Personal Independence Payments
Lord Bishop of Leicester Excerpts(9 years, 8 months ago)
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Lord Freud
People who are terminally ill are fast-tracked through the process and the median end-to-end clearance time is now, as of this January, seven working days compared with 11 days in January last year.
The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, can the Minister tell us how many 16 and 17 year-olds are awaiting reassessment? What action do the Government propose to take to meet the additional needs of that group, including providing support for them through the reassessment process?
Lord Freud
I will have to write to the right reverend Prelate on that matter. I do not have the data on 16 and 17 year-olds so I shall write to him.
Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill
Lord Bishop of Leicester Excerpts(11 years, 4 months ago)
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“Amendment of Education Act 1996
(1) Section 403 of the Education Act 1996 is amended as follows.
(2) After subsection (1B) insert—
“(1BA) Nothing in subsection (1B) prevents teaching the tenets of the relevant religion or religious denomination concerning marriage and its importance for family life and the bringing up of children to registered pupils at schools which have a religious character.”
(3) After subsection (2) insert—
“(3) For the purposes of subsection (1BA)—
(a) a school has a religious character if it is designated as a school having such a character by an order made by the Secretary of State under section 69 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (“the 1998 Act”); and (b) “the relevant religion or religious denomination” means the religion or denomination specified in relation to the school under section 69(4) of the 1998 Act.”
The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 95, and I am glad to do so after a dinner break which I hope will have had the effect of moving noble Lords to see that this amendment merits the support of all sides of the House, whatever our disagreements may have been in the many days of debate thus far.
This amendment would ensure that there is no conflict between the guidance issued by the Secretary of State on the teaching of sex and relationships education, which includes teaching on the importance of marriage, and the obligation of schools of a religious character to teach in accordance with their trusts. It will ensure that while such schools will continue to have guidance issued by the Secretary of State about the teaching of marriage as it will be defined by the Bill, it does not prevent them, within the context of sex and relationships education, in the words of the amendment, also from,
“teaching the tenets of the relevant religion or religious denomination concerning marriage and its importance for family life and the bringing up of children”.
It is important to stress what this amendment is not about. It is not about seeking opt-outs for teachers, pupils or schools of a religious character from teaching about marriage as the Bill defines it. I, personally, would have no part in proposing that. Nor is it about seeking so-called protections for schools or teachers from the need to promote same-sex marriage. Many in this Chamber and outside, as I know from many conversations, still remain haunted by the ghosts of Section 28. To anyone who is feeling so haunted this evening, I offer the rites of exorcism. Let me be crystal clear: this amendment is categorically not about turning back the clock to those regrettable times. It is about reconciling two principles that have been the cause of many heated debates in this House: the principles of equality in marriage and respect for religious freedom. The focus of the amendment is on schools of a religious character, and how teaching on marriage will and should take place once the Bill becomes law.
An earlier version of the amendment was tabled in Committee by my friend the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds. During the debate on that amendment it was unfortunate that the substance of the proposal was lost amid extended discussions about protections for teachers and schools and freedom from coercion about what to teach. I will address some of those misconceptions shortly but for now I will ask your Lordships not to be distracted by matters that have already been gone over at length and settled. They are not any part of the aim or purpose of this amendment.
This amendment seeks to bring clarity and to resolve a conflict between what schools of a religious character are legally obliged to do on the one hand—to meet the terms of their trusts—and what on the other hand they will be legally obliged to have regard to in terms of statutory guidance from the Secretary of State about the teaching of marriage. The Bill as it is sets both legal obligations on potentially a collision course. The substance of my case for the amendment is that without it, governing bodies of schools of a religious character will be left in a dilemma as to how marriage should be taught and may even be encouraged, through their legal obligations, to require teachers, who must teach according to the tenets of the faith, to disregard the Secretary of State’s guidance altogether. No one in this House, not least those on these Benches, would like to see a situation arise in which schools of a religious character are left in any confusion or doubt, or in which they might frame a policy about teaching marriage that ignores the existence of same-sex marriage entirely. I therefore hope that the amendment will command the support of noble Lords on all sides of this debate.
I shall not repeat in detail the points made in Committee by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds. The situation can be summarised as follows. All schools of a religious character, whether Church of England, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Jewish or other faiths, of which there are several in my own diocese of Leicester, are legally required to ensure that teaching takes place in the school according to the tenets of the respective faith. Church of England schools, for example, are established on trusts that require them to provide education in accordance with the tenets of the Church of England. They are legally obliged to comply with that requirement in their trust deeds, and a failure to do so would result in the governors acting unlawfully.
As far as teaching sex and relationships education goes, all maintained schools are required to “have regard to” guidance issued by the Secretary of State for Education under Section 403 of the Education Act 1996. That guidance says that pupils must,
“learn the nature of marriage and its importance for family life and the bringing up of children”.
I will clarify the point here, which is the very specific area of sex and relationships education. The principal provision of Section 403 of the Education Act 1996 requires SRE to be,
“given in such a manner as to encourage pupils to have due regard to moral considerations and the value of family life”.
Section 403 then builds on that general requirement by requiring the Secretary of State of State to issue guidance on the nature of marriage, and so on, and requiring heads and governing bodies to have regard to it. We are not talking here about teaching the tenets of the religion in a general sense but in this very specific area of sex and relationships education and moral considerations on the value of family life. That is why this particular area impinges on the tenets of the religion in a way that education generally does not. That is the reason to address this situation specifically.
After the Bill becomes law, the references in the guidance will of course be taken to mean marriage as the Bill defines it, which as anyone observing these debates will surely know by now, is not exactly how the tenets of the great majority of the world faiths define it. This leaves schools of a religious character with two competing legal duties. One says that the teaching has to be according to the tenets of the faith, while the other says that they must have regard to the guidance.
Why might that be a problem? Some may wonder why schools cannot just teach both alongside each other in a sensible way. That, of course, is certainly the approach we want to see in Church of England schools. However, the crucial point is that there are strong legal grounds to conclude that the obligation to comply with the terms of the trust deeds of a school of a religious character outweighs the duty to have regard to the Secretary of State’s guidance. One is a duty to comply and the other is a duty to have regard. Unless Members of the House accept the amendment and resolve the conflict in the Bill, there is nothing to stop some schools of a religious character making a decision on legal grounds to set aside the guidance altogether. I am sure that noble Lords are aware of the diversification of provision being pursued by the Department for Education and the potential for a wider range of providers to enter the system. I contend that this makes it more necessary than ever to ensure that governing bodies are not tempted to set aside the guidance in this way. The amendment will give necessary space for schools of a religious character to stay within the terms of the statutory framework and significantly reduces the risk of them declining to teach about the changed legal nature of marriage at all.
The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, I am grateful to all those who have spoken in what has been a serious and gracious debate. I know that I speak for my noble friend the most reverend Primate in expressing gratitude for the tributes that have been paid to his leadership, particularly at the General Synod, and in so many other ways. It is a leadership for which we are growing more and more appreciative, both in the church and in the nation. I thank the Minister for the care, attention, accessibility and understanding that she has unfailingly shown in the conversations that we have had leading up to this debate. I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, for helpful conversations in which we have been able to make clear our genuine concerns.
I think that it was Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke” who said: “What we have here is a failure to communicate”. At times in this debate it has felt a bit like that because, as those who listened carefully to what was said in support of the amendment know, what I am trying to do is to ensure that the Bill prevents faith schools from opting out of teaching about same-sex marriage. We really are on the same side of the argument and it seems at times that this message has not been heard.
I shall make some specific responses to certain noble Lords. To the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, I would say that Section 403 is the only education provision that refers to marriage and it is the meaning of that word that is being altered by this Bill. We do not need to amend other legislation, as he has suggested, because other education legislation does not deal with marriage. Therefore, the amendment does not run counter to the Bill. It says that there is room for both religious and legal understandings of marriage and that they can live alongside each other in religious schools.
I would just clarify the question that the noble Lord, Lord Elystan-Morgan, put to us. The position is that there is a difference between a requirement to have regard to statutory guidance and an obligation to comply with the terms of a trust deed. The latter is an unqualified legal obligation. The former is a duty to have regard and is therefore weaker, hence the danger of some religious groups going their own way if the potential conflict is not resolved. That is the point that I tried to make.
On the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Farrington, the concern is not that the Bill is changing what goes on in homes and communities but that it changes the law. We need to ensure that the new law and teaching about marriage in church schools can happily coexist. I do not believe that this amendment in any way erodes, undermines or attacks the central purpose of the Bill; rather, it strengthens it.
Having said all that, I know that it is late and that we have much more work to do. The Minister has given what I take to be an undertaking that, if it comes to a conflict, the Government recognise that the trust deed overrides the requirements of the Secretary of State’s guidance. On that basis, I beg leave to withdraw this amendment. I reserve the right to consider the implications of this debate further in case we want to bring some of this back at Third Reading.
Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill
Lord Bishop of Leicester Excerpts(11 years, 5 months ago)
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The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, having conducted some 400 weddings as a parish priest, making the journey with couples as they anticipate a lifelong commitment has been one of the great privileges of the ordained life. I have witnessed personally the stability, fulfilment and anchor for life for so many, which has been transformational. However, I have also observed that the open and public recognition of gay relationships that civil partnerships now provide displays many of the very qualities for which marriage itself is so highly celebrated. I speak as one whose respect for and appreciation of gay clergy is deep and who recognises in them sacrificial lives and fruitful ministries. I also recognise the need for some humility at this moment in speaking on matters of equality from these Benches. I add my appreciation to that of the most reverend Primate for the way in which the Secretary of State and her colleagues have tried to accommodate the Church of England’s concerns at every point in this process. I entirely endorse what the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, and others have said about the need to continue to make progress on the inclusion of gay people in our society, and I entirely accept what the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, has said about change and development in our understanding of the institution of marriage.
Yet I cannot support the Bill and, from the post bags of those of us on these Benches, the reasons why are shared by many who do not hold the Christian faith and by the great majority of the leaders of the other world faith traditions. I want to highlight three reasons.
First, this legislation does not resolve the decades-old debate about when undeniable differences between men and women matter and when they do not. Modern political discourse tends to recognise as public goods only things that can be equally appropriated by any given individual, regardless of difference. This involves a difficulty in entertaining notions of public rights and obligations that might pertain to one sex rather than the other, or to one sexual orientation rather than another. As Professor John Milbank has written in a paper for the ResPublica think tank:
“The risk of this exclusive focus on individual rights is that the needs and capacities of people in their specific differences, which may be either naturally given or the result of cultural association, tend to be overridden. And so it is that injustice can arise in the name of justice”.
I could not help noticing in the debate in this House on International Women’s Day the underlying assumption that women bring a special quality to the public square and that the complementarity of men and women is what enriches and stabilises society. Yet, in the realm of public discourse, assertion of sexual difference in relation to marriage has become practically unspeakable, in spite of the fact that it is implicitly assumed by most people in the course of everyday life. Equal marriage will bring to an end the one major social institution that enshrines that complementarity.
Secondly, the Bill, introduced in haste, has not allowed enough time for a weighing of gains and losses to the well-being of society. Do the gains of meeting the need of many LGBT people for the dignity and equality that identifying their partnerships as marriage gives outweigh the loss entailed as society moves away from a clear understanding of marriage as a desirable setting within which children are conceived and raised? In traditional Christian societies, the price you pay for getting married is, in principle, a heavy one—sexual fidelity till death us do part and, for some, a responsibility for the socialising and educating of children. As the ResPublica paper on this subject pointed out:
“As people become more and more reluctant to pay that price, so do weddings become more and more provisional, and the distinction between the socially endorsed union and the merely private arrangement becomes less and less absolute and less and less secure”.
As sociologists regularly observe, this gain in freedom for one generation may imply a loss for the next. Regardless of the best intentions of advocates of equality, if we detach the procreation of children as being one of the core purposes of marriage, then no social institution enshrines that purpose for the generations ahead. This is not, of course, to say that those who cannot or do not wish to have children are any less married.
Thirdly, as others have said, there is a difficulty here in the use of language. Put simply, there are two competing ideas of marriage at play in this debate. The first is perhaps traditional and conjugal, and extends beyond the individuals who marry to the children they hope to create and to the society they wish to shape. The second is more privative, and is to do with a relationship abstracted from the wider concern that marriage was originally designed to speak to. As the most reverend Primate has pointed out, this category error lies at the heart of this Bill as drafted.
In deciding whether to give this Bill a Second Reading, I have to ask myself several questions. Is it clear that it will produce public goods for our society that outweigh the loss of understanding of marriage as we have known it? Has the debate in the country and in Parliament been conducted in a way that will enable our society to adapt wisely to a fundamental social change? At a time of extreme social pressure, is this innovation likely to create a more cohesive, settled and unified society? Lastly, at this stage, is it appropriate to frustrate the clear will of the Commons on this Bill?
I have concluded that the answer to all these questions must be no and therefore, if it is the unusual intention of this House to divide at Second Reading, I shall have no alternative but to abstain.
