Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 27
Second Report - Welfare policy in Scotland
Published 23 Jun 2021
Addressed to Scotland Office
Scottish Affairs Committee Welfare policy in Scotland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
In the written evidence provided from the Scottish Government and the DWP, collaboration appears to be working well at inter-governmental level. The Scottish Government highlight that they have a ‘constructive relationship’56 with the DWP with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People, Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, holding bi-lateral meetings with Ministerial counterparts on an ‘as and when’57 basis as well as there being the more formal channel of the Joint Ministerial Working Group on 49 Joseph Rowntree Foundation (WPS0019) 50 The Poverty Alliance (WPS0018) 51 Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (WPS0017) 52 Joseph Rowntree Foundation (WPS0019) 53 Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland (WPS0009) 54 The Poverty Alliance (WPS0018) 55 Q132 56 Scottish Government (WPS0013) 57 Scottish Government (WPS0013) 18 Welfare policy in Scotland Welfare, which the Cabinet Secretary told us ‘meets twice a year’.58 These meetings are where ‘key developments on policy, legislation and implementation [are] discussed.’59 A recent example of this collaboration in action includes the Cabinet Secretary, Shirley Anne Somerville MSP’s reference to meetings held with the DWP’s Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, Justin Tomlinson MP, before she announced the delay to the Child and Adult Disability Payments in November 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic.60 DWP echo this view in their written evidence, highlighting that it has ‘provided wide ranging support’61 to the Scottish Government such as ‘holding joint workshops’62 and organising ‘visits to DWP benefit processing sites’.63
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, Second Report - Welfare policy in Scotland (HC 55), 23 June 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 19 November 2021 (deadline 23 August 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The UK Government "notes the Committee's recommendations" and responds to each in turn, accepting little of the report's welfare-policy proposals and referring several to the Scottish Government.
- On the £20 uplift and legacy benefits, it states "There was never any plan to extend the uplift to legacy benefits."
- On work allowances, it states it "has no plans to extend the work allowance to single adults".
- On Help to Claim funding, it "considers the existing resource to be sufficient", and says DWP agreed to fund Citizens Advice Scotland for another year, "up to 31 March 2022".
- On data sharing and Recommendations 2, 7 and 8, it says each data request "must be examined" by DWP as Data Controller, and treats several recommendations as "for the Scottish Government".