Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services – in the Senedd at 3:01 pm on 9 May 2018.
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?