UK Parliament / Open data

Welfare Reform Bill

Debate on bills on Tuesday, 27 January 2009, in the House of Commons, led by James Purnell. The answering member was Baroness May of Maidenhead.
Welfare Reform Bill. Second reading debate. Agreed to on question. Programme motion on proceedings in Committee, on Report, Third reading and any other proceedings agreed to on question. Queen's recommendation signified. Money resolution agreed to on question.

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

487 c181-269 

Session

2008-09

Department

Department for Work and Pensions

Legislative stage

Second reading

Procedure

Programme motions
Money resolutions
Queen's recommendation

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Related items

Welfare Reform Bill. Explanatory Notes Bill 8-EN also published.
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Bills
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Speaker | 487 c203 (Link to this contribution) Order. I must remind the House that Mr. Speaker has placed a 10-minute limit on Back-Bench speeches,...
Tony McNulty | 487 c268-9 (Link to this contribution) No, it isn't, actually. Scrutiny is about looking in a balanced way at both the sticks and the carro...

Show all contributions (227)
John Mason | 487 c256 (Link to this contribution) The Member asked what kind of country the Scottish Government were looking for. Would he accept that...
Ian Davidson | 487 c256 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not accept that for a moment. It depends what we mean by caring. I do not believe that aban...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 487 c256 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman's attacks on the previous Conservative Government would carry more weight if he w...
Ian Davidson | 487 c256-7 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to criticise former Conservative Governments, largely because it is so easy, but perhaps ...
Baroness Clark of Kilwinning | 487 c257-9 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, South-West (Mr. Davidson). He will...
David Anderson | 487 c259-61 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State said that the debate was about changing lives, and he was absolutely right. I...
David Anderson | 487 c261 (Link to this contribution) Thank you very much—and don't worry, because there's plenty more to come. This issue is not just ab...
James Clappison | 487 c263-5 (Link to this contribution) This has been a very good debate, with some powerful personal accounts, including the last two contr...
Sandra Osborne | 487 c261-3 (Link to this contribution) Given the time constraints we are under, I will try not to repeat anything that has already been sai...
James Clappison | 487 c265-6 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Lady. We also think that it is good for lone parents to work, and the evidence...
Lynne Jones | 487 c265 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making important points about lone parents. Does he share my concerns that it ...
Tony McNulty | 487 c266-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman needs to understand that a televisual contraption has been invented that allows p...
Tony McNulty | 487 c266 (Link to this contribution) There were two, I think the hon. Gentleman will find, but if he wants stretch the point and include ...
Tony McNulty | 487 c268 (Link to this contribution) I will not, for the moment. If the right hon. Member for Maidenhead brings less petty politicking to...
Lynne Jones | 487 c268 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Meg Munn | 487 c241-4 (Link to this contribution) I want to concentrate on those people who want to work, but who, because of the prejudice of others ...
Russell Brown | 487 c244-6 (Link to this contribution) I welcome and support this Welfare Reform Bill. The Government have shown conclusively that the choi...
Phil Wilson | 487 c246 (Link to this contribution) This Bill will help put people who are out of work and on benefit, or who belong to other hard-to-re...
Peter Bone | 487 c246-7 (Link to this contribution) I am listening to the hon. Gentleman's speech with interest, but does he not think that times have c...
Nia Griffith | 487 c250-1 (Link to this contribution) I disagree. As a former teacher in large comprehensive schools, the majority behave, and we deal wit...
John Mason | 487 c250 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady accept that if we have a welfare system, some people will abuse it? Ultimately, t...
Phil Wilson | 487 c247 (Link to this contribution) We are, but the Government are in a position to help us get through the difficult times ahead—unlike...
Nia Griffith | 487 c249-50 (Link to this contribution) I shall not repeat the many excellent points that hon. Members have made, in particular my hon. Frie...
Phil Wilson | 487 c247-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Times have changed, but in 2009, the Government are preparing wo...
James Clappison | 487 c253 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a considered and well informed speech, but he refers to that idea as a ...
Adrian Bailey | 487 c253 (Link to this contribution) With respect, a consultation paper is not the same as a policy proposal. I think that the Secretary ...
Peter Bone | 487 c252 (Link to this contribution) If I follow the hon. Gentleman's logic, I have to ask why unemployment in his constituency is higher...
Adrian Bailey | 487 c252-3 (Link to this contribution) I am not going to bandy figures around with the hon. Gentleman, but I can say that unemployment in t...
Adrian Bailey | 487 c251-2 (Link to this contribution) In common with others, I welcome the Bill, which develops the concept of rights and responsibilities...
Ian Davidson | 487 c256 (Link to this contribution) If the Member wishes to come in, he should please do so.
