Disappointing lack of progress in new Scotland Bill

Unsurprisingly the Bill remains largely unchanged from the draft clauses published in January. I’m not saying it’s wholly a copy and paste job but essentially there’s been little substantive change on issues such as employment support and welfare. Perhaps the most notable change for the third sector relates to the clause on discretionary payments. Previously the clause allowed financial assistance to be given to those who needed it in order to meet short-term need.

The employment support provisions in the Bill still do not reflect the spirit of the Smith Commission

This has now been changed so that financial assistance can be given to an individual who is entitled to a reserved benefit and needs additional assistance for the purpose (or one of the purposes) for which said benefit is being provided. Essentially, under this new clause the person’s need does not have to be immediate or be the result of exceptional circumstances. However, the Bill still clearly states that discretionary payments cannot be used when the need arises from the suspension of benefit payments due to sanctions. Given that the current Scottish Welfare Fund is often used as a way of mitigating the impact of sanctions this is of huge concern. Undeniably there’s a long way for this Bill to go. The employment support provisions in the Bill still do not reflect the spirit of the Smith Commission which referred to ‘all powers over support’. There’s other clauses which still need lots of work to understand what they mean in practice, for example, around equal opportunities and then there’s the Fiscal Framework to consider. Yet the Bill could feasibly be passed before next May’s Holyrood elections, provided it doesn’t hit too many obstacles (there’s 56 obvious ones) on its journey through Westminster. What that means for Holyrood 2016 could be very interesting indeed.