Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 83
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)
The Minister for Welfare Delivery highlighted that he felt the Universal Credit digital application system ‘stood up to the challenge’207 that the pandemic presented and that the previous legacy benefits system, which more heavily relied on paper-based administration, separate benefits and application processes, and need for in-person applications ‘would have fallen over’208 under the pressure exerted on the welfare system by the pandemic. He went on to explain that the system working as it had done and with the efforts of DWP staff payment timeliness for Universal Credit in Scotland ‘remains over 90%’.209 Universal Credit – digital by default system
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".