Clause 5
Welfare Reform Bill
9:30 am
Anne McGuire (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Disabled People), Department for Work and Pensions; Stirling, Labour)
Mr. Hood, I add my congratulations to you on chairing the proceedings along with your colleague Mr. Amess. I have known you for many years to be a fair man, and I hope to know you for many years longer as one. I am delighted to be with my colleague the Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform. If we may reflect on a little past glory, I think it is fair to say that we had two of the sensational wins in 1997 that put us on this side of the room rather than that one.
I also offer a courtesy to the hon. Member for Daventry for an interesting question that is fair in the circumstances. I shall not waste the Committee’s time, because the clause is fairly straightforward, but I assure him that we are very aware that information needs to be clear and accessible at various points in the process. When people are notified of their entitlement, they will be informed of any changes in circumstance that would make their benefit decrease, or perhaps increase, and need to be reported.
We are dealing with a shorter time scale than that of incapacity benefit—13 weeks, which in many respects is more manageable for changes in circumstances. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman would recognise that we try to obtain decisions quickly on changes in benefit entitlement. That is not to say that it always happens, but we always try to minimise disruption to an individual’s financial circumstances. I hope that he will be satisfied by those assurances.