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Schedule 5
Minor and Consequential Amendments
Amendments made : No. 67, in page 43, line 38, at end insert-- Regulations relating to industrial injuries and diseases 3A.--(1) In section 76 of the principal Act, after subsection (4) (power to make regulations for determining, among other things, the time at which a person is to be treated as having developed a prescribed injury or disease) there shall be inserted--
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"(4A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the power conferred by subsection (4)(a) above includes power to provide that the time at which a person shall be treated as having developed a prescribed disease or injury shall be the date on which he first makes a claim which results in the payment of benefit by virtue of this Chapter in respect of that disease or injury."(2) In section 77 of that Act, at the end of subsection (2) (power to modify provisions relating to disablement benefit and its administration) there shall be added the words--
"and for the purposes of this subsection the provisions of this Act which relate to the administration of disablement benefit or reduced earnings allowance shall be taken to include section 165A and any provision which relates to the administration of both the benefit in question and other benefits."
(3) Regulations 6(2)(c), 25 and 36 of the Social Security (Industrial Injuries) (Prescribed Diseases) Regulations 1985 (onset of occupational deafness and time for claiming in respect of occupational deafness or occupational asthma), and any former regulations which they directly or indirectly re-enact with or without amendment, shall be taken to be, and always to have been, validly made.'.
No. 85, in page 44, line 29, at end insert--
Restrictions on entitlement to benefit in certain cases of error' 5A.--(1) In section 104 of the principal Act (reviews), after the subsection (6) inserted by section 5(3) of this Act, there shall be inserted--
"(7) Section 165C below shall apply in relation to a review under this section of a decision on the ground that it was erroneous in point of law in any case where the claim in question was made or treated as made as mentioned in subsection (1)(b) of that section as it applies in relation to a claim so made or treated as made." (2) After the section 165B of that Act inserted by section 5(2) of this Act there shall be inserted the following section
"Restrictions on entitlement to benefit in certain cases of error 165C.-- (1) This section applies where--
(a) on the determination of a Commissioner or the court (the "relevant determination"), a decision made by an adjudicating authority is found to have been erroneous in point of law ; and (
(b) a claim for benefit is or has been made or treated as made (whether by the same or any other claimant and whether for the same or some other benefit and whether before or after the relevant determination) which, in consequence of the relevant determination, falls to be determined otherwise than it would have been determined had it been required to be determined in acordance with the erroneous decision.
(2) Where this section applies, the claimant in relation to the claim mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above shall not be entitled to the benefit in question
(a) if it is a widow's payment, in respect of a death occurring before the relevant date, or
(b) if it is any other benefit, in respect of any period before the relevant date,
notwithstanding anything in section 165A(2) above.
(3) In this section--
"adjudicating authority" means an adjudication officer, a social security appeal tribunal or a medical appeal tribunal ;
"the court" means the High Court, the Court of Appeal, the Court of Session, the House of Lords or the Court of Justice of the European Community ;
"the relevant date" means whichever is the later of--
(a) the date on which the relevant determination was made ; and (
(b) the day falling twelve months before the date on which the claim is made or treated as made.".'.
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No. 88, in page 48, line 36 at end insert--Mobility allowance for certain persons eligible for invalid carriages : pre -consolidation amendment. 10A. The amendments of paragraph (a) of section 13(3) of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Provisons) Act 1977 by the National Health Service Act 1977 and the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 shall be deemed never to have been made and that paragraphs shall accordingly have effect and be deemed at all times to have had effect as originally enacted.'.-- [Mr. Newton.]
Schedule 6
Repeals
Amendments made : No. 83, in page 54, line 3 at end insert
1977 c.49. National Health Service Act 1977 In Schedule 15, paragraph 71,
1978 c.29 National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978. In Schedule 16, paragraph 44.'.
No. 26, in page 54, line 12, Column 6, at end insert
Section 32(4).'.
No. 87, in page 54, line 15 column 3, at beginning insert
In section 33(10A), the word "and" immediately preceding paragraph (e).'.-- [Mr. Newton.]
Order for Third Reading read.--[Queen's Consent, on behalf of the Crown, signified].
9.14 pm
Mr. Newton : I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.
We have the opportunity for only a short debate, so I shall be brief and shall not deny others the opportunity to speak, particularly those who served on what I am told was a good-natured but demanding Standing Committee.
As Bills go, even perhaps as Social Security Bills go, this Bill is not large. The last one on which I served was the Social Security Act 1986--or the reform Act, as I would call it, although I am not sure that the hon. Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Meacher) would accept that description. Nevertheless, the Bill's importance is considerable and has grown during its further consideration in the House last week and this week, with the new clauses that have been added on occupational pensions and lone parents.
The Bill has three strategic objectives, with which I think that both sides of the House agree, even if there are differences of opinion--sometimes substantial--as to how those objectives should be pursued. First, the Bill contributes to the development of what we believe to be a structure of benefits for disabled people which is both more coherent and more sustainable in the long term, while bringing the prospects of early additional help to the terminally ill through the removal of the six-month qualifying period for attendance allowance and improving the position of many thousands of people in receipt of severe disablement allowance. Those legislative changes should be seen alongside the other improvements being made almost at this very moment through the uprating that is taking place this week and next and other changes
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later this year which will help almost 500,000 long-term sick and disabled people and their carers at an additional cost of some £100 million.Secondly, the Bill contains several changes designed to strengthen the arrangements for the maintenance of lone parents and their children, In particular, it makes such maintenance more effective as a basis on which the lone parent who wishes to do so can move from benefit into employment. That, too, should be seen alongside what is being done either in the current uprating or later this year to make real improvements in benefits both for lone parents and for many other low-income families with children.
Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman : Does my right hon. Friend share with me --I doubt whether he does, but I would like him to do so--the view that it is easier for a lone parent to move into employment if the family allowance is uprated in line with inflation?
Mr. Newton : I noticed that my hon. Friend was in the Chamber earlier. No doubt she would have made that point if there had been more extensive debate on child benefit, and I note her view. I also note that if maintenance payments could be effectively enforced, they would make an even greater contribution than the allowance that my hon. Friend is worried about.
Thirdly, and certainly not least, the Bill makes significant further improvements to the framework of occupational pensions by providing greater protection in various ways, including the introduction of an important measure of inflation-proofing for rights derived from future service and making a similar degree of inflation-proofing the first call on scheme surpluses when such surpluses exist. The context in this respect is the growing success of the Government's policies to promote occupational and personal provision, building upon the foundations of the basic state pension. I have outlined the main themes of the Bill, although it contains many other useful measures. The Bill is useful and worth while, and it will advance our provision for many who deserve and need our help. I commend it to the House.
9.19 pm
Ms. Short : Although some of the Bill's contents are acceptable to us, we believe that it should not receive its Third Reading because of the nature of the majority of its contents and, more importantly, because of what it fails to contain.
The guillotine that the Government introduced on Report, before there had been any debate on the Bill, was designed to prevent proper debate of many important questions that should be dealt with but which are not contained in the Bill. It is important to put the Bill in its proper context. This is the 12th Social Security Bill that the Government have introduced. The effect of the cumulative changes in social security benefits and in our tax system has been a massive redistribution of resources from those with least to those with most.
Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman : Not true.
Ms. Short : It is absolutely true. Although I agree with the hon. Lady about child benefit, even though she called
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it family allowance, she should recognise that the figures are shocking. The Government should be deeply ashamed of them. In 11 years the Government have taken £6.6 billion from the bottom half of our population. Of that sum £5.6 billion has gone to the richest 10 per cent. and £4.8 billion has gone to the top 5 per cent. The Bill is part of that process. The Government deliberately set out on that policy and such are its cumulative effects which they have achieved by stealth.One of the disgraceful things that has made people poorer was the break in the link between the state pension and earnings. The hon. Member for Ross, Cromarty and Skye (Mr. Kennedy) has referred to that. A fantastic amount of money has already been taken away from pensioners, thus excluding them from the benefits of economic growth. According to Library figures, a pensioner couple has lost £20 a week as a result of deliberate Government policies and a single pensioner has lost £12.
Mr. David Nicholson (Taunton) : Does the hon. Lady accept that the Labour Government of 1974-79 did not always keep their pledges and that their performance when running the economy and the pathetic increase in the standard of living of those in employment meant that it was no great achievement to attempt to keep pensions in line with earnings?
Ms. Short : I know that the hon. Gentleman is blustering because he is shocked by the true figures. He has not made a telling point. The cumulative figures are clear and demonstrate a deliberate massive redistribution from those with least to those who do not need more. That is what has happened as a result of 12 Social Security Bills and changes in taxation. The hon. Gentleman has made a broad, ill-informed remark about the performance of the economy in the 1970s at a time when our economy is in deep difficulty. The Government thought that they could get faster economic growth out of greater inequality. A lot of people have been hurt. Their economic experiment has failed and that is why the Government are in such grave difficulties.