Ian Davidson | 487 c254-6 (Link to this contribution) I rise to support the general thrust of the Government's proposals. It was noticeable that the main ...
Adrian Bailey | 487 c253-4 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way again, because other Members are waiting and I want to develop my argument. The...
Dai Havard | 487 c239-40 (Link to this contribution) I am following my neighbouring MP, the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Davies), in this debate; t...
Dai Havard | 487 c240-1 (Link to this contribution) I apologise Madam Deputy Speaker. I was referring not to you but to the Government; that is what I m...
Peter Bone | 487 c234 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Speaker. What the hon. Member for Dumfries and Galloway (Mr. Brown) states is not t...
Sammy Wilson | 487 c234 (Link to this contribution) I understand the point about the economic context in which the Bill is now placed—it is different fr...
Peter Bone | 487 c234 (Link to this contribution) As usual, I agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman. That is the advantage of what the Government are...
James Plaskitt | 487 c235-7 (Link to this contribution) I certainly welcome and support the Bill, which is timely and contains a wide variety of important m...
Russell Brown | 487 c234 (Link to this contribution) I had a similar situation about five or six years ago, but the difficulty then was that the company ...
Speaker | 487 c234 (Link to this contribution) Order. I think that we are really now going wide of the mark. I have allowed the hon. Gentleman an o...
Peter Bone | 487 c232-4 (Link to this contribution) It is a great honour to follow the hon. Member for Kingswood (Roger Berry). He is always worth liste...
John Barrett | 487 c229-30 (Link to this contribution) I am following what the hon. Gentleman is saying with interest and I think that he has hit on a very...
Roger Berry | 487 c230-2 (Link to this contribution) If I understand the comment correctly, I think the hon. Gentleman was suggesting that disabled peopl...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 487 c229 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether my hon. Friend was referring directly to me, but I was not arguing against hav...
Roger Berry | 487 c229 (Link to this contribution) I am at one with my right hon. Friend in supporting anything that will create jobs. That involves ac...
Roger Berry | 487 c229 (Link to this contribution) I have deliberately provoked my right hon. Friend's intervention.
John Mason | 487 c228 (Link to this contribution) That is a good point. A lot of well-intentioned statements are being made here tonight by a lot of p...
Roger Berry | 487 c229 (Link to this contribution) I think that the objectives of welfare reform have to be to free more people from poverty, to provid...
Russell Brown | 487 c228 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman said earlier that he had spent a morning at a Jobcentre Plus in his constituency....
Anne Begg | 487 c227 (Link to this contribution) What does the hon. Gentleman think would be better for the children? Is it better to have a parent w...
John Mason | 487 c227 (Link to this contribution) If it is real treatment, we are certainly in favour of it. However, the problem in Glasgow and elsew...
Anne McGuire | 487 c227 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Sandra Osborne | 487 c228 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman think that the Scottish National party Government should agree with the Labo...
John Mason | 487 c228 (Link to this contribution) The big problem, when we talk about money and Scotland, is that the Scottish budget is being cut by ...
Ian Davidson | 487 c227 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was just trying to clarify that point.
John Mason | 487 c227 (Link to this contribution) I should like to turn to some of the specific issues in the Bill. There seems to be an assumption th...
Ian Davidson | 487 c227 (Link to this contribution) Will the Member tell us exactly what he has in mind as a minimum wage, below which he would not advo...
John Mason | 487 c226 (Link to this contribution) I am tempted to use the first part of my speech to defend accountants, as they got a raw deal earlie...
John Mason | 487 c227 (Link to this contribution) I have given the Member a figure.
John Mason | 487 c227 (Link to this contribution) We are talking about a living wage, and the figure of £7 has been suggested as a possibility. I am n...
David Anderson | 487 c225 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend talks about tripling the amount of money that people who have been in long-term...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 487 c225 (Link to this contribution) I did not want to embarrass the Government by telling them what JSA national insurance benefit is. N...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 487 c224-5 (Link to this contribution) I am arguing my case for the very reasons that my hon. Friend outlined; the continuation of existing...
Ian Davidson | 487 c202 (Link to this contribution) Following the comments about accountants being generally a bad lot, does the right hon. Lady agree t...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c202 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Lady looks at the Hansard record, she will see that I said yes. But what I have said cle...
John Robertson | 487 c202 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady appears to have bypassed the issue of mental health and employment retention. It...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c202 (Link to this contribution) In common with all hon. Members, I see cases in my constituency of parents, usually mothers, who are...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c203 (Link to this contribution) I know that the hon. Gentleman has tried to introduce legislation on that issue, although it turned ...
