The Devolution of Welfare Administration

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:11 pm on 6 July 2021.

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Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 2:11, 6 July 2021

Well, as a member of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee that produced the report on 'Benefits in Wales: options for better delivery' last year, we heard, in Scotland, that devolution of administration, particularly assessment of certain benefits, had secured complete cross-party support in Scotland. But our report also stated

'the potential prize of delivering services that better suit Welsh specific needs' must be balanced against

'the possibility of breaking the social union' across the UK, which underpins

'the principle that all UK citizens have an equal claim to the welfare state, and that benefits and burdens depend on need and not geography.'

When we debated this report last September, I welcomed the Welsh Government's acceptance of our recommendations, that it established a

'coherent and integrated “Welsh benefits system” for all the means-tested benefits for which it is responsible...co-produced with people who claim these benefits and the wider Welsh public' and that it used the Oxfam sustainable livelihoods approach toolkit, recognising that

'all people have abilities and assets that can be used to improve their lives', adding,

'We now need words turned into real action so that at last things are done with people rather than to them.' 

So, what action has the Welsh Government therefore taken since to turn its words into real action—[Inaudible.]