Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on further devolution of power to devolved authorities.

All sections of the Scotland Act 2016 that increase the powers of the Scottish Parliament are now in force. The Scottish Parliament will now be able to legislate in every area where the Scotland Act 2016 has given it the power to do so. The Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare continues to meet as a forum for discussion and decision-making to ensure the implementation of welfare and employment-related aspects of the Scotland Act 2016. The most recent meeting was held on 27th June 2019.

The devolution of tax and borrowing powers to Scotland has increased the accountability of the Scottish Government.

The Government has been clear that it expects that EU exit will lead to an increase in decision-making powers for the devolved administrations. The Government remains focussed on implementing the existing devolution settlements and undertaking detailed monitoring and evaluation in order to be able to assess the impact of devolution as we consider further decentralisation.