Mr. Peter L. Pike (Burnley) : I agree with my hon. Friend that pensioners have already suffered as a result of Government legislation. We should also consider their plight as a result of the community charge. In the case of a couple when one person is still working and even when their income is just over the limit at which one begins to pay the community charge, the working partner must pay the community charge of the retired partner. Money will be taken off pensioners once again.
Ms. Short : My hon. Friend is right. The Government have deceived pensioners by their ill-thought-out so-called concession made in the Budget. They said to pensioners with some savings that they would give them lots of money, but they did not tell them the true story. Many, many pensioners with some savings believe that they will receive some relief, but because the Government falsely attribute a higher rate of return on their savings, many of them will be deceived and bitterly disappointed. Their suffering will be in addition to that described by my hon. Friend.
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I was trying to list some of the factors in the cumulative, massive redistribution from those in need to those without need which has made our country so unequal and bitterly divided and the Government so unpopular with the electorate.I mentioned what the Government have done with state pensions. The erosion of the value of child benefit is another serious matter. Due to the way in which the debate was squeezed today, we were unable to challenge the Government to tell us the truth. Everyone who considers these issues believes that the Government are trying to allow child benefit to wither away. The hon. Member for Lancaster is right : that would be disastrous particularly for lone parents or people on low incomes who are on benefits and want to get off them. High child benefit will help people to make that transition ; the erosion of child benefit traps them into poverty. It also deprives women of income. Giving the money to mothers ensures that it is spent on children.
There are all sorts of other issues which should have been included in the Bill and which we would like to have discussed. The removal of young people's right to benefit has enlarged the enormous and shameful growth of homelessness across the land. It shames everyone, whatever their political views. Young people, often those who grew up in care and do not have relatives to fall back on when they get into difficulty, are living on our streets and are not entitled to benefit. They are unable to get a step up and get on with life because of what the Government have done to the benefits system. The truth is that, after 11 years of Thatcherite rule, our country is deeply, bitterly and unhappily divided. There is enormous public unease about the degree to which it is divided. It is interesting that Conservative Members think that the Thatcherite experiment has led to a change of political values in Britain. But the annual survey of British social attitudes shows that cumulatively, over every year, people in Britain have become less and less happy with the Thatcherite project, more and more worried about how deeply divided our country is and more and more willing to pay a little more tax if that is what is required to look after pensioners and the sick. The people of this country do not support the experiment and its consequences.
The experiment has been enormously costly. We lived through a period of the good luck of oil becoming available. It could have given us the chance to restructure our economy and invest in the long term. Instead, it was wasted on an experiment, using materialism, greed, selfishness and inequality as an economic engine, which has failed and hurt many people.
The Bill contains some provisions that we welcome, and in which we take a pride. In Committee the Minister of State was honest and good enough to give the Opposition credit for some of the good factors in the Bill. He said that they were the results of democracy and of previous Social Security Bills when the Opposition had argued a case which was unassailable --if I may use a word that has probably changed its meaning given recent developments in the Conservative party. The change in attendance allowance for the terminally ill who are unlikely to survive the six-month waiting period is, of course, welcome. We made that clear in Committee. We worry that the allowance does not extend to cover elderly people who might need it because they have had a severe stroke. The Government are so worried about spending money that they have excluded elderly people
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from the value of such benefits, but we welcome the provision as far as it goes. The Government must have credit for it, but we also take some credit.We are deeply unhappy with the disability package about which the Government attempt to boast. Conservative Members do not have to take our word for that ; they can consult any of the disability organisations and find out that they are deeply and savagely critical of that package. They criticise the fact that they were not properly consulted and the duplicity underlining it.
The pretence is that lots of new money has been found to help disabled people. But more has been clawed back than has been provided. Money has been taken away from disabled people to put forward a package that helps some, but takes away from other disabled people. It is a cosmetic package, not an enlargement of resources to look after people with disabilities and help them to be independent and self-reliant, as many of them wish to be.
We welcome some of the improvements in the Bill that relate to occupational and private pensions. We are glad that there is to be an ombudsman. We decided in Committee that we could not possibly call it an "ombudsperson"-- it would be too odd a word, although my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn) suggested "ombudskvinne" which is apparently "person" in the right language, Norwegian. We also welcome the limited protection against the erosion of the value of pensions with inflation, but we do not understand why the Government did not go as far as we wanted in enlarging the powers of the ombudsman and setting alongside them a tribunal that could deal much more happily with complaints from pensioners, thus avoiding the enormous problem and cost of having to go to the High Court to settle questions of trusteeship. There could have been a much leaner and more efficient system that would have protected pensioners much better.
