The Minister for Employment (Esther McVey)
My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud) has made the following written ministerial statement.
Today I am launching a review of the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC). As part of the Government’s continuing drive for efficiency and effectiveness, all Departments are required to review their arms length bodies at least once in every three year review cycle to challenge whether the functions they perform are still necessary and if so whether it is still appropriate for them to be delivered in the same way. The review of the Social Security Advisory Committee will look at the Committee’s functions and whether it needs to continue to exist. If the review determines that the Committee should continue, it will go on to examine the potential for delivering more effectively and efficiently and the corporate governance mechanisms. I will inform the House of the outcome of the review and place a copy of it in the Libraries of both Houses when it is completed.