Group reviewing proposed citizens basic income: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/00488
Date received: 14 February 2018
Date responded: 14 February 2018

Information requested

Can you please advise the group who are reviewing the proposed citizens basic income of £11,500 for pensioners, £9,000 per adult with £4,600 to parents with a child discussed in this article? [Daily Mail article of 13 February 2018] Can you also advise when the group are scheduled to meet and present their final recommendations? Can you please direct me to where I can review minutes of meetings and interim / final reports published?

Response

As outlined within Programme for Government 2017/18 the Scottish Government is offering support to Local Authorities interested in undertaking research into a Citizens Basic Income for Scotland. A fund of £250,000 has been made available to four Local Authorities to peform feasibility studies and to develop suitable pilot models. This will include considering the rate at which a Basic Income would be paid at, and who would be selected to participate in any trials.

The fund will cover the period from April 2018 to March 2020, and is is now open for bids from the authorities selected, which include; City of Glasgow, Edinburgh City, North Ayrshire and Fife councils. If authorities are successful in obtaining funding it is anticipated that they will present their findings to Ministers after approximately 18 – 24 months. At that stage Scottish Ministers can decide whether to continue to support the pilots and the individual local authorities can decide whether to proceed with pilots in their areas.

During this time it is likely that the authorities will meet to share their interim findings, however the frequency of these meetings is not set by Scottish Government and will be subject to the needs identified by the authorities involved. It will be at the discretion of the local authorities involved, with reference to relevant Freedom of Information legislation, to decide if they wish to make minutes and any other reports public.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses