Clause 15
Welfare Reform Bill
11:00 am
Jim Murphy (Minister of State (Work), Department for Work and Pensions; East Renfrewshire, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman raises a reasonable point. Jobcentre Plus would also be there as the last resort to manage market failure, but it would genuinely have to be the last resort, because we anticipate that a more appropriate first, second and third line of management would be through stringent contract management, continuous assessment of management information, penalties that can be built into the contracts, and terminating contracts and awarding them to others. The situation that he outlined is a possibility as a final and last resort, but only if everything else has been tried.
I hope I have reassured the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey and that he will therefore ask leave to withdraw his probing amendment.