New Clause 8
Welfare Reform Bill
11:30 am
Jeremy Hunt (Shadow Minister (the Disabled), Work & Pensions; South West Surrey, Conservative)
The last time that I made repeated interventions, the Under-Secretary said that I was trying her patience. Obviously, in our new consensual spirit, I would not wish that to happen, but I would still like a little clarification. Given that one working-age disabled person in three has children, if such a person were claiming housing benefit and had a partner living with them, who could cause a non-dependent deduction to be made? Does she not agree that, in that situation, there is a concern that the non-dependent deduction acts as a disincentive to that partner working? That could therefore indirectly increase the number of workless households. That is our concern and why we are pressing her on child poverty.