Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government assumed executive competence for Carer's Allowance, and associated debt, on 3 September 2018. As Carers Allowance will continued to be delivered by DWP under an agency agreement, the recovery of this debt is subject to existing rules.

The following table provides current data obtained from DWP on approximately how many claimants in Scotland have an outstanding overpayment of Carer’s Allowance and how many of these overpayments have been classified as fraud. The table also breaks down the figures by the value of the debt.

The administration of CTR is the responsibility of local authorities we do not collect data on how many households who were eligible under the Council Tax Reduction (CTR) scheme applied to their local authority for a reduction, so do not hold this information.

The Scottish Government have been engaging with DWP over re-use of key systems over the last 2 years which culminated in a formal request over the Summer of 2017 to utilise DWP’s Central Information System (CIS) and Central Payment System (CPS). The implementation plan for CPS is running to schedule. A new CIS plan was received from DWP on 21 September which showed that agreed dates for the implementation of CIS are not going to be met. Officials are now working through this plan, despite the challenges arising from missed deadlines by DWP, to ensure that our work remains on track to deliver the Best Start Grant before Christmas.

Sections 95 to 100 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 came into force on 2 June 2018 and sections 81 to 85 (and 76 in part) came into force on 3 September 2018. A second set of commencement regulations will be laid before the Scottish Parliament shortly, with further sections of the Act being commenced as and when appropriate.

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) prevent the publication of protected characteristics for small groups of people. Such data is sensitive and breaking down a group of 30 people by nine characteristics could lead to the identification of individuals. However we are able to provide more general information on the characteristics represented in the core group. It includes:

• People with a disability (including mental, physical and learning)
• Men and women
• A range of ages
• People with different sexual orientations
• People who are married or in civil partnerships
• People of different religions and beliefs
• People with experience of all relevant benefits
• People with fluctuating conditions
• People with hearing impairments
• People with visual impairments
• Carers of both adults and disabled children
• Rural and urban dwellers
• People with intersecting characteristics (i.e. more than one of the above).

We are also working closely with stakeholders to ensure that the views of people from seldom heard or under-represented groups, including those with other protected characteristics, are strongly reflected in the charter.

The funding transfer which will accompany the transfer of executive competence for Sure Start Maternity Grant has not yet been agreed with the UK Government. However, it is expected that this will be equivalent to the level of planned expenditure in Scotland from the date of transfer to the end of the financial year.

The Scottish Government will fund any gap between the amount of funding received and actual expenditure on the Best Start Pregnancy and Baby Grant in 2018-19.

Universal Credit (UC) Scottish choices do not have a separate budget line in the Social Security budget. Costs are contained within the allocated budget for the Social Security Directorate. This includes all staffing and communications costs associated with UC Scottish choices.

The Scottish Government paid £529,785.58 to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in April 2018 for one-off implementation costs which included changes to the UC IT system and updates to DWP staff guidance and training.

The Scottish Government estimates ongoing operational costs to be up to
‎ £0.4 million in 2017-18; and up to £1.6 million in 2018-19. The Scottish Government will only pay for the actual number of UC Scottish choices offered and taken up. We expect to receive an invoice from the DWP shortly, based on actual take up rates covering the period 4 October 2017 (when the choices were first made available) to 31 March 2018.

The Delivery Agreement covers Local Authority facilities and, while it doesn’t prescribe specific locations or exclude other arrangements, it notes the characteristics that Social Security Scotland will look for when considering co-location. Key to the agreement is the need for facilities to be accessible and services joined up. This will help make sure that people can easily access support in locations convenient to them.

As the executive competence for the administration of a benefit transfers to Scotland, Social Security Scotland will publish statistics for Scotland on that benefit. In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, publication dates for statistics for Social Security Scotland from 2018 onwards will be pre-announced through a 12-month release calendar, giving a specific release date at least four weeks in advance where practicable.

The Experience Panels research plan for 2018-19 can be found on the Scottish Government website at the following link: https://beta.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/corporate-report/2017/06/social-security-scotland-bill-privacy-impact-assessment/documents/social-security-experience-panels-2018-2019-research-plan/social-security-experience-panels-2018-2019-research-plan/govscot%3Adocument . It contains estimated publication dates for each project. Please note these are subject to change.