Minister vows commitment to working with Westminster on benefits sanctions
The Social Security Minister has insisted there will be no "political grandstanding" over benefit sanctions when new welfare powers are transferred to Scotland.
The Social Security Minister has insisted there will be no "political grandstanding" over benefit sanctions when new welfare powers are transferred to Scotland.
Jeane Freeman told Holyrood's Social Security Committee she is committed to working with the UK Government on the issue.
Earlier this month, Equalities Secretary Angela Constance said that while the Scottish Government could not stop the UK Government putting conditions on the work-related benefits, ''we're not going to be giving them any information or responding to inquiries if we think that might lead to a sanction''.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also stated the Government would not "co-operate in a scheme that is about piling human misery on human misery".
Ms Freeman was asked by Conservative MSP Adam Tomkins how such comments contribute to an "effective and co-operative" working relationship with the UK Government.
She replied: "That is the big challenge. The big challenge is that the Scottish Government and the UK Government start from different political standpoints and those disagreements are not going to go away and we shouldn't pretend that they are going to go away.
"Which is why I also made the point that in this committee, with different members of this committee, in the chamber, we are going to have policy disagreements.
"That is not the same, though, as saying that we will have some kind of political grandstanding or shouting match around this, and that's the bit I want to avoid.
"We'd be daft to try and pretend amongst ourselves, far less to the wider population, that we don't disagree, because we disagree on some things."
Ms Freeman said the Scottish Government had secured agreement from former UK work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith that it would be for Scottish ministers to decide whether devolved work programmes were voluntary or not.
She said clarification that this is still the case is being sought from his successor Damian Green.
"We expect it to remain the UK Government's position, in which case there is no information on whether or not an individual attends a work programme run by the Scottish Government to pass on to anybody.
"What the Cabinet Secretary (Angela Constance) said was should it be the case that the UK Government changes its position from that assurance given to us by Mr Duncan Smith in terms of the voluntary nature of our programmes, then we would have to take a view as to whether or not we would pass any information back to the DWP with respect to a person's participation where we think that information could lead to that individual being sanctioned.
"As the Scottish Government we have taken a very clear and consistent view that we do not believe that sanctions are either fair or effective in their intended overall purpose as outlined to us by the UK Government of incentivising people to enter the workplace. We simply don't think it works."