Welfare Reform Bill

Mark Durkan Excerpts

Wednesday 9th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Byrne]

There is a strong case for reform of DLA. The lobby groups agree with that, as do we, but we do not agree with the way the Government have approached the issue. First, we had an announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that DLA would be cut £1 billion, then we got a consultation, which has only just finished, and while all that was happening a Bill was published with no detail or safeguards dealing with how that reform would be conducted. The Secretary of State must realise that that is a serious concern for millions of people up and down this country.

That alarm is simply magnified by the proposals to set a one-year limit for those who can receive contributory employment and support allowance. I, too, think that there is a case for time limits—there is a good case for considering two years, for example—but this morning 30 cancer charities have written to the Secretary of State urging him to think again on that measure. His own Department’s statistics, they say, show that 75% of cancer patients still need ESA after a year. Their message is blunt:

“this proposal, rather than creating an incentive to work, will lead to many cancer patients losing their ESA simply because they have not recovered quickly enough.”

If this indifference is not addressed in Committee, the Secretary of State will have single-handedly dismantled any notion that compassionate conservatism is truly a reality. This simply cannot be right, and it needs to be looked at again.

[Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)]

I support the crucial points that my right hon. Friend is making, but has he noted that the impact assessment on the proposed changes to DLA makes no mention of the impact on carers? There clearly will be a consequential impact on carers, depending on what benefits the people for whom they care receive and which rates of the daily living component or the mobility component will entitle carers to claim carers allowances. There is no mention of that whatever. Is my right hon. Friend aware of whether the Government have even made an estimate of the number of carers affected, and if so, why it has not been published?

[Mr Byrne]

I am not aware of those estimates, and I hope that we will have a long and important debate about carers this afternoon and in Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)]

Unfortunately, unlike the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis), I am not in a position to applaud the Bill, simply because there are not enough provisions in it to tell us whether it will provide a working model for a benefit system that will achieve what the Government say they want to achieve—namely, a simplified benefit system with improved incentives to work. We could all agree with those principles, but our problem on Second Reading is that the Bill lacks significant content to show how many of the detailed provisions will work in practice. We are told that the details of various schemes and measures will be provided later—as the hon. Member for Belfast East (Naomi Long) said, it will be by way of regulation. That makes it unreasonable, on the basis of so little detail, to expect Members lightly to endorse such a Bill, which is so pregnant with implications for so many people in our society.

If Governments are to be encouraged to support evidence-based policy, this House should deal only with substance-based legislation. I often hear the Government saying that they agree with the principle and stated objectives of a private Member’s Bill, but because they see serious difficulties in how it might work in practice and because many of the details have not been worked out, they do not accept it and vote the Bill down. Frankly, that is exactly how I feel about this Government Bill. Although many of us endorse the objectives and recognise the problems in the existing system, we are worried about the direction in which the Government will end up travelling.

Members have already referred to the change from disability living allowance to the personal independence payment. Some of us participated in a Westminster Hall debate about that this morning. One important point is that we do not yet know from the Government what the implications of those provisions will be for carers. They have told us that they want to create a new deal for carers, but they have not given us any estimate of how many carers will be affected as a result of the changeover to personal independence payments. The Government have a lot more to tell us; only after they have told us would some of us be in a position to accept their assurances.

The universal credit is proposed to replace quite a number of existing benefits: working tax credit, child tax credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit, income-based jobseeker’s allowance and income-related employment and support allowance. We know about the existing complexities and difficulties with many of those benefits, so we cannot just take it on assumption that there will be no problems bringing them all together. We cannot take it on assumption that there will not be any serious transitional difficulties; neither, on the basis of past experience, can we take it for granted that the administration system, the infrastructure for delivery and the information technology used for the new system will not have any problems.

We know the stated intentions for tax credits, but we also know about all the problems that resulted. We know the stated intentions for employment and support allowance, but we also know about the many difficulties surrounding its delivery. It would therefore be naive if the House simply said to the Government, “Carry on regardless; we like your stated intentions; we are not going to frisk you for any further details or caution you against any possible risks to our constituents.”

Issues in the Bill might have complicated effects in the context of Northern Ireland. When it comes to universal credit, the Bill makes presumptions about child care provision, but Northern Ireland, of course, is not covered by the Childcare Act 2006 and it does not have the same infrastructure for child care as elsewhere. That poses serious challenges about how the scenario painted by the Government will work out for Northern Ireland.

Further issues stem from the fact that Northern Ireland does not have council tax, which affects rate relief. We will have to see how that will be administered from Whitehall and what degree of discretion the Whitehall Government will allow the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive to have in respect of delivering locally for Northern Ireland the framework created by the Bill.

As I have pointed out before, many people in Northern Ireland live and work on a cross-border basis. Many people on benefit who want to get jobs might find one across the border. The issue of providing tax credits for cross-border workers is fraught with all sorts of difficulties and frustrations. We do not yet know how the replacement scheme is going to work. There is a danger that cross-border workers—those who live and work on either side of the border—could find themselves in serious difficulties.

That is why many of us are not just suspicious about some of the Government’s intentions, which we fear may result in punitive measures for many people on benefits, but sceptical about whether enough work has been done in terms of the detail of the Bill and how it will affect our constituents. That is why many of us do not feel able to support the Bill’s Second Reading, and if others are prepared to oppose it, I am prepared to join them.