LABOUR and SNP members of Holyrood's Welfare Reform Committee have united in their condemnation of the refusal by the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, to appear before them.

Committee convener, Labour's Michael McMahon called the minister's refusal to attend "unacceptable", while his deputy, SNP's Jamie Hepburn, called it "disappointing in the extreme".

The committee was set up 10 months ago to review the impact of the UK legislation. This sees housing benefit, jobseeker's allowance and child and working tax credit merged into a new universal benefit. Disability living allowance is also replaced by personal independence payment.

As many as 100,000 Scots could be affected by the reforms.