Schedule 1
Welfare Reform Bill
4:00 pm
Danny Alexander (Shadow Minister and Disability Spokesperson, Work & Pensions; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)
I join the Minister in welcoming you the Chair, Mr. Hood. I look forward to serving in this Committee under your chairmanship.
The amendments are designed to probe, in order to clarify the Government’s definition of education with respect to the qualifying criteria for the ESA. Paragraph 285 of the explanatory notes states that regulations will set out what is to be treated as education and when it may not apply, but we need to hear a bit more from the Government about what they mean by education and how they wish it to apply in this case.
For example, income support entitlement is usually allowed for part-time students and not full-time students, so amendment No. 164 would insert the words “full time” to make that clear. Indeed, exceptions in the case of income support that allow full-time education include, for example, students who are eligible for the disability premium and deaf people who receive the disabled students’ allowance.
The point that I wish to make is that the rules surrounding this benefit must not be a disincentive for people to learn. The Bill should allow more opportunities than at present to improve employment chances through education and training and it is particularly important that the terms of the Bill do not put up new barriers to people who might be suffering an impairment, condition or disability to access education and training while continuing to be able to claim their benefits.
I want to bring some relevant figures to the attention of the Committee, for which I am grateful to the Disability Rights Commission. Of those currently in receipt of incapacity benefit, 40 per cent. have no qualifications whatsoever and 15 per cent. have literacy and numeracy problems. It is worth noting, too, that having qualifications can increase the chances of a disabled person being in paid employment by 30 per cent. for men and 45 per cent. for women. In the context of the overall objectives of the Bill, encouraging education, training and gaining qualifications is vital.
As the disability premium for income support will be abolished under ESA, will the Minister clarify how students will be identified as qualifying for income-based ESA while studying full-time? People who receive income support can get reductions in their course fees and sometimes fee waivers. That does not apply to people who are on incapacity benefit, although some colleges individually allow fee waivers. Will the Minister explain how he thinks that people who receive income-based ESA will be supported in the high cost of post-16 education? Will a fee waiver apply to ESA recipients in the context of the Bill?
I look forward to the Minister’s response.