On protection against inflation, of course we welcome the 5 per cent. protection for early leavers and the Government's late decision to protect everyone where there are surpluses, up to 5 per cent. But we do not understand why the Government cannot go as far as our amendment in Committee and say that, when there are surpluses, there will be full protection against inflation.
As we are all living longer and might be talking about a 20-year retirement span, people get poorer as they get older when there is no protection against inflation. If there is a surplus, it is the most reasonable thing in the world to have protection, not up to 5 per cent. but up to the level of inflation. That is what Opposition Members argued in Committee. It is another unassailable case, and I do not understand why the Government could not accept it. We also welcome the provisions to encourage energy conservation. They fall oddly in this Bill, but there they are. They are limited to people on low incomes. They are welcome as far as they go, but in our view they do not go far enough. Energy conservation is one of the most important policies available to a country such as ours, and it benefits everyone--the planet, people's heating bills and so on. Such a policy is absolutely beneficial and means that we do not have to rely on nuclear power, with all its pollution and waste that people dread. Nuclear power is being proved more and more to harm the health of those who work in the industry and their children. It is firm Labour party policy to go very much further.
The country is raging with anger at the injustice of the poll tax, but that injustice comes on top of an even bigger
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redistribution from those with least to those with the most ; but it has been done cumulatively and by stealth, so there has never been a moment when the people could show their rage as they are showing it about the poll tax. I refer to cumulative effects of the changes in social security and taxation system.It is pretty clear to all of us that the Government have had it and that their economic experiment in the glorification of greed, selfishness and inequality is coming to an end. The British people do not like it and they want no more of it. We look forward greatly to the defeat of the Government and to the introduction of our own social security legislation, which will create a much more just settlement in our country. It will protect those who are in need and create pathways out of poverty for people trapped on benefits, instead of making bigger and bigger poverty traps such as the present system provides.
To hon. Members on the Government Benches--sometimes they worry me because they seem to read nothing--I say that it is all set out in our policy review. We will take power, implement the policy review and bring about a more just, more equal and economically more efficient society, and we look forward to doing so.
9.34 pm
Sir George Young (Ealing, Acton) : It would be a tragedy if the House were to adopt the advice of the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms. Short) and deny the Bill a Third Reading. That would deny the real help that the Bill provides for many thousands of people who are looking forward to that help. I listened with interest to what the hon. Lady said about the redistribution of wealth and also to what she said about greed. I found it impossible to relate what she was saying to the Bill. Far from redistributing wealth from the less well-off to the rich, the Bill does the opposite. Even if we accepted the premise from which she started, which I do not, it would not lead us to the conclusion that the Bill should be rejected. Despite the recent controversy about the Bill--the debate on the guillotine and on the new clauses--the bulk of the Bill has been non- controversial. The Committee stage was broadly harmonious--
Sir George Young : The hon. Lady has conceded as much in our debates on the Floor of the House.
The vast majority of measures in the Bill are non-controversial and have been welcomed by hon. Members on both sides of the House. They should reach the statute book as soon as possible.
The hon. Lady mentioned the help for the terminally ill ; more than 50,000 people will benefit from that. Does she really want to deny them that help by voting down the Bill? There is the extension of the severe disablement allowance, with an additional £10 a week for more than 250,000 people. Does she want to deny them that help? There is the introduction--
Mr. Jimmy Wray (Glasgow, Provan) : Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Sir George Young : I hope that the hon. Gentleman will allow me to continue ; that may allow him the opportunity to make his speech, whereas if I give way, it may deny him that opportunity.
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As more and more people invest larger sums in personal pensions, it must be right to provide better protection to that investment by extending the ombudsman principle to personal pensions--a system that has been tried and proved in so many other aspects of our society. I also welcome the protection for early leavers. Mobility is important in furthering the development of the economy and we want people to move from one job to another. The current arrangements act as a disincentive to national mobility, which is very much in the country's interests, and I welcome the proposed protection. I commend the Government for listening as the Bill has passed through its stages. They listened to the argument about rules for self-investment and dropped that part of the Bill at an early stage. Last week, they listened to the argument about income support for those in residential and nursing homes. They listened to the argument about the independent living fund and have found an additional £8 million for that. The Budget changes--which are social security changes--on the capital limits reflected a listening Government who were conscious of what was expected. There have been further changes on the surpluses, which have also been broadly welcomed, and further help for lone parents.It was a good Bill when it started, and it became better as it went through its stages. I find the reforms sensible--reflecting changes in society-- realistic and prudent. I hope that the House will give it a Third Reading.
