Clause 54
Welfare Reform Bill
9:10 am
Danny Alexander (Shadow Minister and Disability Spokesperson, Work & Pensions; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. The experience that he described has been shared by some of my constituents with regard to crisis loans. Both he and I were at the recent meeting of the all-party group on citizens advice, where Citizens Advice representatives reported that the experience was common to people living in many constituencies. The Minister may therefore wish to deal with the issue of timeliness. Given the nature of social fund payments, which are sometimes for emergencies, especially in the case of crisis loans, what steps are being taken to ensure that telephone lines are answered as quickly as possible so that people do not have the experience that the hon. Member for Caerphilly accurately described?
Within the social fund, what scope does the Minister have to allow additional categories of grant or loan? If he has such powers, is he minded to use them in a particular way, and if he does not, is he minded to take them?