A harmful row has damaged out between the Scottish and UK governments over hovering IT prices for a brand new advantages system.
Nicola Sturgeon ’s administration is in dispute with Whitehall over who pays for the digital facet of delivering lifeline funds.
Scottish Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy stated: “The very last thing we want is extra bickering between our two governments.
“The Tories and the SNP hold selecting to move the buck and escalate battle as an alternative of working collectively – and it's holding our social safety system again.
“Each governments must cease taking part in the blame recreation and concentrate on cooperating to ship a system that works for the individuals of Scotland.”
Holyrood was given partial management of social safety after the 2014 referendum, together with funds for disabled individuals and the aged.
The complicated challenge entails the switch of knowledge from the UK Authorities’s DWP and organising IT.
As revealed by the Report, the IT prices for the brand new advantages system have climbed from £212m to £251m, with the tip date “tbc”.
The DWP’s newest annual report has now revealed a spat over which authorities ought to foot the invoice.
Buried on web page 313, the doc states: “Scottish Authorities have raised a dispute over their legal responsibility to fund sure digital funding exercise that DWP believes is important to ship devolution.
“The digital funding exercise spans a lot of years with detailed necessities and prices for future years but to be outlined due to this fact a dependable estimate of the contingent legal responsibility will not be obtainable.”
It added that decision of the dispute will probably be by an agreed course of.
Scottish and UK Authorities insiders have beforehand stated that cooperation on social safety devolution had been good, however the row alerts simmering tensions.
In addition to taking over accountability for advantages as soon as offered by the DWP, the Scottish Authorities has arrange the brand new Scottish Baby Cost for low revenue households.
It's at present price £20 per week and Ministers are dedicated to rising the fee to £25 per week on the finish of the 12 months.
We requested each side to supply extra particulars of the disagreement, in addition to the sum of cash concerned.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Authorities stated: “The Scottish Authorities is working intently with the DWP to resolve this concern below the provisions of the Fiscal Framework and won't present commentary whereas discussions to hunt a decision are ongoing.
“The devolution of social safety is a big and sophisticated programme requiring each Governments to undertake IT system modifications and improvement.”
The DWP declined to say something past what was contained of their annual report.
Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie stated: “This type of blame recreation is simply unhelpful and tone-deaf to the larger points affecting individuals up and down the nation.
“Within the midst of an enormous price of dwelling disaster, we want governments who're prepared to work collectively, not ones that squabble.
“The Scottish Authorities must step as much as the plate and focus on delivering the assistance that folks urgently want.”
Tory MSP Liz Smith stated: “The SNP Authorities has already run up 1 / 4 of a billion pound invoice on a system that exhibits no signal of being delivered. It’s been so incapable of doing the work that's Holyrood’s accountability that it’s handed over a lot of it to the UK Authorities – and now it seems that it could actually’t even agree on settling the invoice.
“That is typical of the SNP’s abject failure to do probably the most primary duties of presidency. Scotland deserves higher than overblown guarantees, dismal supply and nothing to indicate for it however an eye-watering invoice.”
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