James Purnell | 487 c200 (Link to this contribution) Because what the right hon. Lady describes is legally impossible, and I hope that she will not repea...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c200-1 (Link to this contribution) If the Secretary of State thought it was legally impossible, why has he admitted that there is a pos...
Russell Brown | 487 c201 (Link to this contribution) This is a vital part of the Bill, and if I manage to catch Mr. Deputy Speaker's eye later, I hope to...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c201-2 (Link to this contribution) The power already exists, and the answer is yes. I am looking at the sort of provisions that the Gov...
Terry Rooney | 487 c205-6 (Link to this contribution) I am sympathetic to what my hon. Friend says, although I suspect that it would be difficult to find ...
John Robertson | 487 c205 (Link to this contribution) I am listening to what my hon. Friend is saying, but does he agree that there should be a one-stop s...
Terry Rooney | 487 c205 (Link to this contribution) I did not think that any Labour Member would want to go back, but I thought someone on the Oppositio...
Terry Rooney | 487 c203-4 (Link to this contribution) May I join in welcoming the new shadow Secretary of State to her position? She has certainly increas...
Terry Rooney | 487 c204-5 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but the figures speak for themselves. There are job opportunities in the retail sector a...
Terry Rooney | 487 c204 (Link to this contribution) The retail trade in general has a 25 per cent. turnover in staff. In the big four supermarkets, the ...
John Mason | 487 c209 (Link to this contribution) That issue is of particular concern to me, especially because of the children. What happens to the c...
Steve Webb | 487 c210 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. In my previous incarnations, when I have asked Departm...
Nigel Griffiths | 487 c210 (Link to this contribution) What the hon. Gentleman fails to see is that there are 100,000 drug addicts who are not on any progr...
Steve Webb | 487 c208-9 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, we have suffered from the curse of incrementalism. Earlier, a Minister was at the Dispatch B...
Iain Duncan Smith | 487 c208 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know that I was on the Front Bench when he held one of his earlier Front-Ben...
Steve Webb | 487 c209 (Link to this contribution) Obviously, I do not know what happened in Aberdeen, so I cannot comment, but my point would apply in...
Anne Begg | 487 c209 (Link to this contribution) A Liberal council in Aberdeen closed such a centre. If people had been given their individual budget...
Steve Webb | 487 c208 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is very gracious. What I am really saying is that I do not sense that there is a strat...
Anne McGuire | 487 c207-8 (Link to this contribution) I am reluctant to intervene on the hon. Gentleman, given his expertise on the subject, but does he n...
Steve Webb | 487 c212 (Link to this contribution) As I said at the start of my remarks, I have no problem with the Department engaging constructively ...
James Purnell | 487 c212 (Link to this contribution) On a point of clarification, we are not coercing parents to take a job if their youngest child is un...
Anne McGuire | 487 c212 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept, though, that in order for lone parents to have the potential to go b...
Steve Webb | 487 c211-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady made the point very well—lone parents who want that, who can already seek it and whom ...
Meg Munn | 487 c211 (Link to this contribution) I can tell the hon. Gentleman that when I visit Sure Start in parts of my constituency, there are of...
Sandra Gidley | 487 c211 (Link to this contribution) Is there not a wider problem? Two thirds of employers would not employ somebody with a known drug pr...
Steve Webb | 487 c210-1 (Link to this contribution) I have grave reservations about the policy, and about the people who will implement it. The Bill ass...
James Purnell | 487 c210 (Link to this contribution) Surely it is right to break the cycle, so that people take up treatment. We are asking people to com...
Steve Webb | 487 c210 (Link to this contribution) These are profound issues that raise questions to do with drugs policy and other areas of policy. We...
Anne McGuire | 487 c216-7 (Link to this contribution) I should explain what a Clyde supporter is, in case anybody thinks that it has something to do with ...
Steve Webb | 487 c213 (Link to this contribution) That is very good to have on the record. It would be interesting to know why he floated the idea in ...
Steve Webb | 487 c214 (Link to this contribution) And whose fault is it that someone has two national insurance numbers? Which Government administer a...
Russell Brown | 487 c213 (Link to this contribution) We are not speaking of just a few weeks' delay. If the hon. Gentleman has had anything like the case...
Mark Durkan | 487 c216 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps it will help hon. Members if they look at what happened in Northern Ireland on that very iss...
Anne McGuire | 487 c214-6 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Northavon (Steve Webb). His speech took me back to th...
John Mason | 487 c216 (Link to this contribution) It is especially good to hear another Clyde supporter speaking on the matter. Will the right hon. La...
Anne McGuire | 487 c216 (Link to this contribution) I look forward to reviewing the legislation that my hon. Friend piloted through the Assembly, which ...
