New Clause 11
Welfare Reform Bill
4:15 pm
James Plaskitt (Warwick and Leamington, Labour)
There is a slight difference between us, Mr. Amess. I have listened carefully to the speech by the hon. Member for Rochdale, and it sounds as though he has presented us with something of a long wish list for a state of perfection right across the whole benefit system. What he has described is what many of us might, indeed, wish to see, but will he accept from me that in reality the benefit system works pretty well for the large majority of claimants who use it?
Although I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we should always strive to improve the quality of service that we offer to claimants, I can see problems in the charter that he is proposing—for example, with workability, costs and the bureaucracy that would arise from several of his proposals. The main point to which I want to see if he will respond is, if we are going to seek to improve the benefit system by introducing a charter, does he accept that it should be half a charter? He seems to have written a charter that focuses on rights but says nothing at all about responsibilities. Although I wonder why he is proposing what is in the regulations list, if we look through his charter, it is not balanced by the responsibilities that exist in relation to claimants. If we are going to go down the road of having a charter, does he accept that both need to be set out?
I want to give some examples of where the hon. Gentleman would need to balance rights and responsibilities in the draft charter that he has presented. For example, why are paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (3) not balanced by an obligation on the part of claimants not to be abusive to jobcentre staff? In relation to paragraph (e), in which he talks about information, why does he not balance that with an obligation on applicants to provide all the relevant information to someone who has tried to process their benefit at the time they are seeking to do so? Why does he not balance paragraph (f) with an obligation on claimants to provide timely information to support their application, or balance paragraph (i) with a commitment to take up all the appropriate training and work-related courses to which one is directed? Why not balance paragraph (n) by a reference to following through all the relevant advice that is given? My main point is—I shall be grateful if the hon. Gentleman will respond to this—does he think that if there is to be a charter, it needs to cover both sides of the equation?