Welfare Reform Bill

As a long-time supporter of the campaign to end the single room rent—the SRR—restriction on housing benefit for young people, it would be an understatement if I did not express my disappointment that the Government did not grasp the opportunity to abolish it completely. In 2000 the Welsh Affairs Committee, of which my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, North (Julie Morgan) and I were members, held an inquiry into social exclusion in Wales. In our conclusions we stated:"““We welcome the Government’s recent review of housing benefit set out in the Housing Green Paper published by the DETR and DSS in April 2000. We recommend that the single room rent restriction for young people should be abolished, while measures are taken to ensure that landlords do not exploit the system to offer poor quality housing at inflated rents.””" We took evidence from a great number of people. During our visit we heard repeated complaints about the inadequacy of housing benefit, especially for young people.