Welfare Reform Bill

I will not give way again, because other Members are waiting and I want to develop my argument. The exercising of the social fund by credit unions would benefit both the Government and the unions themselves. With the right financial arrangements it could undoubtedly provide people with a more sensitive and community-based service and help the expansion of the credit union movement. The Department for Work and Pensions must work with other Departments so that there is a joined-up approach, to coin a phrase. Credit unions need offices if they are to deliver such a service. Post offices provide a possible network of offices, and we should consider the matter in deciding on the future development of the post office service. The work could even be carried out in Jobcentre Plus offices, complementary to the other services that they provide. If a network could be set up, there would be a whole range of other challenges in ensuring that the necessary financial support services could be provided. My hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington expressed some original and innovative ideas about that, and I cannot help thinking that if the Government were to take those up and work with the credit union movement, there would be enormous potential to develop a more consumer-sensitive process, better financial support and better exploitation of the available Government resources. Above all, there is the second potential beneficial impact. By using the loan fund facility, engaging with a financial institution and developing the saving habit, more people from hitherto financially excluded communities will become more economically resilient in future. One of the Government's objectives is to get more and more people into the saving habit and to develop financial education, and that is a potential long-term spin-off of my suggestion. I conclude by emphasising that the thinking behind the Bill is still only embryonic, and that pilots are needed. Judging by the proposals in the Bill, however, they will be implemented. I would like the Department to work with other Departments to take on board the implications of this suggestion and ensure that they back moves to develop the credit union movement in providing the social fund. That would be to the benefit of the policy in question and a whole range of others.