Clause 17
Welfare Reform Bill
5:30 pm
Anne McGuire (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Disabled People), Department for Work and Pensions; Stirling, Labour)
I shall deal first with the Northern Ireland issue. The hon. Gentleman may have helped the whole Committee by raising this point, because it can be confusing when we talk about Great Britain, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. He makes the point that we are a country of union, and that Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England are all part of the United Kingdom. I thought, however, that he realised that for some significant years, Northern Ireland has had its own social security system, which often mirrors—if not exactly mirrors—the provisions of our own social security system. However, the actual powers have resided in Northern Ireland. I think that I am right in saying that we have a reciprocal agreement. I know that that sounds like peculiar terminology in the context of the United Kingdom, but that is just the way it is. We have had that agreement since 1976, so it is not something new or innovative that we are imposing in the Bill to link in with the current situation. I hope that that addresses some of the issues raised. It is long held in legislation that Northern Ireland has a slight separation, but the situation often mirrors, and may well exactly mirror—I do not want to be caught out on a technicality—the social security system in the rest of the UK.