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Social Justice and Social Security Committee 26 September 2024

26 Sep 2024 · S6 · Social Justice and Social Security Committee

Item of business

Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Somerville, Shirley-Anne SNP Dunfermline Watch on SPTV

Amendments 92 to 94 bring within the scope of SCOSS’s formal scrutiny remit regulation-making powers on care experience assistance, appointees, assistance given in error and information for audit. The bill as introduced sought to implement the findings of the Glen Shuraig Consulting review and bring specific additional regulations into SCOSS’s formal scope. At that point, the regulations that were being brought into scope did not include those for care experience assistance, compensation recovery, information for audit, appointees or assistance given in error, as those were not under consideration at the time of the review. As the committee heard during stage 1, there were calls from stakeholders for all the new regulation-making powers in the bill to be subject to formal scrutiny by SCOSS. Following that evidence, the board of SCOSS wrote to me in April 2024, noting that it welcomed additional scrutiny of some—rather than all—of the regulations that were made possible by the bill. Amendments 92 to 94, in my name, therefore add to the existing list of regulation-making powers that are captured under section 97 of the 2018 act, in accordance with those exchanges with the board of SCOSS—Interruption. Excuse me, convener. Clearly, I am allergic to stage 2 proceedings after a certain amount of time. I urge the committee to support those amendments. We have seen how SCOSS scrutiny adds value to the development of regulations, and I have no doubt that its scrutiny of regulations on the added topics will similarly make an important contribution. Amendments 95 and 96 simply ensure that section 97 of the 2018 act, on formal scrutiny by SCOSS, applies to regulations whether they are subject to the affirmative or the negative procedure. Amendment 97 ensures that SCOSS is aligned with similar public bodies in its duties to publish an annual report. The Glen Shuraig review noted that the 2018 act’s relatively onerous statutory duty on the commission to prepare accounts and submit those for external audit should be removed. Amendment 97 replaces it with a more proportionate requirement to prepare an annual report that must be submitted to ministers and laid before the Parliament. The SCOSS board has welcomed that amendment. Amendment 11, in Jeremy Balfour’s name, would expand SCOSS scrutiny to primary social security legislation as well as a broader range of secondary legislation. The Government cannot support that. The Scottish Government is already bringing the majority of the regulation-making powers in the 2018 act within the scope of scrutiny by SCOSS. That aligns with the recommendations of the independent review, which recommended a focus on areas that can have an impact on clients. The widening of the scope that is proposed in amendment 11 would both undercut that policy objective and create unclear resource implications for SCOSS. The Government also has concerns about how the provisions on the scrutiny of primary legislation would work in some contexts—for example, if emergency legislation is required, there might not be sufficient time. It is also important to highlight that the functions of SCOSS under the 2018 act are already wide ranging, and relate not only to the scrutiny of legislative proposals; SCOSS can, when requested, prepare and submit to the Scottish ministers and the Parliament advice on any matter relevant to social security and report on whether expectations as set out in the Scottish social security charter are being fulfilled, as well as make any recommendations for improvement. According to its most recent annual report, the commission has progressed work in that area, and I believe that it would be useful for the committee to consider those existing functions rather than create entirely new statutory functions, given that those that are available to the Parliament have been used so little. I move amendment 92.

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Social Justice and Social Security Committee 26 September 2024

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