9.37 pm
Mr. Rhodri Morgan (Cardiff, West) : I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on Third Reading. I shall confine my brief remarks to clause 10, which deals with energy efficiency in low-income households. I could make the same points about that as my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms. Short) made in her philosophical remarks on the deficiencies of the Bill in general. The Bill divides society into three groups : the very rich, who will clearly benefit ; the generality of society--the middle 70 per cent. ; and the 20 to 30 per cent. welfare- dependent group at the bottom. We are only too familiar with that group, having studied what has gone wrong with American society during the past 10 to 20 years--yet the Government seem intent upon repeating that experiment in Britain. Let us consider what this Bill does for energy efficiency in the context of the general question of how we handle the entire energy question. The Government intend to use the less well-off for target practice with a scheme that had virtually collapsed when they thought that they had a reduction in the unemployment statistics sufficient to bring forward new regulations and criteria for putting people on to the community insulation project schemes--the ET rule. This was known as the extra tenner rule in the community at large. It was extremely unattractive to the bulk of the people under 25 who had previously volunteered to go on to the old community programme rules and were involved in community insulation work under community programme rules.
It was not that unemployment declined ; it was that the unattractiveness of the ET rule meant that the under-25 group no longer wished to go on to the schemes, which
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eventually collapsed under the present Government. They are trying to revive them now, and obviously we do not criticise that, but in the 18 months in which they allowed these schemes to collapse, they received innumerable warnings, not only from Opposition Members but also from the organisations involved in the work--those on whom the Government are now depending to revive the work--that things were going very badly indeed, with a drop of 60 per cent. or more in the work of draught-proofing and installing loft insulation in the homes of the less well-off on local authority estates, old terraced property, and so on.While bringing this Bill forward, the Government are also doing a great deal to damage the possibility of the less well-off to afford heat. While this Bill has been in Committee, we have seen our major public utilities which provide the raw energy used to heat homes increase prices by very large amounts indeed. Gas has gone up by 7.7 per cent. even though there has been no increase in the production cost, and electricity has gone up for the domestic consumer by an average of 9 per cent., but with a loaded increase in the areas in which there are more low-income families.
In my own region, south Wales, which has one of the lowest family incomes in the country, the price to domestic consumers is to rise by 12.9 per cent. in the year that started last week. Furthermore, we have already been promised by the Government that in the coming years prices will rise not by the retail price index minus X, as we were promised at the time of the electricity privatisation legislation, but by RPI plus X. So the minus of privatisation has become a plus. If we have average inflation this year, that will be about 9 per cent., so the increase will be another 11.5 per cent., and that will apply to the following year as well. In south Wales, we know now from the Government's announcement that, in three years, the price of electricity will rise by about 50 per cent., while in the better- off parts of the country, the best calculation that we can make is that it will rise by some 25 per cent.
That is the damage that the Government are doing to the less well-off in society at the same time as they are pretending to do something for them in this Bill. They are creating a three-tier society. We understand now that they intend to enable the rich who apply for shares in the privatised electricity companies to have a rebate of 10 per cent. on their electricity bills. That is outright discrimination in pricing electricity. What good will that do the pensioner?
This Bill is not only completely inadequate from the point of energy conservation but, together with other measures such as the rises in electricity prices and a proposed concession to shareholders, highly divisive. It is completely inadequate from the energy conservation point of view, because it is an example of this Government talking green but acting blue.
9.43 pm
Mr. John Greenway (Ryedale) : I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute briefly to this short debate before the House rises for Easter. Not having had an opportunity of taking much part in the deliberations on the Social Security Bill, I have looked at some of the issues with keen interest, because issues relating to social security and how we should look after the poorest in our society are
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probably the most challenging of all the matters that come before the House and are of great concern to those of us who profess Christian values.One cannot always support everything that the Government propose. About three weeks ago in the House, along with right hon. and hon. Friends, I found that I had to vote against the Government on the clause relating to income support in another Bill. I am delighted to report that that matter has largely been put right in this measure. In any event, just because some of us are occasionally unhappy with a detail of social security policy does not mean that secretly we are unhappy with the rest. Far from it, and that is why I was anxious to contribute to the debate.