Steve Webb | 487 c213 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to respond to that point, because it raises the question of what we do during a recession...
Anne Begg | 487 c221-2 (Link to this contribution) Because the same is true for lone parents as for disabled people. The hon. Gentleman must have spoke...
Steve Webb | 487 c221 (Link to this contribution) I am a co-sponsor of the early-day motion that the hon. Lady is talking about, so she is probably pi...
Anne Begg | 487 c219-21 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is saying that we would have liked the pace to be faster. I would certainly have ...
John Barrett | 487 c219 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady accept that the Government's own target was to reduce the numbers by 1 million, b...
Speaker | 487 c224 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Lady has made her point.
Nia Griffith | 487 c223-4 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend intend some form of apartheid whereby those who have been in the workplace...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 487 c223 (Link to this contribution) I wish to try to persuade the House not to give the Bill a Second Reading. I do so not because I do ...
John Butterfill | 487 c222-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to be able to follow the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South (Miss Begg), because...
Anne Begg | 487 c219 (Link to this contribution) Before I begin the remarks that I intended to make, I must respond to the accusation by the right ho...
Charles Walker | 487 c217-9 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak so early in this debate. I am a little surp...
James Purnell | 487 c189-90 (Link to this contribution) We had very good interest in the bids for that. People said that companies would not bid, but they d...
Angela Watkinson | 487 c190 (Link to this contribution) One group of people that I do not think has yet been mentioned is young people who care for their pa...
James Purnell | 487 c190 (Link to this contribution) That particular group is mainly the responsibility of the Department for Children, Schools and Famil...
Lynne Jones | 487 c190 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend said that when schemes are voluntary, there is less engagement. What evidence d...
James Purnell | 487 c190 (Link to this contribution) Of course, we never want to impose sanctions. We want people to comply with the system, which is exa...
Iain Duncan Smith | 487 c190 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State mentioned conditionality, which, he knows, has pretty much fallen away under ...
James Purnell | 487 c191 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is right to suggest that there is an issue with the system. People can lose...
James Purnell | 487 c191-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. I do not say that we should not sanction people who behave in the...
Russell Brown | 487 c192 (Link to this contribution) On the work for benefit pilots, will the Secretary of State assure the House that he is not introduc...
James Purnell | 487 c188 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. People often talk about help for people who can work and security...
Liz Blackman | 487 c188 (Link to this contribution) My constituents will welcome many of the measures in the Bill. However, we have to face the brutal s...
James Purnell | 487 c189 (Link to this contribution) I agree. It is because we know that our support helps people get back into work that we want more pe...
David Anderson | 487 c189 (Link to this contribution) At the jobs summit that the Prime Minister held with the TUC on 3 January, the TUC produced a docume...
James Purnell | 487 c188 (Link to this contribution) We have worked with the National Autistic Society, for example, to see exactly how we can deal with ...
Tom Levitt | 487 c188-9 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Bill is very timely, because at a time of economic downturn...
James Purnell | 487 c189 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is a fervent campaigner on employment retention. We believe that his goal is met by t...
Steve Webb | 487 c189 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State has mentioned the impact of the recession on his strategy. Will he clarify hi...
James Purnell | 487 c189 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I have. I have discussed it with Brendan Barber, and we are working on precisely how we can tak...
John Robertson | 487 c189 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend mentioned access to work and getting people into work, but the Government have ...
James Purnell | 487 c194 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps we have a second U-turn; I look forward to hearing this.
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c194 (Link to this contribution) This is not a second U-turn. I say to the Secretary of State that we would get a lot further in the ...
James Purnell | 487 c194 (Link to this contribution) Unfortunately, on 7 December the right hon. Lady's predecessor said that he did not think that those...
James Purnell | 487 c194 (Link to this contribution) The whole idea is that this is based on people's personal circumstances, so that in tandem with thei...
James Purnell | 487 c195 (Link to this contribution) If my hon. Friend has some suggestions, we will be happy to look at them. We have met a few times to...
Jim Dobbin | 487 c195 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State clarify whether the Bill takes account of individuals who are addicted t...
James Purnell | 487 c195 (Link to this contribution) I know that my hon. Friend is talking to the Department of Health about this matter. This particular...
