Scottish Government's response to SCoSS's scrutiny report on the draft Disability Assistance for Children and Young People (Scotland) Regulations 2021 and the Scottish Child Payment Regulations 2020 (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022
Dear Sally,
Thank you for your scrutiny reports of 18 November 2021 on the policy proposals contained in:
- the Disability Assistance for Children and Young People (Scotland) Regulations 2021 and the Scottish Child Payment Regulations 2020 (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022, and
- the Suspension of Assistance (Disability Assistance for Children and Young People) (Scottish Child Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2021.
Yesterday, the draft regulations containing these proposals were laid in the Scottish Parliament under one instrument. The regulations are titled the Scottish Child Payment Regulations 2020 and the Disability Assistance for Children and Young People (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022. The regulations were accompanied by the Scottish Government’s responses to the two scrutiny reports, which I am pleased to attach along with a copy of the regulations.
I am pleased to confirm that we have accepted the recommendations made by SCoSS, and we will continue to reflect on SCoSS’ observations.
I fully recognise the challenges SCoSS is currently facing and remain committed to ensuring that the Commission has the resources it requires to carry out adequate scrutiny of the legislation that is referred to them.
Please note that the regulations make further amendments to the Disability for Children and Young People (Scotland) Regulations 2021 which we have not been able to refer to SCoSS. These further amendments are to be made using the regulation-making powers in sections 31(2), 36(2) and 79 of the Social Security Scotland Act 2018.
These further amendments make some drafting clarifications, technical corrections and changes to ensure consistency with the Adult Disability Regulations and immigration legislation. They also make changes to the Scottish Child Payment Regulations to ensure there is consistency with Child Disability Payment. In the time available from when we became aware of the need to make these changes, it was not possible to refer these regulations to SCoSS for scrutiny.
I hope SCoSS agree that these further changes are minor and largely technical in nature and do not depart from the original policy intent of the provisions which have already been considered by SCoSS.
Thank you again for your continued co-operation and support. I am grateful to SCoSS Members for the helpful and constructive way in which they have engaged with officials, and in helping to scrutinise these regulations by providing insightful and relevant policy analysis.
Best regards,
BEN MACPHERSON
| SCoSS Recommendation | Accept/ Partially accept/ Reject | Scottish Government Response |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Scottish Government explores the scope to remedy the mismatch in residency tests between Carer’s Assistance and Disability Assistance in order to promote disabled people’s and carers’ human rights. | Accept | The Scottish Government is aware of the mismatch between the residence requirements for Child Disability Payment and Adult Disability Payment and the current Carer’s Allowance rules. Until our replacement, Scottish Carer’s Assistance is in place, Carer’s Allowance will continue to be delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of Scottish Ministers under an agency agreement that requires Carer’s Allowance to be delivered in Scotland in the same way that it is delivered in England and Wales. We understand that a recent First Tier Tribunal decision has raised questions about the legality of the application of the past presence test, as amended, in the Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) Regulations 1976. We are seeking to engage with the DWP to discuss what plans, if any, they may have to make amendments to those provisions in light of this decision. In developing Scottish Carer’s Assistance, our intention would be to ensure we take a rights’ based approach that ensures consistency of treatment within our devolved system for carers and the people they care for wherever possible. |
| 2. The Scottish Government engages with stakeholders and people with lived experience to continuously improve information and ensure its accessibility, to people who will be affected by the transfer of awards to Child Disability Payment and Adult Disability Payment. | Accept | The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that Scotland’s social security system can continue to evolve and improve. Our system is being designed using evidence, and by testing everything we do with the people who will use or interact with it to make sure we get it right. Specifically for case transfer, stakeholder engagement and user social research with Experience Panels has been the foundation of designing our entire process, including client and stakeholder communications. As the transfer process continues, we will continue this engagement and continuously incorporate our findings into existing communications to ensure the information available is as accessible and useful to clients as possible. We will do this by, for example, capturing people’s experiences of case transfer as part of our client research programme, looking specifically at case transfer as part of our wider disability assistance evaluation, and where necessary ad hoc research with Client Panel members to explore further any issues that may arise and to inform any planned improvements. |
Scottish Government response
30 November 2021 | 2 page pdf | 107.13 KB Download Document
Scottish Government response to SCoSS scrutiny report on the draft Disability Assistance for Children and Young People (Scotland) Regulations 2021 and the Scottish Child Payment Regulations 2020 (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022
Letter from Scottish Government
30 November 2021 | 2 page pdf | 169.21 KB Download Document
Letter from Scottish Government