Hansard

Scottish Labour will support the legislative consent motion. It is absolutely right to say that the UK Government is seeking to update the welfare system and deliver value for money for taxpayers. The legislation will give the DWP the ability to gather necessary information and to fully investigate fraud and error. Those are sensible updates that will improve the system and bring it into the 21st century.

The main reason why the legislative consent motion is needed is that the Scottish Government is continuing agency agreements for severe disablement allowance and industrial injuries disablement benefit. The latter benefit was devolved to Scotland nearly a decade ago, yet the SNP Government has sat on its hands. Two and a half years ago, when I launched the injury time campaign alongside GMB and the Professional Footballers Association Scotland, calling for repeated head injuries in football to be classified as industrial injuries, the cabinet secretary told me that the benefit could not be transferred because the records were on paper and case transfer would take too long.

Just last month, the same SNP Government extended its agency agreement with the DWP until 2027—a decision that was rightly condemned by Amanda Kopel, widow of Dundee United legend Frank Kopel, who tragically lost his life to dementia. It begs the question: what on earth has the SNP Government been doing for the past two years? If you do not start a process, there is no hope of ever finishing it. The First Minister’s statement yesterday that devolution has reached its limits is rather ridiculous when the SNP Government has not even bothered to enact the full powers that are currently at its disposal.

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice makes much of the different approach that she wants to take in Scotland. That different approach means, reportedly, having no plan to recover the £36 million in fraudulent benefit claims in Scotland. In her speech, she made reference to some belated moves to develop a plan.

Last month, it was revealed that the SNP Government has a 10 per cent recovery rate for benefit fraud and error, which means that £9 in every £10 is lost. When I asked the cabinet secretary at the Finance and Public Administration Committee whether she thought that that was good enough, she refused to say. I know what I think, and I believe that most Scots would agree with me. Just last month, Audit Scotland confirmed that position in its report on adult disability payment, noting:

“there is no timescale for when Social Security Scotland can consider incorrect payments due to client error or fraud.”

It is no wonder that Scotland’s finances are in such a mess when that is the approach taken by this incompetent, knackered SNP Government.