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152: Schedule 4, page 107, line 34, at end insert—
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“12A (1) In section 23 (definitions), subsection (1) is amended as follows.
(2) Omit the definition of “the Boundary Committee”.
(3) After the definition of “local government area” insert—
““the Local Government Boundary Commission” means the Local Government Boundary Commission for England;”.”
153: Schedule 4, page 107, line 36, leave out “Boundary Committee” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
154: Schedule 4, page 107, line 38, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
155: Schedule 4, page 107, line 39, at end insert—
“(4) After subsection (2) insert—
“(3) In this Chapter, “Local Government Boundary Commission” means the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.””
156: Schedule 4, page 107, line 41, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
157: Schedule 4, page 107, line 43, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
158: Schedule 4, page 108, line 1, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
159: Schedule 4, page 108, line 5, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
160: Schedule 4, page 108, line 7, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
161: Schedule 4, page 108, line 10, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
162: Schedule 4, page 108, line 14, leave out “Committee” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
163: Schedule 4, page 108, line 17, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
164: Schedule 4, page 108, line 19, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
165: Schedule 4, page 108, line 22, leave out “Committee” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
166: Schedule 4, page 108, line 28, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
167: Schedule 4, page 108, line 32, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
168: Schedule 4, page 108, line 34, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
169: Schedule 4, page 108, line 37, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
170: Schedule 4, page 108, line 40, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
173: Schedule 4, page 109, line 8, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
174: Schedule 4, page 109, line 10, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
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175: Schedule 4, page 109, line 14, leave out “Boundary Committee for England” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
176: Schedule 4, page 109, line 20, leave out “Boundary Committee” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
177: Schedule 4, page 109, line 29, leave out “Boundary Committee” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
178: Schedule 4, page 109, line 31, leave out paragraph 25 and insert—
“25 In section 102 (interpretation), in subsection (2), after the definition of “local government elector” insert—
““Local Government Boundary Commission” means the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.””
179: Schedule 4, page 109, line 36, leave out “Boundary Committee” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
Schedule 6 : EPBs and combined authorities: amendments
180: Schedule 6, page 129, line 6, leave out “Integrated Transport Authority”” and insert “integrated transport area”
Baroness Andrews: My Lords, this is a much shorter speaking note and my final one on this Bill. Amendments 180 to 182 are minor, technical amendments that will correct small errors that have been noticed in the drafting of Schedule 6. I am grateful to our Bill team for its usual forensic attention to detail. I beg to move.
181: Schedule 6, page 130, line 20, leave out “In paragraph 11A(1),” and insert “In paragraph 11A—
(a) in sub-paragraph (1),”
182: Schedule 6, page 130, line 21, at end insert “;
(b) in sub-paragraph (4), for “integrated transport area of the Authority” substitute “integrated transport area of the Integrated Transport Authority or (as the case may be) the area of the combined authority.””
Amendments 181 and 182 agreed.
183: Schedule 7, page 134, line 2, at end insert—
“Part A1Politically restricted posts| Short title and chapter | Extent of repeal |
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(b) in paragraph (c), “not falling within paragraph (a) or (b) above”. | |
184: Schedule 7, page 135, line 24, column 2, at end insert—
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“In section 23(1), the definition of “the Boundary Committee”.” |
Amendments 183 and 184 agreed.
185: In the Title, line 6, leave out “Boundary Committee” and insert “Local Government Boundary Commission”
A privilege amendment was made.
Baroness Andrews: My Lords, it has been a pleasure working with Members of this House given the thoughtfulness, experience and commitment to making a better Bill that they displayed at every stage of this Bill. Members on the opposition Front Benches have been a pleasure to work with. My noble friends have been loyal and faithful, demonstrating great stamina throughout the process. I am extremely grateful for the thorough and careful scrutiny that this Bill has been given. The Bill is simpler, clearer and improved from the process. I thank my noble friend Lord Judd for the generosity of what he said. It is my duty but also a great pleasure to listen and to be able to accommodate the improvements that noble Lords around this House have put forward. I am grateful.
We send this little craft into the stormy seas of another place, but the craft is now more robust and more likely to survive. Although this is a relatively modest Bill by some standards, it is significant. It addresses the different ways in which the practice of both politics in its wider sense and democracy can operate in future. I am conscious that at this time there is a great deal of cynicism about both. Politics is an honourable craft and politicians honourable people.
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I am grateful to the support of this House in enabling us to achieve that. I thank an outstanding Bill team, whose members have been extremely scrupulous, creative and flexible; they have given the greatest possible support to both me and my noble friend Lord Patel, who has assisted me beautifully and ably throughout the process of the Bill. I beg to move that this Bill do now pass.
Lord Tope: My Lords, I thank the Minister for her comments and agree substantially with many of them. First, I offer the apologies of my noble friend Lady Hamwee, who, sadly, is at the funeral of a close friend this afternoon. However, it gives me the opportunity to put on the record my personal thanks to her. Occasionally I have been critical of some of the drafting, but in fact my noble friend’s drafting skills never cease to amaze me. I worked closely with her at the Greater London Authority for eight years and we have known each other for probably 30 years, so I should no longer be amazed.
