Welfare Reform Bill

In common with all hon. Members, I see cases in my constituency of parents, usually mothers, who are desperate because they believe that the other parent is living the life of Riley while they are not getting child maintenance. However, the whole issue of ensuring the proper payment of child maintenance is one with which the last Conservative Government and this Government have wrestled for many years. All the issues that I have mentioned give rise to another matter of general concern about the Bill, which is the extent to which it relies on future regulations to put its intentions into practice. Mencap has said that it is"““deeply concerned that some of the most crucial aspects of the Government's welfare reform agenda will, under this Bill, be brought into legislation by regulations which have not yet been written nor debated by Parliament, rather than primary legislation. The Bill refers to regulations 387 times in its 114 pages—more than three times per page. We are very concerned that there will be no opportunity for adequate scrutiny of these major changes to the benefit system.””" Similarly, Mind shares that concern, and says:"““it is difficult to welcome without reservation a Bill which leaves many of the details of the proposed reforms to be set out in as yet unpublished regulations.””" I hope that when the Minister winds up he will be able to give the House a categoric assurance that draft regulations on at least the key proposals in the Bill will be available for scrutiny and debate in Committee. I also hope that as the Bill makes its way through this House and the other place Ministers will keep an open mind about some of these concerns.