Housing Benefit
Lord Bishop of Leicester Excerpts(11 years, 8 months ago)
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Lord Freud
My Lords, that is exactly the kind of case that the discretionary housing payments are intended for. Where there are genuine problems of that nature, we would expect those payments to be made to support that particular family in its accommodation.
The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, is the Minister aware of the pressure on the private rented sector? Many landlords operate a “no benefit claimants” policy, which causes significant problems in night shelters. Is the Minister aware of these problems caused by the shared accommodation rate and what are the Government doing to ensure that people moving on from a night shelter have somewhere to go?
Lord Freud
My Lords, there were concerns ahead of our changes to the local housing allowance that private rented accommodation would not be available. I was pleased to learn that that in contradiction to this, in the key London area, where some of the pressures have been greatest, availability in the private rental sector for benefit recipients has actually gone up 5% since we introduced the LHA changes.
Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill
Lord Bishop of Leicester Excerpts(11 years, 9 months ago)
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“(1A) The Secretary of State must, in each of the tax years ending with 5 April 2014 and 5 April 2015, make an order by statutory instrument increasing each of the relevant sums by no less than the general level of prices over the period under review and for the meaning of the “relevant sums” see paragraph 3 of the Schedule.”
The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 4, 5, 16, 18, 20 and 21, which are in my name, and I am grateful to other noble Lords for adding their names to some of them. These amendments seek to make two key changes to the Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill. The first is to ensure that universal credit rates, including work allowances, are uprated with inflation. This will protect the future value of benefits for low-income families while also achieving most of the short-term savings required as part of the Government’s deficit reduction strategy. Secondly, the amendments seek to ensure that work will always pay and that all working families are able to afford a minimum, decent standard of living.
I turn first to those amendments which seek to ensure that universal credit is removed from the scope of the Bill. I have tabled them for four key reasons. First, the baseline amounts for universal credit have only just been established by the Government. It surely is reasonable that these are now increased with cost of living. Secondly, the majority of households protected in this way in the long term would be working households. The measure would promote work incentives, about which I will say more in a moment. Thirdly, the measure would protect 6.7 million children from some level of impact once universal credit is fully introduced. Finally, the cost of the change would be relatively low over the next two years as a result of limited levels of migration to universal credit.
A number of benefits have been substantially revised as part of the introduction of universal credit. For example, the lower disability addition for children, comparable to the disability element of child tax credit, has been halved in value. Personal allowances for those aged under 25 have been changed so that lone parents under 25 will no longer receive the same rate of personal allowance as single adults aged over 25. The severe and enhanced disability premiums present in the current benefits system are being removed. These are major changes to the system and, since we have only just established a new baseline for support provided through the welfare system, it is surely reasonable that that support should be increased to keep pace with rises in the cost of living to ensure that the situation for families remains comparable over time. Inclusion of universal credit in the Bill amounts to a cut to the new scheme before it is even introduced. This surely cannot make sense. At this stage, we do not yet know what the impact of these changes to the structure of support will be. We should at least wait and see what the implications of these changes are before initiating cuts to them.
So how much will this cost? With my proposal, the Government can still make savings, but they can also help to ensure that the success of universal credit is not undermined. Based on a migration rate of 10% of claimants by the end of 2014-15 and 30% of claimants by the end of 2015-16, the additional cost of removing universal credit from the scope of the Bill would be £90 million in 2014-15 and £510 million in 2015-16. This would mean that the Bill would still make savings of £810 million in 2014-15 and £1.2 billion in 2015-16. In fact, since many households migrated across will have a lower entitlement under universal credit and so receive transitional protection, the costs may be significantly lower than this. Does the Minister agree that, having only just set the rates of support for universal credit, it would be reasonable to increase these in line with cost of living?
Secondly, I turn to work incentives. A key objective of the current welfare system and of the future system in the form of universal credit is to ensure that work incentives are maintained. The Government rightly identify work as an important way for families to lift themselves out of poverty, and we all accept that. However, this can succeed only if the right work incentives are provided through in-work benefits and tax credits. The Government estimate that around half of the total number of households affected by the Bill are working households—a total of 3.25 million working households, including working families from all walks of life.
The impact will be reflected in children in poverty in working families. The Government have admitted that they expect it to push 100,000 more children in working families below the poverty line. The amendments in this group in my name explicitly safeguard work incentives. The amendment ensures that the allowances provided through working tax credit, personal allowances within housing benefit and work allowances in universal credit are increased in line with prices. Doing so explicitly improves work incentives and ensures the principle that work pays.