I thank also two of my colleagues, my noble friend Lady Maddock, who is in her place, and my noble friend Lord Greaves, who particularly sends his apologies for his absence today. He is thinking of us from another part of the country and wishes that he could be here. Between the four of us, I believe that we have—although I hesitate to say it—well over 100 years of local government experience. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with my noble friends on this Bill. I am not sure that the Minister feels that it has always been a pleasure, but it has been from this side of the Chamber.
I move on to thank the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, and the noble Lord, Lord Patel, for their real care and consideration of all that we have had to say, and for their willingness to discuss with us our concerns and to try to meet them whenever possible. I link to that, as did the noble Baroness, her Bill team, particularly the central team, if that is the right expression. I note also from a reply to a Parliamentary Question at an early stage the very significant number of civil servants who have worked on the Bill. Nine are in their places today, but in our darker moments it has been a matter of some amusement for Members on these Benches, who sit opposite the civil servants’ Box, to watch the teams moving backwards and forwards as we reach each new stage. Nevertheless, I pay tribute to them for their support and willingness to try to accommodate us where necessary. On that subject, I, too, make particular mention of Tim Oliver in our Whips’ Office, who has worked tirelessly in support of our team.
Our view on the Bill is now well known. We think that some of it is unnecessary, some of it is undesirable and much of it is well intentioned; there is also some of it with which we simply disagree. The one point on which I think we will all agree is that it leaves this House in a very much better condition than it arrived, but not yet in a pristine condition.
Bill passed and sent to the Commons.
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Arrangement of Business
Announcement
5.21 pm
Lord Bassam of Brighton: My Lords, as the House has had an opportunity to debate during Question Time the update on the swine flu outbreak, the usual channels have now agreed not to repeat the Statement in this House. I should advise noble Lords that, as a result of that, if Back-Bench contributions to today’s Second Reading debate are kept to no more than 10 minutes rather than the eight minutes I advised earlier, the House should rise not long after the target rising time of 10 pm.
Welfare Reform Bill
Bill Main Page
Copy of the Bill
Explanatory Notes
Second Reading
5.22 pm
Moved By Lord McKenzie of Luton
That the Bill be read a second time.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): My Lords, last summer, the Government published the Green Paper, No One Written Off: Reforming Welfare to Reward Responsibility. Following consultation, the White Paper, Raising Expectations and Increasing Support, set out proposals further to reform the welfare system to ensure that nobody is left behind and to ensure that we continue to have an active welfare state that supports people by building on approaches which have been successful over the past decade. Many of the measures set out in the White Paper do not need changes to primary legislation. This Bill makes those changes that are needed to deliver our reforms. It will put in place the systems to ensure that everyone gets the personalised support they deserve and that that support is matched with responsibility. It will form the bedrock upon which we will build a welfare system that is responsive and fit for the challenges we face moving into the next decade.
We know that work is good for people’s health and self-esteem, and that it is the best route out of poverty. We know that the vast majority of benefit recipients want to get back into work, but many face barriers to doing so, barriers that can be varied and challenging. Our next stage of reform is about creating a system which recognises that barriers to work are different for each individual and that it is flexible enough to respond with personalised support, a system where most people move towards an eventual return to work and are expected to take up the support available to them. We know that this approach works and that combining rights with responsibilities, having regular contact with our customers and getting them to think about a return to work can not only change mindsets and outcomes; it can change lives.
There are rightly those who should not be required to look for work or to undertake activity to move closer to the labour market. That is, people with caring responsibilities, with serious illness or disability
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In his review of conditionality, Professor Paul Gregg identified these broad groups: those who are work-ready; those where an immediate return to work is not appropriate but where, with time, encouragement and support, it could become a genuine possibility—the progression to work group—and those for whom there should be no requirements. The progression to work group would include those in the work-related activity group on employment and support allowance, partners of certain benefit claimants and lone parents with young children. The Bill makes provision for requirements to undertake work-related activity and for people to be mandated to a specific work-related activity prescribed in an action plan.
We intend to test the progression to work approach in a range of pathfinders for those lone parents with a youngest child between three and six. We are starting with this group because there will be a strong foundation of childcare provision available to them. Jobcentre Plus will pay for that childcare where necessary.
The system we want to put in place is based around a continuing relationship between the adviser and the claimant. We will ensure that we create an appropriate sanctions regime that is clear and provides incentives to recomply—even for those who continually fail to do so. Work, for those who can, substantially lowers the risk of poverty for families, with and without children. The surest way to address child poverty is to support more parents into work. We want to ensure that preparation for work becomes a natural progression rather than a sudden step.
The Bill contains powers to ensure that those on ESA in the work-related activity group undertake activity most appropriate for ensuring that they can return to work as soon as possible. Advisers will support people to undertake activity that will be beneficial to that individual. These reforms will deliver better, more flexible, more appropriate support to people across the spectrum of out-of-work benefits: a personalised model of support and conditionality that is not dependent on the benefit you claim, but on the circumstances in which you claim it.
The work ready group are those on jobseeker’s support allowance. Most people who claim JSA leave benefit in less than two years. Indeed, even in the current economic climate, most leave within six months—though some linger. We need to build on the substantial support that we are making available earlier in the jobseeker’s regime to minimise the risk that jobseekers will repeatedly cycle through the system.
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