Clause 15
Welfare Reform Bill
11:45 am
Jim Murphy (Minister of State (Work), Department for Work and Pensions; East Renfrewshire, Labour)
That is another fair assessment from the hon. Gentleman, who thus far has joined the Daventry school of probing. Perhaps, by the end of our deliberations, I will think of the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare in the same way as I do the hon. Member for Daventry. That is meant as a compliment.
I have no evidence of what the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare suggests. We have learned through the procurement process. The roll-out of pathways is a black box, as we would term it in the market sense, allowing flexibility for providers to suggest innovations that are most appropriate to the customers and the area that they support. I reassure him that performance information will be reviewed monthly by the contract manager. The first review must take place within26 weeks of the start of the contract, at which point we will identify any problems with support for customers as the contracts roll out.
It might be helpful to make available on the Department for Work and Pensions website some of the documentation regarding contracting, as long as it is not commercially confidential. The answers to a lot of the questions that have been asked are contained in that documentation; it includes information about the contracts sent to potential private and voluntary sector providers, specifically on protection for customers and the approach of those providers.
I accept that I am the only person with a copy of the documentation, so other members of the Committee are at a slight disadvantage. Private and voluntary sector organisations have been sent the documents; they are the basis on which organisations are applying for contracts.