Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, I am most grateful to the Minister for that. Pressure in both Houses and from outside organisations has had a great effect on Ministers. I was aware of the local authority discretion in this matter. Indeed, I referred to it earlier. All relevant considerations will be made by a judge before the ultimate sanctions are applied. It is my contention that the pilots will be totally useless. They will not prove what the Government are seeking to achieve. Having said that, I like to think that I am fair and I am quite prepared to give the Government two years to prove me wrong. As I understand it, if the Minister’s amendment means that, after two years, the pilots are over but the evaluation is not yet complete and they do not show that there have been any financial sanctions, it will be necessary for the Government to come back with primary legislation, should they want to introduce this on a national rollout. If I have got that right, I accept what the Minister has said word for word. I am grateful to him for going as far as he has. I will certainly take up the offer of discussing the final form of this sunset clause with him before that amendment is tabled. However, for the moment, I beg leave to withdraw this amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 36 [Payment of housing benefit]: