Clause 7
Welfare Reform Bill
5:15 pm
Tony McNulty (Minister of State (Employment and Welfare Reform; Minister for London), Department for Work and Pensions; Harrow East, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman is right, but for the wrong reasons. He is wrong to suggest that the power is sweeping, as it is a single power to abolish a particular benefit, but he is right to say that there are issues to consider, including carers and the timing of such abolition. That is why we have made it clear that we would not introduce an order to abolish that benefit until there were no longer any groups that required it. That seems terribly straightforward; one would not abolish a benefit while people still required it. We have made it very clear that in proposing to abolish income support, we do not propose that people who get it should receive any less money or should be subject to requirements such as that they must look for work. The intention is to simplify and streamline the system without making it any less sensitive to people’s needs, and clause 7 does that appropriately. This measure, and other laws in regulation and statute, will prevail as people move off income support and on to other benefits.
For the same reason, I do not agree that there is any value in requiring a separate report, as the amendment suggests. By the time that such a report was produced, it would be very clear what arrangements had been made for each group of income support recipients, because we would not introduce an order until we were in that position. Also, there will probably be further consultation on at least some groups—certainly on carers—as I mentioned earlier. Any report would therefore simply be a formality saying that there were no longer any recipients of income support and that we were going to abolish it. That would be a complete waste of everyone’s time and would do no more than confirm something that would be apparent from a cursory reading of the relevant order.
The hon. Gentleman can and should be assured that there is no secret agenda to rush towards the abolition of income support without dealing with those extant groups that still require it, and no order will be forthcoming until we are at a stage when there are no recipients of a benefit that we seek to abolish.