Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 37
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)
Oral evidence we received from the Scottish Government highlighted an unequal relationship between it and the DWP in relation to sharing existing data. The Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People highlighted that it must make individual and formal data requests to the DWP, and if they ‘make a request for data and the DWP decides not to do it, that is the end of the matter.’95 The Cabinet Secretary did note that disputes can be escalated through the framework that is in place via the memorandum of understanding between Scottish Ministers and the DWP on social security and employment services in Scotland96 but ultimately the sharing of data with the Scottish Government is ‘a decision finally for the DWP.’97
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".