Clause 18
Welfare Reform Bill
6:00 pm
Anne McGuire (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Disabled People), Department for Work and Pensions; Stirling, Labour)
I am not aware of any great evidence that we need longer than 24 months, but if the hon. Gentleman wishes to present such evidence we will be delighted to consider it.
Our experience has shown that 24 months is a suitable period to review the progress of pilots and to test new approaches to welfare. I am pleased that this is a probing amendment; if the period were 60 months, it would be not so much a pilot as a sentence.