6. What plans does the Welsh Government have to seek the devolution of welfare administration? OAQ52145

The Welsh Government does not support the devolution of welfare benefits or their administration to Wales. As a matter of principle, we should all be entitled to an equal claim from our welfare state. The needs of citizens within the UK, wherever they live, should be equally met.

At the same time as the Department for Work and Pensions is closing local offices, universal credit is taking hold in Wales. By 2022, 400,000 households in Wales will rely on universal credit. This Labour Government has previously, and again today, shunned the opportunity to devolve welfare administration, and you have claimed that it would be too costly. The £266 million figure quoted by Ministers as the cost of devolving welfare is grossly misleading, because that figure is based on costs paid to the Scottish Government by Westminster to administer all new powers given to them under the Scotland Act 2016, not just welfare. So, let's be clear: cost is not a barrier here. We have heard this afternoon how your Government is claiming to be mitigating the worst effects of austerity, but you're not. Will the Minister therefore finally join Plaid Cymru in calling for the devolution of welfare administration so that we can actually mitigate some of the worst effects of Westminster's cruel welfare policies?

Well, I think this speaks, really, to a fundamental disagreement between ourselves and between our parties about the place of Wales within the UK, because this is, of course, a United Kingdom that allows us to pool the risks and to share the benefits. And it is the case that the approach to the devolution of welfare benefits in Scotland has transferred that risk associated with the demand of welfare benefits to Scotland, and the risk there demonstrates that benefit requirements within Scotland are moving faster than they are in England. So, for Wales, this would provide us with a very significant risk. And the costs, I'm afraid, for administrating the welfare system would take away resources from the delivery of front-line services. Those figures are correct. For Scotland, it's £66 million for administration and a one-off payment of £200 million for the implementation of all of those newly devolved welfare powers—[Interruption.] But it's not, because they're all related to welfare powers, and those resources really should be spent on the front line.

Actually, let's be clear about what the Scottish Government is doing: the Scottish Government does not administer payments for universal credit. They're administered by the Department for Work and Pensions. The Scotland Act 2016 does give powers to the Scottish Government to offer flexible options for claimants, and these include the direct payment of housing cost elements to social landlords and payments twice a month after that first payment has been made. None of these things are not available to people on universal credit in Wales. What we're doing is trying to ensure that these opportunities are offered proactively to people in receipt of universal credit.