Danny Alexander (Shadow Minister and Disability Spokesperson, Work & Pensions; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)

I welcome the clause, but may I have some latitude, Mr. Hood, to probe a related matter briefly? This clause and clause 50 seem, on the face of it, to make improvements in respect of the conditions that relate to widowed mother’s allowance and widowed parent’s allowance in cases where the child is not resident with the parent. It seems broadly sensible to place that under the heading, “Benefits for bereaved persons”.

It has recently been drawn to my attention by a constituent that there is another matter relating to bereaved persons. I hope the Minister might be able to take that away and have a wee look at it: the conditions for entitlement to funeral grants where there is a sharp three-month cut-off point. If the claim is not made within three months, not only can there be no appeal, but the administrative rule is strict. I have recently had a local case where a claim has been refused after the three-month period, despite there being reasonable grounds for an appeal to be considered and a grant to be made. I hope that, with the leave of the Committee, the Minister will have a wee think about that and come back to me.

Anne McGuire (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Disabled People), Department for Work and Pensions; Stirling, Labour)

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments on both clauses 49 and 50, which are linked. He is right: it is an improvement on the current situation. The arrangement is to withdraw child dependency increases as part of the move to child tax credits. The exact provision had not been made, and we have used this Bill to tidy that up.

With regard to entitlement to bereavement grants and the three-month cut-off, if memory serves—a few of us here were around in the 1997-2001 Parliament—there was some debate of that issue at that time. It was accepted by the House that we should have a three-month period when the bereavement grants would be considered and after that there would be a cut-off. I will not give any definitive comment at the moment and I will get back to the hon. Gentleman about that particular issue.