister, who was first elected to parliament in May last year, is tasked with building a Scottish social security system after parts of the benefit system were devolved to the Scottish Parliament at the end of last year.
She said that it was vital for the government’s policies to apply across the country and reiterated the commitment from all government departments to make polices ‘island-proof’.
“The island bill that will come in will make that [island proofing] enforceable to all public authorities,” she said.
Asked what that could mean in practicable terms, she responded: “You have to tackle it [island specific poverty] from both sides. You have to tackle it on the basis of ‘what can we do to reduce cost’, and secondly ‘what can we do to help increasing income’.
“I know that Humza Yousaf [transport and islands minister] is looking at the ferry situation and whether or not the tendering can open it up to a public service operator which would allow us as a government to help with the cost of ferry fare.
“In terms of social security there is a discussion to be had about whether or not you differentiate benefit levels across the country, but I need to understand where else in addition to Shetland might there be an argument for that and what will that do to the overall cost of the benefit bill.
“I don’t know the answer to that yet, and I guess all I am saying at this point is that it needs to be considered and I will consider it.”
The Scottish Parliament is taking on responsibilities for eleven different benefits in devolved areas, including responsibility for carers and disability benefits, maternity payments and funeral payments, and is also able to top up UK-wide benefits such as universal credit, tax credits and child benefit.
“I want to build a social security system in Scotland that really does make every effort to meet the needs of the people who use it,” she said.
“We have clearly said as a government we believe social security is a human right and that the design and delivery of it should be founded on the principles of dignity, fairness and respect.”
The Scottish Government is recruiting 2,000 volunteers who are in receipt of one or more of these eleven benefits to help shape the new social security system. More information is available via this Scottish Government page: http://www.gov.scot/socialsecurity
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