Meeting of the Parliament 10 December 2014
Let us go back to the white paper, which said that we would halve APD. We would halve it over time before 2020 and then move to abolish it. That is taking the matter in stages. What Ruth Davidson says is, “Let’s do one thing—let’s devolve the power for 16 and 17-year-olds and do nothing else.”
Let us look at other provisions, such as the work programme. We all sat in the Smith commission and signed up to words in the document that say that we will devolve the work programme at the end of the current contract. Having done that, we found out that the UK Government is negotiating with the work programme contractors to extend the contract.
I hear Mr Johnstone saying that it is still the same contract. He will understand why I am just a little uneasy about the degree to which that represents good faith. We sat in the Smith commission and I signed up to a commitment to devolve the work programme at the end of the current contract. I am not seeking to escape from that, but we now find that the contract is being extended. That is happening at a time when there appears to be no willingness to extend the early devolution of responsibilities beyond the issue of 16 and 17-year-olds voting, on which we are delighted to co-operate with the United Kingdom Government.