James Purnell | 487 c192 (Link to this contribution) Indeed; that is exactly what the provisions in the Bill would enable us to do after two years. We wa...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 487 c192 (Link to this contribution) I was actually making the proposal in relation to people who have never worked. Also, we do have tim...
James Purnell | 487 c192 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to give that assurance. Indeed, the Gregg review covered that. Workfare is a system where...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 487 c192 (Link to this contribution) How does the Secretary of State square saying that the aim is to ensure that people are not distance...
James Purnell | 487 c193-4 (Link to this contribution) That is a very good point. Indeed, the Leader of the Opposition argued recently that there were 5 mi...
Baroness Clark of Kilwinning | 487 c194 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend recognise that there is great deal of concern, particularly about people w...
James Purnell | 487 c192-3 (Link to this contribution) I want to make some progress, if I may, as I do not want to strain the patience of the House. The n...
David Winnick | 487 c193 (Link to this contribution) Following one or two interventions that I have heard today, I wonder whether there is a danger of gi...
James Purnell | 487 c192 (Link to this contribution) The system proposed in the Bill would bring in that requirement earlier—after two years—so perhaps t...
James Purnell | 487 c200 (Link to this contribution) It is impossible to charge interest under this Bill. That would require further primary legislation....
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c199-200 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is, I think, referring obliquely to credit unions, which do a very good job...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c200 (Link to this contribution) First, the consultation paper makes it absolutely clear:"““To fund the cost of these extra services,...
James Purnell | 487 c198 (Link to this contribution) Just to clarify, that is not the proposal. The proposal is that the Freud pilots will apply to 20 pe...
James Purnell | 487 c198 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady is wrong. Twenty per cent. of the stock will be getting the Freud pilots. When w...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c198 (Link to this contribution) I suggest that the Secretary of State actually looks at the publications to which he has put his nam...
Anne Begg | 487 c199 (Link to this contribution) I would accept what the right hon. Lady says if this were the first piece of welfare reform legislat...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c198 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State has just hinted at precisely why he is not able now to offer the greater supp...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 487 c199 (Link to this contribution) Leaving aside for the moment the interest rate question—although I should say that some of my consti...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c199 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. All I would say in response is that 2.6 million people a...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c196-8 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Secretary of State for his welcome. I do indeed look forward to debating with him over t...
James Purnell | 487 c196 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not accept that. People have to wait for a year to receive treatment because the Scottish G...
John Mason | 487 c195 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State accept that the Scottish Government have, in fact, been at the forefront...
James Purnell | 487 c195 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps we have yet another U-turn coming up.
James Purnell | 487 c195 (Link to this contribution) I can tell the hon. Gentleman that we have certainly not learned from the Scottish Government, whose...
James Purnell | 487 c195 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would like to tell us whether the Scottish Government are going to suppor...
Ian Davidson | 487 c185 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State clarify the difference between, as he has said, ““taking the mother's wo...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 487 c184 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the Secretary of State ought to look at the record of the debates that took place on that is...
James Purnell | 487 c184 (Link to this contribution) It is not my intention to slur accountants in any way. However, where fathers in particular are usin...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 487 c185 (Link to this contribution) What will the Government do if people do not produce two names?
James Purnell | 487 c184-5 (Link to this contribution) Precisely because we were running out of time, and it was the only way of getting the Bill through b...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 487 c185 (Link to this contribution) We rightly place great emphasis on children knowing who their parents are. Some of us have constitue...
James Purnell | 487 c185 (Link to this contribution) If the mother says, for example, that she is unable to do so, which happens, or does not want to bec...
Sandra Osborne | 487 c185 (Link to this contribution) What evidence does the Secretary of State have that putting the names of the small proportion of irr...
James Purnell | 487 c185 (Link to this contribution) We are trying to strike a balance, and I think that this proposal is the right means of achieving th...
Meg Munn | 487 c188 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend keeps talking about helping people back into work. I am particularly concerned ...
Roger Berry | 487 c186 (Link to this contribution) Is my right hon. Friend honestly saying that the Government cannot find £45 million in his Departmen...
