Minimum Income Guarantee Steering Group: June 2022 minutes and meeting papers

Minimum Income Guarantee Expert Group: interim report approach and timescales

Background

The five workstreams continue to work at pace and have each met three times following their initial inception meetings. The Steering Group remit does not commit the group to a particular reporting schedule or format, but the chair and group have identified the production of an interim report at the end of 2022 as the most appropriate way of reporting progress against their workplan and remit to date, and that this will be a timely point at which to stimulate public interest in the potential and ambitions of a Minimum Income Guarantee.

Russell Gunson has initiated the formation of a drafting group to work, with the support of the secretariat, to develop the draft and final interim report, with representation from each workstream. The workstreams will continue to work on developing their own recommendations while the drafting group set out the outline and direction for the overall report.

The drafting group aims to have their first draft recommendations / reports by end of September. Recommendations will be developed continually to finalise the report by the end of 2022.

Purpose of the interim report

The interim report will be published potentially at the height of the cost of living emergency facing people in Scotland. The aim of the report will be to outline the potentially transformative effect a MIG could have for levels of financial security in Scotland, alongside nearer-term steps that could both improve the lives of people now and make progress towards a MIG in the future.

As agreed at the last Expert Group meeting, the interim report will:

• outline an accessible way of describing what a MIG is (based on public-facing work between now and autumn)
• outline the high-level elements of a MIG (based on the Group’s agreed foundation principles)
• explore the potential benefits of a MIG and why now is an opportune time to consider a MIG. This could include benefits around wellbeing, the economy and its significant potential for narrowing inequalities (based on work between now and autumn)
• provide narrative around the work the Expert Group has carried out so far
  • workstreams
  • emerging themes that cross over workstreams
  • future plans – including planned workstreams for year two – cost, paying for a MIG, existing powers, future powers, piloting, and implementation, plus the continuation of the equalities and public opinion workstreams
• set out early steps towards a MIG. This section could take the form of recommendations or a wider discussion section (depending on strength of early-step recommendations by autumn). Consideration would need to be given to what is implementable and achievable
• set out the direction of travel for year two of the project including the next workstreams, legislative areas to explore and how a MIG could be costed

The interim report, given its timing, and given plans for year two, will also mark a new phase in engagement with the public, alongside policy and political arenas, to ensure that between the interim and final report we increase our public engagement on what a MIG is, what it could do, and how it could be delivered. We will consider plans for public engagement around and following publication of the interim report later this year.

Drafting approach

The report will be developed collaboratively between the Expert Group members. There will be a small drafting group which will draw in at least one member from each workstream to reflect the outputs from that workstream.

The workstreams’ work up to now and moving forward will feed into the interim report, with the drafting group determining the overarching narrative to pull the content together.

The secretariat will support the drafting of the content of the report, providing the significant capacity to create content, while the drafting group will provide their in-depth input and comment continually as the report develops. This means that the responsibility for producing drafts will sit between the drafting group and the secretariat. The secretariat will facilitate development, in particular highlighting crossovers and connections between the outputs from the workstreams. 

Content will be shared with the Expert Group as a whole for input and sign-off at key points, with decisions by consensus or majority if required. If this cannot be met the chair of the Expert Group will have the final say.

Timescales

The drafting group will be formed in June 2022.

The drafting group will work with the secretariat between July 2022 to September 2022 to develop the first draft of the report.

A final draft will be ready by late autumn 2022 which will be made available for review to the Strategy Group. The content of this draft could change by the final publication, however, as the workstreams continue in their work.

The report will be published by the end of 2022.