Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, this amendment allows me to probe how ESA will affect claimants currently receiving benefits other than incapacity benefit. We have already spoken a little about carers, and the Minister was able to give us some good news on that. My concern now is lone parents. Lone parents who receive income support, with or without a disability premium, are not subject to any conditionality. They are not expected to move towards work readiness, but instead are given the support necessary to be full-time parents. However, that does not appear to be the case under ESA. We have heard of no exemptions that will apply to lone parents in the work-related group. Presumably that means that a lone parent with a young child will be expected to engage in work-related activities that under other benefits systems would not be required. The options available, therefore, will again presumably be to move on to the higher level of benefit at which we have been assured ESA will be set or to remain on a lower level of benefit but be free from conditionality. Can the Minister confirm whether that will be the case, and, if so, can he reassure us that the decision-maker will be sympathetic to the non-health-related requirements that such a situation may put on a claimant? Will a failure to find adequate childcare be considered a good cause to miss a work-related activity? As far as I am aware, the draft guidance makes no mention of that sort of situation. It is most important that we hear how the Minister intends it to work. I therefore congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Low, on producing this amendment, which has enabled me to tack on a little extra to what was originally intended.