The Scottish Government will spend £100m over the next year to “mitigate the harm” caused by Conservative welfare cuts as it seeks to undermine Westminster’s austerity programme, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
In a rebuke to Chancellor George Osborne and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, the Scottish First Minister said her Government would use its newly devolved welfare powers to abolish the bedroom tax and replace the “discredited” Work Programme. Borrowing Mr Osborne’s phrase, she claimed that Scotland rather than the north of England would become the UK’s “real Northern powerhouse”.
Outlining her legislative programme for the next year in a speech at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon repeatedly distanced herself from Tory policies and promised that her Government would “do everything we can to mitigate welfare cuts and restore dignity to our social security system”. She said a new Scottish Social Security Bill would pave the way for future measures.
“The new powers proposed in the Scotland Bill fall far short of what we would need to fully mitigate the harm caused by UK Government policies,” the First Minister added. “However, we will use these new powers to help those who need it most.”
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The publication of the programme heralds the start of the Scottish Parliament’s final session before next May’s elections. Her speech, in which she set out “a vision for the coming decade”, appeared to be anticipating another two terms in power.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon unveiling her government's legislative programme in Edinburgh (Getty)
The document, entitled A Stronger Scotland, set out eight bills to be introduced in the course of the next year.
The most controversial policy is the introduction of national testing in Scottish primary schools, as ministers seek to close the gap between rich and poor pupils. The new tests will be taken by pupils in school years one, four and seven, and will focus on basic literacy and numeracy. The new tests are controversial as they are likely to result in the creation of school league tables, although these will not be published by the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Government will also begin to cut the rate of Air Passenger Duty paid by the country’s airports in 2018, the document added, with the aiming of halving the cost by the end of the next parliament, in an effort to encourage people to travel and do business north of the border.
Details of a new Scottish rate of income tax will also be contained in the forthcoming budget, it said.
Sturgeon's radical plan for Scotland
Education
The SNP leader visiting a primary school earlier this year (Getty)
National testing to be introduced in Scottish primary schools for the first time in more than a decade in an attempt to close the gap between rich and poor pupils. The new tests will focus on basic literacy and numeracy. They will be piloted in some schools next year before being rolled out nationally in 2017. League tables will not be published officially, but there will be nothing to stop others using the data to create them.
Welfare
In anticipation of new powers being granted from Westminster, the Scottish Government intends to put forward a Social Security Bill within the first year of the new parliament to pave the way for measures to address “weaknesses” in the Universal Credit system and mitigate the impact of Tory welfare cuts. It would also abolish the bedroom tax as soon as possible. A replacement for the Work Programme will be introduced by April 2017. Fees for employment tribunals will also be abolished.
Business
To attract tourism and business, rates of Air Passenger Duty will begin to fall at Scottish airports in 2018, with the aim of a 50 per cent reduction by the end of the next parliament. A new £40m fund will be set up to provide investment to small businesses, while the government will also commit to increasing the number of apprenticeships to 30,000 a year by 2020. Employers will be encouraged to pay the Living Wage to workers.
Justice
Review of police governance to be undertaken in the wake of a series of controversies which resulted in the early resignation of the head of Police Scotland last week. Creation of a statutory code of practice for the use of “stop and search”. New Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm Bill to be introduced, modernising the law to better protect victims. Vulnerable witnesses to be supported by greater use of evidence by video link.
Housing
Private Tenancies Bill to strengthen position of people privately renting their homes, with the aim of creating more stable rents and allowing for rent controls in some areas. Help to Buy scheme to be boosted by £195m over three years, offering aid to 6,500 households seeking to move to a new build home. More than 30,000 affordable homes to be delivered by March 2016. Planning system to be reviewed to make it easier to create high quality housing developments.
