CITIZENS ADVICE SCOTLAND REPORT

That this House welcomes the Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) report, Paying More to be Poor, which examines the causes and impacts of the poverty premium on low income consumers in Scotland; applauds CAS for its work drawing attention to this issue and highlighting the ways in which low income consumers pay more for essential goods and services; understands that such consumers are more likely to use more expensive payment methods, such as pre-payment energy meters and pay-as-you-go mobile telephones; believes that those consumers can also have high repayment burdens for credit and loans and that these costs can have negative physical and mental health effects; and further welcomes the commitment by CAS to working with interested stakeholders across the public, private and third sectors, and the UK and Scottish Governments, to tackle the poverty premium at its root.