Baroness Sherlock
Main Page: Baroness Sherlock (Labour - Life peer)
Baroness Stedman-Scott
I must tell noble Lords that in every evaluation I have been involved in I have been absolutely behind an independent process. I do not know whether the department plans to have an independent evaluation, but I will certainly take that point back. As always, I am very happy to meet noble Lords to explore issues and new ideas, and obviously how these are resourced.
Baroness Sherlock (Lab)
My Lords, no one doubts the integrity of the Minister, but colleagues from around the House who have been raising this question for years are beginning to worry that the department has lost any sense of urgency in addressing it. The case described by the noble Lord, Lord Polak, was the awful situation of a man who knew that if he died before the reforms came in, his children would be supported until they left school; if he died just the other side of that line, they would not. Sadly, he died before the reforms took place. At the moment, this new payment is not even being uprated, so its value goes down in real terms year on year.
The Minister mentioned money. Although the Government said this was not about money, it was originally scored as saving £100 million a year in steady state after two years. Perhaps the Government could take that money and consider how they might invest it back into the parents of bereaved children. Will the Minister consider both those things?
Baroness Stedman-Scott
I can always rely on the noble Baroness to give me my homework, so I will go straight back to the department to try to get a sense of urgency on this. She has my word on that. The situation described by my noble friend, and the noble Baroness, is tragic, and I accept their points.
On the question of uprating, the bereavement support payment is a death grant benefit, rather than a benefit paid on an ongoing basis. It is not a cost-of-living benefit; it is paid in addition to means-tested benefits to protect the least well off. I take the noble Baroness’s point that there are, on the face of it, cost savings, but it was never intended to be a cost-saving exercise. It was intended to provide support in the early days of grieving. It replaced something that was started in 1925 when women were not expected to work but their husbands were. It is right that we reviewed it, but I will take the noble Baroness’s points back to the department.