Working tax credit will be affected by this Bill as it stands. It is notable that the basic and 30-hour elements of working tax have already faced a three-year freeze, from 2011-12 to 2013-14. This means that, in total, these elements will increase by just 2% over the course of half a decade, a period in which prices have risen by eight times as much. On top of this freeze, as a result of the Bill, a lone parent working 30 hours per week would receive the basic, lone parent and 30-hour elements of WTC and, as a result, they will have a WTC entitlement which is up to £132 per year lower.
The amendments also seek for the personal allowances within housing benefit to be increased in line with inflation. The personal allowance rates for adults are included within the scope of the Bill. This will mean that households moving into paid work keep less of their earnings before additional earnings are withdrawn from their housing benefit entitlement.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
I am sorry, I should have been clearer. Work allowances will be increased by 1% in 2014-15 and in 2015-16. That was announced in the Autumn Statement.
The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister and to noble Lords who contributed to this debate. The noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, underlined my concern about lone parents and reminded us that the effect of the Bill compounds the effect of so much other legislation that is going through at the moment. In particular he made the point that universal credit is the central architecture of welfare for the future and reminded us that, in his view, the savings are not worth the candle, and the effect of including universal credit in the uprating provisions will be to prejudice so much that is good about it. The noble Baroness, Lady Howe, passionately expressed her concern about more children being tipped into poverty, and about the very wide margin by which it is now clear we will miss the 2020 children in poverty targets. The noble Lord, Lord McKenzie of Luton, indicated that his party shared concerns about universal credit and work allowances.
I am grateful to the Minister for her response. She reminded the House that my proposals for excluding universal credit simply cannot be afforded. I hope she will hear that it is very clear that many people in this House doubt whether the argument that we cannot as a nation afford to provide enough to keep the poorest out of destitution sits at all comfortably with the House. I continue to have many concerns about restricting the uprating of benefits to 1%, especially for families, children and the many in work who receive benefits. As others have said, I hope that the Government will continue to reflect carefully on the direction of the Bill, and I look forward to their response on Report. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill
Lord Bishop of Leicester Excerpts(11 years, 9 months ago)
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The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, it is a privilege to follow the noble Lord, Lord Adebowale, who speaks with real authority and experience in this matter and who came to speak in Leicester this time last year to a group exploring the public responsibility for the poor.
It seems to me that, from time to time, it falls to these Benches to raise questions about the moral responsibility of this House and perhaps today is one such occasion. I want to ask what is the fundamental purpose of the Bill before us. The Minister has asserted that it is to achieve a stronger economy for the future. If that is the case, presumably it is designed to achieve short-term savings in response to a present budget deficit. However, because of its long-term effects, it looks like part of an ideologically motivated attempt to alter the very nature of the welfare state. If that is the case, we must ask ourselves what is the limit of our collective responsibility for the poorest in our society. I believe that there is confusion in this Bill about that limit in at least three key areas.
First, there is impact of the Bill on working families. One of the main arguments used to justify the Bill is that it is unfair that out-of-work families should see their benefits rise at a faster rate than hard-working families who are facing a squeeze in their wages. Others have made this point already. However, this claim is both inaccurate and unhelpful. It is inaccurate because the fact is that working families, and low earners in particular, are among those worst affected by this Bill, as we know. Working tax credit, one of the benefits included within the cap, is only available to working households. Other benefits that are also included, such as child benefit and child tax credit, are available to both working and non-working families. The House of Commons Library has estimated that if only out-of-work benefits were subjected to the 1% cap, 80% of the proposed savings would disappear. According to the Resolution Foundation, 60% of the impact of the Bill will fall on working households. In 2015-16, the 1% uprating policy will take a total of £2.8 billion out of the pockets of the very people who the Government should be seeking to support. More than at any other time, these families are relying on tax credits and other benefits to help compensate for the squeeze in their earnings and the rising prices of essentials.
As other noble Lords have mentioned, it is also unhelpful to set up a false distinction between in-work “strivers” and out-of-work “shirkers”. All of us who are actually in touch with the effects of this Bill in local communities know that many are losing their jobs through no fault of their own. Contrary to ministerial rhetoric, the vast majority of unemployed people want to work: 70% of unemployed people find work again within a year and only a tiny minority of workless households contain two generations who have never worked. As if it is not enough to lose your job, some of these people are now being vilified and impoverished.
Secondly, the Bill will have an adverse impact on the population at large. In total, it is estimated that 6.4 million families with children will be affected. That is 87% of all families with children and 95% of lone-parent families with children. While nearly all families will be affected by this policy, it is the poorest families who will bear the disproportionate share of the burden. The Government’s own impact analysis reveals that two-thirds of the cost of this measure is from the bottom third of the income distribution; only 3% is from the top third. Surely this is completely inconsistent with the Prime Minister’s statement that,
“those with broader shoulders should bear a greater load”.
I am not afraid to say that I think this is wrong.
Of course, this Bill comes on top of all the other welfare cuts that are disproportionately affecting low-income families, such as cuts in disability benefits and in the local housing allowance. I see at first hand the effects of these in my own city of Leicester, where the bedroom tax will affect 13% of tenanted households; the benefit cap will affect 585 households; and cuts in council tax support will affect 16,000 households, which will have to pay some element of council tax for the first time.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that the combined effect of all the tax and benefit changes introduced between 2010 and April 2015 is to reduce the incomes of the poorest fifth of families with children by about 7%. As others have said, the inevitable impact of this policy will be a further increase in child poverty. The Government’s own estimates are that this Bill will push 200,000 more children into poverty. Even before this measure was announced, the Institute for Fiscal Studies was already estimating that relative child poverty was set to increase by about 400,000 between 2010 and 2015. In Leicester, 32% of children are already in poverty, well above the 21% national average. This policy will substantially increase that number. I ask the Minister: what are the Government doing to reduce the impact on these 200,000 children?
Finally, I fear for the long-term implications of this policy. This Bill breaks the historic link between benefits and price inflation, which will have implications not just over the next three years but in 10 and 20 years’ time. We have not had enough public and political debate about this. The cumulative impact of this policy is a substantial erosion in the real value of benefits for the poorest working-age households, which is already considerably below what most people agree is necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living. Families that are already in a financially precarious position due to debt problems, lack of family support and so on will be particularly vulnerable, pushing many into unmanageable debt and triggering mental health problems, homelessness and family breakdown.
The changes to uprating policies announced by this Government already mean that the level of means-tested support will be 7% lower by 2016-17. If inflation turns out to be higher than currently forecast, the impact on living standards will be even greater—a serious risk that does not appear to have been adequately considered by the Government. Every unexpected increase in food prices or fuel costs will hit the pockets of those least able to bear the cost. What flexibility will there be to support vulnerable families if inflation rises much higher than the 2.2% measured by the consumer prices index?
If we wind the clock forward, what kind of safety net will be left in 10 or 20 years’ time? I fear that we are heading in the direction of a United States-style welfare system, where healthcare provision and pensions are large and protected but working-age provision is less generous and more stigmatised, barely providing enough for people to live on without relying on charitable handouts, where visits to the food bank are not an emergency response to an economic crisis but an integral part of the welfare state. Is this really the kind of society that we want to live in?
This Bill will not help the well-being of the most vulnerable in our society. It will depress hard-working families even further, remove much needed support for the vulnerable and unable to work, and potentially take us in the wrong direction for a generation, condemning countless children to poverty. It is a proposal that I cannot support.
Equal Marriage Consultation
Lord Bishop of Leicester Excerpts(11 years, 11 months ago)
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Baroness Stowell of Beeston
I am very grateful to the noble Lord for his support and also for his comments about the way in which we are bringing forward these proposals. I hope that he will forgive me if I do not seek to respond on behalf of the right reverend Prelates in the House today and I am sure that he would not expect me to.
The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, those of us on these Benches entirely share the view of the noble Lord, Lord Laming, that we are all equal in the eyes of God. That is why many of us supported civil partnerships, as we believe that the rights and obligations that flow to those who wish formally to mark and celebrate their commitment to each other should not be denied to people simply because of their sexuality.
However, civil partnerships, while conferring virtually the same legal benefits, are not the same as marriage. Marriage is not the property of the Government, nor is it the property of the church. While the forms and legalities around marriage have evolved over time, as the Minister has pointed out, one fundamental feature has remained the same throughout—that marriage is a union of one man and one woman. It is a social institution that predates both church and state and has been the glue that has bound countless successive societies together.
Does the Minister recognise that our concern here is not primarily religious conscience or the protection of the Church of England’s position but, rather, a more fundamental concern for stable communities? Can she assure us that teachers in church schools, for example, will not be disciplined for upholding traditional religious teaching? Can she assure the House that, in spite of the accelerated pace of this process, proper time, even over a Christmas holiday, will be given for adequate consultation with the Church of England’s canon lawyers on the legislative drafting? Can she assure us that the great majority of members of the Church of England and other faiths will not be labelled as prejudiced against gay people for taking a traditional stand?
