Social Security Policies

Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:30 pm on 3 October 2024.

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Photo of Marie McNair Marie McNair Scottish National Party 2:30, 3 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how its social security policies are mitigating any impact in Scotland of the United Kingdom Government’s so-called bedroom tax and benefit cap. (S6O-03800)

Photo of Shirley-Anne Somerville Shirley-Anne Somerville Scottish National Party

This year, we are making more than £90 million available to local authorities to spend on discretionary housing payments to mitigate United Kingdom Government policies, including the bedroom tax and the benefit cap. The benefit cap hits families hardest, and the Scottish Government’s funding helps to support around 3,400 families with more than 11,000 children. Our bedroom tax mitigation policy helps more than 94,000 households with more than 20,000 children. We are further supporting families by investing £457 million in the Scottish child payment this year. However, its impacts are greatly reduced by the UK Government’s welfare policies, including the inadequacy of the universal credit system.

Photo of Marie McNair Marie McNair Scottish National Party

Those policies are part of a United Kingdom regime that is a significant drain on the Scottish budget. That regime still includes the two-child policy and its abhorrent rape clause, and has now cut the winter fuel payment to pensioners. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the continuation of those repugnant policies shows that only with the full devolution of social security policy will real change be achieved and the culture of stigma and cruelty that is caused by the UK welfare system be brought to an end?

Photo of Shirley-Anne Somerville Shirley-Anne Somerville Scottish National Party

The member is quite right to point to the stigma and cruelty that were felt by people during the Department for Work and Pensions years, particularly with regard to disability payments. I heard that once again directly from people yesterday, when I visited the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

It is critically important that the Scottish Government does what it can to mitigate the worst excesses of the UK Government’s policies, which were Tory policies and are now, unfortunately, continuing under the Labour Party. That mitigation has cost £1.2 billion during the 14 years that those Governments have been in power.

In a debate yesterday, I gave Mr Sarwar the opportunity to agree with me that the bedroom tax should be scrapped. It was disappointing to see, once again, that he did not take the opportunity to engage in cross-party and collegiate work on that issue.