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I ask the minister in her closing remarks to act on the sentiment of the Labour Party amendment, make good on the SNP manifesto commitment and name the date on which this Parliament will use its new powers to increase the level of carers allowance.
As Mr Tomkins acknowledged in his letter to me, “the implementation dates for welfare will be agreed by the Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare”.
Even if they do not show that, it is now clear that Scotland will meet that world-leading target before the target date of 2020, which has prompted the increase in the target to 50 per cent.
Anything installed in that short period up to the original degression date will get the higher rate until degression takes effect; after a certain date, the rate will drop.
That is hardly surprising when we remember that we are in the biggest recession for many years. Clearly, the high-level purpose targets will be affected by economic circumstances, so we must just accept that the targets contain challenges.
I should have anticipated it. In the recesses of my mind there is a recollection of a Lands Tribunal decision not all that long ago, which might be relevant.
There are no other substantive items that need to be discussed before the October recess, so there would seem to be no need for the committee to meet next week.