FIRST Minister John Swinney has suggested that Scottish Secretary Ian Murray did not give “accurate information” to the press during a visit to Holyrood this week.
It came after the SNP announced plans to mitigate the Labour Government’s two-child cap, which prevents people from claiming benefits for third or subsequent children unless they can meet certain conditions, such as proving that they are a product of rape.
The Scottish Government has said it will aim to mitigate the cap from 2026, but needs data from the UK Government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in order to do so.
Speaking to journalists at Holyrood on Wednesday, the Scottish Secretary claimed that the SNP Government had not “asked for any relevant data around the two-child cap, so they have made an announcement without a policy”.
Murray added that the “key thing [was] the Scottish Government haven’t really fully developed what their thinking is, so they are not quite sure what they are asking for”.
“The DWP are going to provide anything that they need, but development is at such an early stage they are not quite sure what data is required,” he claimed.
However, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville then published a letter, dated December 16, in which she asked the DWP for the data needed to mitigate the two-child cap. Murray was copied into the letter.
SNP MSP Collette Stevenson raised the incident at FMQs.
She said: “Yesterday, the Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray, claimed the SNP Government had not yet asked for DWP data to end the two-child cap.
“However, the Social Justice Secretary wrote to the DWP and the Scottish Secretary on this issue last month.
“Can the First Minister offer the Secretary of State any advice on how to keep up with his inbox and support tackling child poverty in Scotland?”
“On the 16th of December, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice wrote to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, copied to the Secretary of State for Scotland, requesting data sharing requirements or specifying data sharing requirements, including:
- data for all children attached to the Universal Credit claim, including date of birth
- data for which children on the Universal Credit claim are included in the Universal Credit payment
- data for all children who are paid under the Universal Credit exemption rules, including the exemption reason
- central payment system benefit codes
- all data already shared by DWP for the purposes of administering the Scottish Child Payment but expanded to include children up to the age of 19 years of age
- and data on the Universal Credit payment cycles for the claims
“Now, I was assured face-to-face by the Prime Minister that the DWP would work collaboratively with us on taking forward this policy.
“It is not helpful and it's not representative for the Secretary of State for Scotland to make the comments that he made yesterday.
“So if we are going to have this improved climate of relations between the Scottish and the United Kingdom Government, the UK Government better keep its side of the bargain.”
Asked for a response, a UK Government source said: “Ian was clarifying some prior confusion within the SNP as to whether the Scottish Government had asked for this data before, which they had not.
"He also outlined that UK Government officials are working with their colleagues in the Scottish Government to understand precisely what data they are looking for – as the annex published by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice on social media stated, the list of data they have asked for is not exhaustive.
“UK Government officials will also support Scottish Government develop what their policy to deliver this outcome actually is, as they currently are not clear on this. We understand the Scottish Government have given themselves until March to work that out.”
