In the run up to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, the Expert Working Group on Welfare conducted a comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategy over 18 months to inform its two reports.
The Smith Commission
The Smith Commission was tasked with providing recommendations on increased powers that could be devolved to Scotland following the Scottish independence referendum. Its report, published November, 27 2014, detailed a number of recommendations in relation to social security. Following the Smith recommendations work is now being taken forward to plan for these powers coming to the Scottish Parliament.
Legislative clauses
The UK Government published its draft legislative clauses on January, 22 2015 and the Scotland Bill was published May, 27 2015. The Devolution (Further Powers) Committee published New Powers for Scotland: An Interim Report on the Smith Commission and the UK Government’s Proposals) on May, 14 2015 which made recommendations on the UK Government's legislative clauses.
The Scottish Government published a response to the Devolution (Further Powers) interim report June, 8. The response set out in detail the Scottish Government's position on changes, illustrated by alternative clauses, that need to be made to the Scotland Bill to allow the Smith agreement to be implemented in full.
The Scotland Act 2016 received royal assent on March, 23 2016.
Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare (JMWGW)
We are committed to working with the UK Government to ensure the smooth transition of new powers to the Scottish Parliament. The JMWGW was set up to provide a forum for discussion and decision-making to ensure the implementation of social security related aspects of the Smith Commission’s report.
Analysis
In June 2015, we published background analysis of new powers. This provides factual information and an overview of benefit expenditure in 2013/14. This analysis will be updated reguarly [is there something more recent we can refer to here]