Found: personal information from the following so urces : ACRO Criminal Records Office , Post Office Limited, Department

Found: )DWP032BPDTS (Ltd)Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)DWP032Department for Work and PensionsDepartment

Found: Education Services GrantDfE Pupil PremiumDWP Housing Benefit & Council Tax Benefit Admin Grant DWP

Found: their own CPIDs) Local police (England only) Local fire & rescue (England only) DfT (England only) DWP

Found: - other16167000Non-Current Trade and other receiveablesBalance As At 31 MarchWelfare Overpayments (DWP

Found: rebates and spend are not included in the statistics for Table 17C as this data is not collected via DWP

Found: BritainTable 17C - Warm Home Discount households and rebates by year, Great Britain [Note 5,23,24,26] (DWP

Found: for Work and Pensions.

Found: for Work and Pensions.

Found: PETER HUGH GORDON SCHOFIELD CB With a long Civil Service career, as Permanent Secretary at the Department

Found: Communities 13 Department for Science, Innovation and Technology 14 Department for Transport 15 Department

Found: Mr Hafeez Ahmed v Department for Work and Pensions: [2024] EAT 84

Found: Mr Hafeez Ahmed v Department for Work and Pensions: [2024] EAT 84

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether student midwives in receipt of benefits continue to receive their benefits after being awarded a bursary.

Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care

There are a number of complexities around UK benefits and student systems and these can impact negatively on each other. With the Scottish Government Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary, maintenance elements of the Bursary are considered as income for Universal Credit and other means-tested reserved benefits.

If a Universal Credit award is removed due to ‘excess income’ such as the bursary, students would also lose entitlement to Scottish Government benefits such as Scottish Child Payment. This includes the non-means tested bursary, the Spouse or Cohabiting Partner Allowance, the Child Dependent Allowance and the Lone Parents' Grant.

The Scottish Government have introduced a Special Support Loan for 2024-25 academic year and have obtained agreement from the Department for Work and Pensions that this element of student income will be disregarded when assessing Universal Credit entitlement.

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice wrote to Viscount Younger of Leckie , Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions, on 17 April 2024 asking for Student Maintenance Loans to also be disregarded as income for the purposes of calculating Universal Credit entitlement, particularly as they are a loan which must be repaid, but no reply has been received to date.

It should also be noted that due to the receipt of the non-repayable Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Bursary, students are not eligible for student loans. The Scottish Government has committed to carrying out a review of student finance for paramedic, nursing and midwifery students.

Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27604 by Tom Arthur on 28 May 2024, when its (a) ministers and (b) officials last met with the UK (i) Department for Business and Trade, (ii) Department for Work and Pensions and (iii) Government to discuss Scotland's long-term labour market strategy, and what the outcomes were of any such meetings.

Answered by Forbes, Kate

Ministers and officials have regular engagement with the UK Government on labour market matters.

Scottish Government officials meet regularly with Department for Work and Pensions officials from Job Centre Plus to discuss a range of operational and strategic issues as we collectively shape the approach to employability delivery in Scotland. Scottish Government and DWP officials also attend the Access to Work Stakeholder Forum, which last met on 8 May 2024 and discussed research undertaken by Inclusion Scotland on people’s lived experience of using Access to Work.

A notable example of recent constructive engagement was collaborative work with DWP to develop messaging for employers to promote the benefits of Fair Work. The most recent quarterly meeting between Scottish Government officials and the Department for Business and Trade focussed on new Flexible Working legislation.

We continue to call for employment powers to be devolved. Securing the full range of powers in relation to employment will enable the Scottish Parliament to fully implement policies that will best meet Scotland’s distinct needs. These powers would enable us to create fairer workplaces, enhance workers’ rights in Scotland and help shift the curve on poverty and deliver upon our shared ambition for a fairer, greener and more prosperous Scotland.

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it is having with the Department for Work and Pensions under the agency agreement for the delivery of Carer's Allowance in Scotland to identify the (a) number of carers affected by overpayment debt and (b) levels of debt accumulated.

Answered by Somerville, Shirley-Anne - Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice

The Scottish Government has urged the DWP to carefully consider people’s individual circumstances before any recovery of Carer’s Allowance overpayments from carers. Discussions are ongoing with the DWP as to potential arrangements for the recovery of any Carer’s Allowance overpayments for carers in Scotland that remain once case transfer is complete and the current Agency Agreement comes to an end.