Perhaps most troubling is the fact that the Government and the Opposition have together in proceeding with this measure led to division not only within the country, where polls consistently show that around half the population is against this change, but also between the political class and the vast majority of practising religious people. What plans do the Government have for working towards some greater degree of consensus on this matter?
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
My Lords, I am grateful to the right reverend Prelate for setting out his view on behalf of the church. I acknowledge that people have concerns about some of these proposals, but the safeguards that we are putting in place to protect religious freedoms are there directly to address those concerns. We are not in any way redefining how religious organisations see marriage. Nothing that we are proposing affects any religious faith or teaching in a faith. We are not changing society. We are bringing forward changes to reflect society as it is. We are seeking to do so in a way that is respectful and understanding of different views.
The right reverend Prelate asked me about teachers and faith schools. I can reassure him that nothing that we are doing in this legislation will bring about any change to the approach for teaching in schools. A faith school would be able to continue to describe its belief that marriage is between a man and a woman while recognising that same-sex couples can marry.
The right reverend Prelate asked me about allowing proper time for consultation with canon lawyers. I can absolutely give him that assurance. It is our intention to make sure that we have watertight legislation that addresses all the concerns that religious faiths may have.
Finally, I say to the right reverend Prelate and to all Members of this House that there is absolutely no way that we as a Government would seek to label anybody who did not support same-sex marriage as prejudiced. We are trying to make marriage available in civil ceremonies to same-sex couples and to protect the religious freedoms that are rightly there for all faiths to continue to act in accordance with their beliefs, and we would not seek to change that in any way.
Unemployment: Young People
Lord Bishop of Leicester Excerpts(12 years, 1 month ago)
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Lord Freud
The noble Baroness is absolutely right. Apprenticeships are a vital route for youngsters to get into the workforce. We have put a lot of extra funding into apprenticeships, and the numbers are going up pretty steeply.
The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, could the Minister tell us what the Government are doing to ensure that the most vulnerable young people who enter the Work Programme are not simply parked by contractors because it is not financially viable to invest the resources needed to support them into work?
Lord Freud
Well, my Lords, the structure of the Work Programme is designed to make sure that no one is parked in that way. There are specific measures to prevent that happening. The main way in which to get the people who are the most difficult to get into work is by pricing; we price those people more highly than people who are simpler to get into work. We have also, as noble Lords will be aware, introduced a subsidy programme to encourage employers to take youngsters who are NEET into the workforce.
Welfare Reform Bill
Lord Bishop of Leicester Excerpts(12 years, 11 months ago)
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The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, it is a privilege to speak in support of the noble Baroness’s amendment. Her evident mastery of the subject has impressed the whole House, as it certainly impressed everyone involved in Committee. I do not have a great deal to add to what she said except that, in reading the transcript of that Committee, it struck me that two things did not emerge clearly enough, particularly given what the Minister said in reply. They were: first, a clear recognition that living on a very low income requires highly sophisticated financial domestic management and highly sophisticated budgeting. That would almost certainly be beyond the rest of us to manage. It seem to me unreasonable to expect people who are living with the burden of that kind of pressure also to develop skills beyond what the average in the community would be in terms of managing their finances.
That relates to my second point. The proposal for a monthly payment seems to have been made to generate a culture change among those who are not perhaps in the habit of regular employment—in other words, to build the capacity of those in receipt of the benefit to behave like the rest of society. However, I put it to the House and to the Minister that perhaps what we need more of is the capacity of government to understand what it is like to live on a very low income. That is where the capacity building needs to happen here.
I very much hope that the Minister, who has consistently shown a readiness to listen and respond, will think again on these amendments. My own experience as a parish priest in east London, and more recently in the parishes of the outer estates of Leicester, has shown me repeatedly and at first hand the extreme pressures under which those on very low incomes live. This is a modest amendment that would signal to those in receipt of these payments that their problems are understood and that the Government are ready to be sympathetic.
Lord McKenzie of Luton
My Lords, perhaps I may clarify precisely what it is that we are debating. I believe that my noble friend Lady Lister moved Amendment 1, somewhat belatedly, on behalf of the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, and also spoke to Amendment 2, which is in her name.