James Purnell | 487 c186 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend raises an important issue on which he has been leading the charge. The Governme...
Lord Blunkett | 487 c186 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend reassure those inside and outside the House who have been campaigning for ...
James Purnell | 487 c187-8 (Link to this contribution) That is an important point. I believe that the Liberal Democrat-controlled council in Aberdeen has u...
Anne Begg | 487 c187 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend assure me and the House that the move to individual budgets can never be u...
James Purnell | 487 c187 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes a good point. That is what good social care is all about. Carers and families co...
Baroness Browning | 487 c187 (Link to this contribution) I support direct payments, but how does the Secretary of State intend to assist people who have eith...
James Purnell | 487 c181 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. I should like to start by welcoming the rig...
John Robertson | 487 c181-2 (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way so early in his speech. Will he assure me that we will n...
Peter Bone | 487 c184 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State reconsider something he said a moment ago? Employing expensive accountan...
Joan Humble | 487 c183 (Link to this contribution) When my right hon. Friend is considering the needs of families and children, will he look especially...
James Purnell | 487 c183-4 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to do so. Indeed, in the next few days the Government will publish the refreshed child ca...
James Purnell | 487 c183 (Link to this contribution) Of course we are happy to look at anything in our review of the work capability assessment. The hon....
Bob Spink | 487 c183 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Bill, as far as it goes, and will support it, but does the Secretary of State accept t...
James Purnell | 487 c182-3 (Link to this contribution) I am aware that the idea has been suggested by Gingerbread, as well as by my hon. Friend, and it has...
Terry Rooney | 487 c182 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend rightly talks about the rights and responsibilities agenda. Of course, the resp...
James Purnell | 487 c182 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady shakes her head, but that would be the consequence of refusing to back our fisca...
James Purnell | 487 c182 (Link to this contribution) I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. He describes the Opposition's policy when they ...
Dai Davies | 487 c237-9 (Link to this contribution) I support the principle and aims of this Bill. I hope it will be a Bill to enable employment, and no...
John Mason | 487 c227-8 (Link to this contribution) I would like to make a little progress, if the right hon. Lady does not mind. We have spent a lot of...
John Mason | 487 c204 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that plenty of jobs are available, but does he accept that many people have ...
Steve Webb | 487 c211 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point—one of many issues concerning people's civil liberties, righ...
Ian Davidson | 487 c191 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State said that he did not feel that he could impose sanctions on people who were u...
David Winnick | 487 c192 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 487 c195 (Link to this contribution) I wanted to help the right hon. Gentleman in a genuine feeling of mutual help and advancement rather...
James Purnell | 487 c185 (Link to this contribution) The matter is partly about evidence and partly about the wishes of fathers. At the moment, fathers f...
James Purnell | 487 c185-6 (Link to this contribution) As I have explained to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field), we are trying to ...
James Purnell | 487 c187 (Link to this contribution) There are questions about how much the cost will be, and we have worked with the Royal National Inst...
Jonathan Shaw | 487 c261 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend asked three questions, and the answer to all three is yes.
Tony McNulty | 487 c266 (Link to this contribution) I, too, think that this has been a very interesting debate, in which colleagues who were here made e...
James Clappison | 487 c253 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Speaker | 487 c240 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I just remind the hon. Gentleman not to use the term ““you”” and to refer instead to hon....
Lord Mann | 487 c194-5 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is trying for the first time to define in legislation drug addiction, which t...
David Anderson | 487 c247 (Link to this contribution) Is not the reality that in the 1980s, unemployment was part and parcel of direct Government policy? ...
Steve Webb | 487 c207 (Link to this contribution) It is pleasure to follow the Chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, who made a characteristica...

Subjects

Disability
Disability living allowance
Child tax credit
Childcare
Credit unions
Women
Employment
Jobseeker's allowance
Jobcentres
Drugs
Interviews
Jobcentre Plus
Incapacity benefit
Fathers
Maintenance
Parents
Minimum wage
Misuse
Loans
Lone parents
Scotland
Social security
Social security benefits
Visual impairment
Social Fund
Welfare tax credits
Registration of births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships
Travel restrictions
Unemployment
Unemployed people
Labour market
Living wage
Driving licences

Legislation

Welfare Reform Bill 2008-09

Link

View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk
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