Clause 1 - Withholding of housing benefit on grounds of anti-social behaviour
Housing Benefit (Withholding of Payment) Bill
11:00 am
Mr Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton, Liberal Democrat)
I was indeed going to move on, but with one comment. I hope that the Minister, when he responds, will take seriously the point made by Shelter concerning the declaration mechanism.
I am going to discuss other aspects of new clause 3. Can the Minister tell the Committee whether the declaration mechanism—the link to the conviction—would expand the definition beyond what he expected and would be unintended?
Amendments Nos. 23 and 24 would ensure that the Secretary of State, in the case of No. 23, and the Secretary of State, the local housing authority and local social services authority, in the case of No. 24, must express an opinion that the housing benefit sanction route was best. In other words, the amendments would require them to think of other routes to deal with antisocial behaviour. That is important, and would enable them to consider alternative methods.
Earlier, I mentioned the sorts of things that I have in mind for the Secretary of State, the local housing authority and local social services authority to consider; I shall now go into more detail. In the London borough of Islington, Liberal Democrats have been doing an awful lot of effective work to tackle antisocial behaviour; that work has had success and has been held as an example to other places. In response to some of the Minister's points, I can say that Liberal Democrats are dealing with antisocial behaviour.