I went into my village church last Sunday morning with a heavy heart. We had seen on television the disgraceful scenes in the west end of London on Saturday. The weekend press was not kind to the Government or our leader and, it being my turn to read the lesson, I took encouragement-- [Interruption.] This is not a party political matter. I took great encouragement from some words from Philippians chapter 2, given in the New English Bible translation as : "Look to each other's interest and not merely your own." There is no greater commendation from any authority about how we as politicians should reflect on how we care for the weakest in society.
I shall support the Bill at this stage, as I have throughout its passage, with enthusiasm, for two reasons. The first is that it is packed full of good provisions for which many of us have been asking for some time. I recall taking part in a debate late at night towards the end of the summer when I asked the Minister of State to produce in the autumn a package of measures for the disabled. One might have been forgiven at that time for doubting that he would do that, but I then urged hon. Members to consider his work on behalf of the disabled, and it is a fitting tribute to that work that such measures are included in the Bill.
Mr. Ian McCartney (Makerfield) rose--
Mr. Greenway : I will not give way. It is a short debate and other hon. Members wish to take part.
I must declare my interest in the pensions industry. In a few letters to the Secretary of State at an early stage of the Bill, I said that I could not support the provision for self-administered pension schemes and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, Acton (Sir G. Young) rightly pointed out, that provision has been dropped. We now have some valuable additions to our pensions legislation. Much is happening in the whole sphere of social security for which the Government can take credit. I find deeply distasteful much of what is said purely for party advantage about the care and compassion issue. No political party has a monopoly-- [Interruption.] --on care for the weakest in society.
The second and more important reason why I support the Bill with enthusiasm is that the Government are providing more money by way of social security than have any previous Government. We are now paying £1 billion a week in social security, at a time when more people are at work in Britain than ever before. I regret that the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms. Short) said that she felt unable to support the Bill. Anyone in doubt about the Government's committment to look after the weakest
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in society need only consider some of the measures that have been introduced. Anybody doing that will support the Bill with enthusiasm.9.48 pm
Mr. Battle : I am attempting to ask the title of the Bill that we shall be sending to another place. The measure that we considered in Committee comprised 18 clauses and 6 schedules. This Bill is quite different. Although it has provisions concerned with disability, disablement allowance, reduced earnings allowance, pensions and so on, some of which we welcome, we found on Report that the Bill grew like Topsy, with new matter being introduced. Had we had time properly to discuss the provisions that greatly concerned us, the Chancellor's beneficence might have proved not all that it was claimed to be. Similarly, there were the changes that were forced on the Goverment as a result of their ill-advised introduction of the social fund. The High Court overruled the Goverment and they had to come back and tack a clause on to the Bill, and the same thing happened with their residential care provisions.
If we had had a full debate and it had not been guillotined, we might have got further. We might have been able to consider whether there is absolute protection against eviction of old people from homes. I am not sure that the Bill goes far enough to cover that or to cover their care and maintenance. Substantial new policies have been tacked on to the Bill. It almost seems to be a new Bill. We have not had a chance properly to debate it on the Floor of the House because of the guillotine.
Earlier this evening, Conservative Members asked why Opposition Members did not want to debate the Bill. Some of us did want to talk about the clauses that dealt with pensioners' incomes. Some of us wanted to point out that, as a percentage of average earnings per year since 1979, pensioners' incomes, particularly those living on the state pension alone, have gone down. We did not have a chance. The child benefit debate lasted 13 minutes. We could not discuss why the Government have frozen child benefit for the past three years and why they seem likely to do the same again.
A clause was tabled in my name which might have some topical significance. It concerned the families of people locked away in prison. Those families suffer because their benefits are taken away. They have to pay twice. I would have liked time to speak about the actively seeking work clause, which was included in another Bill that we opposed but which was nevertheless enacted.
Although the Minister says that not many cases have been reported, in my constituency, wage rates advertised in job centre windows are going down. Jobs that were on offer at £1.30 or £1.20 an hour last year are now down below £1 an hour. People are forced to accept those wages or be told that they can have no benefit.
All that is taking place against a background of rising unemployment. If the Minister and the Secretary of State care to have another glance at the Government Actuary's report on benefit upratings in the Vote Office, which was published in January, they will find that it makes it plain--as does no document other than the Red Book--that unemployment in the financial year starting this April will rise. Within the Actuary's report there is an estimate of the reduction in contributions to the national insurance fund
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