Topical Questions

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 11 March 2013.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Liam Byrne Liam Byrne Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2:30, 11 March 2013

May I start by thanking the Secretary of State for briefing me and my right hon. Friend Stephen Timms on his plans for urgent legislation, about which his Department has commented in The Daily Telegraph this morning? Both he and I believe that sanctions are vital to give back-to-work programmes their bite. However, when he signed off the 2011 regulations that created sanctions for the Work programme, why did he not check that they were legally bullet proof?