Chamber and committees

Recruitment to Social Security Scotland’s Senior Management Team were made in line with the Scottish Government’s selection policy. The personal characteristics of panel members is not monitored or reported.

Appointments to the Executive Advisory Body mirrored the Ministerial Appointments process. The ethnicity of interviewers was not recorded.

The Scottish Government has written on numerous occasions to the UK Government requesting that the two child limit be scrapped and have made clear our total opposition to the policy. This policy is part of Universal Credit which is a fully reserved benefit the Scottish Government has have no control over and cannot change.

By 2020-21 UK government cuts are expected to take around £3.7 billion out of the Scottish welfare system. It is not our policy to mitigate all of these UK Government welfare cuts, which are the equivalent of three times the Police Scotland budget. Pressure should be maintained on the UK Government to make changes to the policy and we will continue to call for such changes.

We are already investing over £125m in 2018-19 to mitigate the effects of UK Government welfare cuts and to protect people on low incomes - £20 million more than last year. The fact the Scottish Government has to take such action was described by the United Nation Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights as “outrageous”.

Comments made by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work referred to the legitimate assumption that any policies to directly top-up reserved benefits would need the agreement and cooperation of the DWP. Mr Mackay also said that “the best way to resolve it is to address the problem at source”.

The Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan sets out the many actions we are taking to increase family incomes and reduce living costs. That includes a commitment to work towards introducing a new income supplement, to provide additional financial support for low income families.

I refer the member to question S5W-19666 on 13 November 2018 which provided applicants monitoring information in relation to Ethnic group for Social Security Scotland’s Executive Advisory Body.

Posts within the agency’s Senior Management Team were filled in line with the Scottish Government’s selection policy. In equalities monitoring, no applicant identified as black or minority ethnic in relation to ethnic group.

The Scottish Government has written on numerous occasions to the UK Government requesting that the two child limit be scrapped and have made clear our total opposition to the policy. This policy is part of Universal Credit which is a fully reserved benefit the Scottish Government has have no control over and cannot change.

By 2020-21 UK government cuts are expected to take around £3.7 billion out of the Scottish welfare system. It is not our policy to mitigate all of these UK Government welfare cuts, which are the equivalent of three times the Police Scotland budget. Pressure should be maintained on the UK Government to make changes to the policy and we will continue to call for such changes.

We are already investing over £125m in 2018-19 to mitigate the effects of UK Government welfare cuts and to protect people on low incomes - £20 million more than last year. The fact the Scottish Government has to take such action was described by the United Nation Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights as “outrageous”.

Comments made by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work referred to the legitimate assumption that any policies to directly top-up reserved benefits would need the agreement and cooperation of the DWP. Mr Mackay also said that “the best way to resolve it is to address the problem at source”.

The Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan sets out the many actions we are taking to increase family incomes and reduce living costs. That includes a commitment to work towards introducing a new income supplement, to provide additional financial support for low income families.

The Scottish Government remains committed to creating a system of disability assistance that works for the people of Scotland. We have previously outlined a number of ways by which we will achieve this, including: an accessible and transparent application process; responsibility for sourcing supporting information sitting with Social Security Scotland, rather than the individual; significantly reducing the volume of face to face assessments; delivering an assessment service that offers individuals choice and control. Further development of disability assistance will be taken forward in consultation including Experience Panel feedback. It will ensure the safe and secure transition of payments and do so in a manner consistent with our ethos of treating people with fairness, dignity and respect.

Over 4,000 applications were received for Best Start Grant on the first day applications opened. That is around the same number of UK Government Sure Start Maternity Grant payments, which Best Start Grant replaces, for the whole of 2017-18 in Scotland. Statistics will be published which will provide the total number of applications received and payments made in 2019, this will include applications for a third or greater child.

The Scottish Government has written on numerous occasions to the UK Government requesting that the two child limit be scrapped and have made clear our total opposition to the policy. This policy is part of Universal Credit which is a fully reserved benefit the Scottish Government has have no control over and cannot change.

By 2020-21 UK government cuts are expected to take around £3.7 billion out of the Scottish welfare system. It is not our policy to mitigate all of these UK Government welfare cuts, which are the equivalent of three times the Police Scotland budget. Pressure should be maintained on the UK Government to make changes to the policy and we will continue to call for such changes.

We are already investing over £125m in 2018-19 to mitigate the effects of UK Government welfare cuts and to protect people on low incomes - £20 million more than last year. The fact the Scottish Government has to take such action was described by the United Nation Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights as “outrageous”.

Comments made by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work referred to the legitimate assumption that any policies to directly top-up reserved benefits would need the agreement and cooperation of the DWP. Mr Mackay also said that “the best way to resolve it is to address the problem at source”.

The Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan sets out the many actions we are taking to increase family incomes and reduce living costs. That includes a commitment to work towards introducing a new income supplement, to provide additional financial support for low income families.

The Social Security Programme Board considers dates for implementation, and associated Go/No Go decisions, as part of managed programme planning. They will give a formal view on Go/No Go in advance of implementation dates.

The Social Security Directorate has worked with the Scottish Government Programme and Project Management Centre of Expertise to undertake three Social Security Programme Gateway 0 (Strategic Assessment) reviews (September 2015, March 2016, November 2017) and an Agency Gateway Review Healthcheck (May 2018).

Administration funding is given to local authorities by the Scottish Government to maintain the Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF), raising awareness of SWF using this funding is at their discretion. The Scottish Government is not aware of television advertising being used by any local authorities to encourage applications to the SWF.