Welfare Reform Bill
Lord Bishop of Leicester Excerpts(13 years, 2 months ago)
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The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, it was Archbishop William Temple, one of Beveridge’s key associates, who first coined the term “welfare state”. He asked how one could justify an individual giving up some of his or her autonomy to the state. He contrasted the welfare state, in which Government gained legitimacy from their commitment to the welfare of the people, with the power state, epitomised by the fascist and communist totalitarianisms of his day.
These concerns remain in the minds of many today, not least those of the clergy of a diocese such as mine in Leicester and on the outer estates, who daily see desperate people turn up on their doorsteps. The church is the last resort when the inflexibilities of the welfare system have proved insurmountable. They know that many are often in the position of needing help not because of inadequacy, stupidity or fecklessness, but because they have made a mistake, lost their job, become ill or because they are children. They also know that, as the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury said recently, it cannot be said often enough that most people in poverty—and we should be thinking of children in particular—have not chosen it. That is why the Church of England has strongly supported a just welfare system since its very beginnings as one of the key building blocks of a civilised society that cherishes mutuality at all levels and which sees each person as of equal worth.
We on these Benches recognise the principles behind this Bill: they reflect a desire on the part of the Secretary of State to see true welfare reform improving the lives of the most vulnerable children and families. We understand the department’s desire by means of universal credit to simplify a system that has become so complex that it is open to unintended mistakes and intended fraud. We endorse the principle that people’s well-being is more effectively enhanced when they are in work, but today we must put the question: how far do these reforms measure up to a national moral responsibility to ensure the well-being of the most vulnerable? In that sense, what is at stake here is the legitimacy of the state because well-being means more than cash benefits: it is about social inclusion, the bonds of strong communities under severe strain in the recent riots and the ability to live fulfilling lives.
My primary focus today as a bishop and a former chair of the Children’s Society will be on the effects on children who, by almost any measure, will be disproportionately affected by this Bill. We cannot go into a period of reform claiming to be all in this together while having our eyes closed to those who could be made homeless or could drop into the most severe poverty.
Let me raise, as other noble Lords have, some particular areas of concern. First, I underline what has been said about childcare costs. The Government want families with children to take responsibility for them by working their way out of poverty, yet it seems to me that these proposals will effectively make this impossible for many low-income families. Under the current system, the childcare element of working tax credit provides parents with support covering up to 70 per cent of eligible childcare costs up to a maximum of £175 for one child or £300 for two or more children. Significantly, because childcare costs are currently disregarded for the purposes of calculating entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit, some households receive help for up to 95.5 per cent of their childcare costs. The Government have presented a number of possible options outlining how to help with childcare costs, which will be integrated into the universal credit. We surely must have serious concerns that these options will leave working families facing substantial cuts to the help they receive for the childcare costs, leaving them worse off in work than under the current system. Can the Minister explain how he can guarantee that work pays for all families in view of the option to halve the current cap on eligible childcare costs?
Secondly, the proposed changes in support for disabled children will result in children with all but the most severe disabilities having their maximum level of support halved, leaving those families up to £1,400 per year worse off. Can the Minister help us clarify how the Government propose to support these families? Thirdly, there is the crucial issue of support for young carers. Sometimes the best intentions lead to perverse consequences, and the Children’s Society, which has developed specialised work with many young carers, has explained clearly that universal credit will substantially cut this support by up to £3,500 a year in some cases. It points out that this can be remedied by continuing to allow disabled parents who are child-dependent to receive support under the universal credit.
Finally, there is the effect of an overall cap on benefits entitlements and on how local housing allowance is calculated for out-of-work households. The Government have estimated that this cap will cost those families affected an average of £93 per week. The DCLG has suggested that the cap could lead to 20,000 families being made homeless. Furthermore, the Children’s Society has made it clear that the primary impact of this cap is not on adults but on children, with more than 200,000 of them affected. Can the Minister explain how this will help rebuild our communities and help people take responsibility for themselves and their children by getting back into work?
Time prevents the raising of other points today. We on these Benches have concerns about the aggregated effects of this legislation, taken alongside other changes to the National Health Service and to the legal aid system. The risk is that the reduction of financial deficit will threaten a huge social deficit, especially for the young. I hope this House will speak not just for the marginal people of so-called broken Britain but for the much greater numbers who fear the spectre of illness, unemployment and misfortune, who pay their taxes and rightly trust the state to prevent destitution. It is their voice, their fears, their understandable concerns that I hear regularly as a bishop and which I hope the Minister will attend to today.