Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to legal aid to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is responsible for defining the entitlement criteria for these passported benefits. They will need to consider the current eligibility criteria and make arrangements to ensure that they can continue to deliver these benefits as Universal Credit is introduced.

There is ongoing engagement between the Scottish Government and the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that any solution is simple, fair, easy to understand and affordable.