A Government welfare working group has been “refreshed” to come up with further ideas on the provision of benefits in an independent Scotland, the Deputy First Minister has announced.
The Scottish Government’s first expert working group on welfare, which reported back last month, said there would be a “common interest” in maintaining the existing UK benefit system for a transitional period if Scotland voted for independence next year.
However, it advised that such an arrangement could limit the SNP administration’s priorities for change in the short term, such as its plan to axe the so-called bedroom tax.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the first report created “an appetite for further work and discussions on the future shape of Scotland’s welfare system”.
Darra Singh, former chief executive of Jobcentre Plus and second permanent secretary to the Department for Work and Pensions, has now been replaced as chairman by Martyn Evans, chief executive of social improvement charity Carnegie UK Trust, for the “next phase” of the work.
Douglas Griffin, former director of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and a PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant, has also left the group and been replaced by five new welfare, economics and business experts.
The group will report to ministers early in 2014.