Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 66
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)
Taking all these concerns into account we were happy to hear of the increase in the number of work coaches by 13,500 across the UK to boost jobseeker support as a response to the covid-19 pandemic.164 We were very pleased to hear that as a result of this recruitment drive there are an additional 862 work coaches in Scotland whilst the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work also said there was an increase in ‘specialist disability employment advisers to make sure the level of personalisation, knowledge and understanding is there to support those particular challenges.’165 The Scottish Government did highlight that the real test of whether this increase in work coaches is successful will be what difference the work coaches are able to make in terms of the service they can offer.166 The Cabinet Secretary warned that with such a high number of claimants each, the success of these new work coaches will be whether they can ‘deliver the standard of service that a client requires and should have a right to.’167
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".