To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether paragraph 55 of the Smith Commission Agreement applies to payments made under part 3 of the Scotland Act 2016 related to the calculations of the benefit cap.

New benefits or discretionary payments introduced by the Scottish Parliament will not be included in calculations of the benefit cap. I look forward to hearing details of new benefits or discretionary payments that the Scottish Government intend to include in their forthcoming Social Security Bill, as these are substantial powers in the Scotland Act 2016, both of which came into force in September 2016.