Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Hanson of Flint Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew]

I absolutely agree with the hon. Lady. She has made a very important point. The Welsh Government have accepted that this is a sensible way forward, and it is time that Scotland did exactly the same.

[David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

10. What assessment he has made of the effect on low-income families of the roll-out of universal credit in Scotland.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Stuart Andrew)]

Universal credit is transforming lives across the country. Research shows that universal credit claimants spend more time searching and applying for work than those on previous benefits. There are now more than 100,000 fewer workless households in Scotland than there were seven years ago.

[David Hanson]

The Trussell Trust reports that there was a 17% increase in food bank use in Scotland last year. Could that be linked in any way to universal credit?

[Stuart Andrew]

I think it is widely accepted that there are many reasons why people use food banks, and many different issues. Even the all-party parliamentary group on hunger and food poverty has accepted that. We have rolled out universal credit slowly and made changes when we have considered them to be necessary, and we continue to do so.