Public Bill Committee: 24 February 2009

83

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

80

Clause  31,  page  38,  line  23,  leave out from ‘with’ to end of line 33 and insert

‘requiring a relevant authority that is or may be obliged, or has decided, to provide a

relevant service to, or to arrange the provision of a relevant service for, a disabled person

(P) in prescribed circumstances to do the following—

(a)	to support P to assess his own needs;

(b)	to support P to draw up a plan (his “support plan”) setting out how he

wishes those needs to be met;

(c)	to support P to review and revise his support plan;

(d)	to assess the value of any relevant services to which P is entitled;

(e)	to notify P of the value of these services (his “individual budget”) and of

his right to choose how his individual budget is managed;

(f)	to comply with P’s decision about whether he wishes to receive his

individual budget in the form of—

(i)	a payment to him (a direct payment);

(ii)	a payment to any prescribed person for that person to manage on

his behalf and in accordance with his support plan;

(iii)

in the form of the provision of services by the relevant authorities

which accord with his support plan; or

(iv)	any combination of (i), (ii) and (iii).’.

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

81

Clause  31,  page  38,  line  39,  leave out paragraph (c).

Mr Mark Harper

Mr James Clappison

Mr John Baron

45

Clause  31,  page  39,  line  12,  at end insert—

‘(c)	require a relevant authority to co-operate with one or more relevant

authorities in connection with the provision of relevant services for

disabled people.’.

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

82

Clause  32,  page  39,  line  21,  leave out subsection (2).

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

28

Clause  32,  page  39,  line  44,  leave out subsection (3).

Public Bill Committee: 24 February 2009

84

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

Paul Rowen

29

Clause  32,  page  39,  line  48,  at end insert—

‘(3A)

Direct payments legislation must include a prescription for any providing

authority to take account of potential long term and multi-agency savings when

considering what represents an “unreasonable financial burden” under subsection

(3).’.

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

30

Clause  34,  page  41,  line  15,  leave out paragraph (c).

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

31

Clause  34,  page  41,  line  20,  leave out subsection (6).

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

32

Clause  35,  page  41,  line  37,  leave out subsection (3).

John Robertson

64

Clause  36,  page  36,  line  14,  at end insert—

‘(5)	In section 23A(3) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (c.

4) for paragraph (c) substitute—

“(c)	unpaid care for a grandchild aged under 12 or an ill, frail or

disabled family member, friend or partner for 20 hours per week

or more.”’.

Public Bill Committee: 24 February 2009

85

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

33

Clause  40,  page  43,  line  39,  leave out subsection (7).

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

34

Clause  40,  page  44,  line  10,  leave out paragraph (b).

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

35

Clause  40,  page  47,  line  1,  leave out subsection (3).

Paul Rowen

68

Page  43,  line  13,  leave out Clause 40.

Paul Rowen

72

Page  87,  line  20,  leave out Schedule 5.

Paul Rowen

69

Page  47,  line  22,  leave out Clause 41.

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

83

Clause  43,  page  49,  leave out line 8.

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

36

Schedule  6,  page  91,  line  42,  leave out paragraph (d).

Public Bill Committee: 24 February 2009

86

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

37

Schedule  6,  page  91,  line  46,  leave out ‘reason’ and insert ‘reasonable grounds’.

Paul Rowen

105

Schedule  6,  page  91,  line  47,  after ‘child’, insert ‘or other children living with her’.

Paul Rowen

103

Schedule  6,  page  94,  line  2,  at end insert—

‘(c)	where the mother acknowledges the person as the father of the child, but

has reason to fear for her safety or that of the child if the father were to

acquire responsibility by virtue of section 4(1)(a) of the Children Act

1989’.

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

38

Schedule  6,  page  94,  line  19,  leave out subsection (3).

Paul Rowen

104

Schedule  6,  page  98,  line  19,  at end insert—

‘(8)	This section does not apply where the mother acknowledges the person as the

father of the child, but has reason to fear for her safety or that of the child if the

father were to acquire parental responsibility by virtue of section 4(1)(a) of the

Children Act 1989’.

New ClauseS

Ambit of appeals under section 20 of the 1991 Act

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

NC1

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	Section 20 of the Child Support Act 1991 (c. 48) (appeals to appeal tribunals) is

amended as follows.

(2)	Subsection 7(b) (appeal tribunals not to take into account any circumstances not

obtaining at the time when the Secretary of State made the decision or imposed

the requirement) is omitted.’.

Public Bill Committee: 24 February 2009

87

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

Disability living allowance: mobility component

John Robertson

Paul Rowen

NC2

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	Section 73 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (c. 4) (the

mobility component) is amended as follows.

(2)	In subsection (1), after paragraph (b) insert—

“(ba)

he falls within subsection (2A); or”.

(3)	In subsection (1A)(a), after “(b)”, insert “, (ba)”.

(4)	After subsection (2), insert—

“(2A)

A person falls within this subsection if—

(a)	he is blind; and

(b)	he satisfies such other conditions as may be prescribed.”.

(5)	In subsection (5), after “(2)(a)”, insert “or subsection (2A)(a)”.

(6)	In subsection (11)(a), after “(b)”, insert “, (ba)”.’.

Review of carers’ benefits

Paul Rowen

NC3

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The Secretary of State must undertake a review of the benefits to which carers are

entitled, reporting to Parliament on the outcome of this review no later than six

months after the Welfare Reform Bill receives Royal Assent.

(2)	The Secretary of State must involve carers in this review and must publish a

report on the findings of the review.’.

Devolution to local authorities and groups of local authorities

Paul Rowen

NC4

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The Secretary of State may by Regulations—

(a)	allow local authorites or groups of local authorities to exercise his

functions under section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973

where they seek the full responsiblity to assume these functions.

(b)	provide local authorities or groups of local authorities with the funding

and authority to vary these programmes to meet local need.

(2)	The Secretary of State shall consult with and have regard to the view of local

authorities or groups of local authorities on the exercise of his functions under

Public Bill Committee: 24 February 2009

88

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973 including the contracting out

of employment support and the information relating to all aspects of the

perfomance of employment programmes in the area.’.

Entitlement to tailored employment and career support

Mr James Clappison

Mr Mark Harper

Mr John Baron

NC5

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	All new ESA claimants and existing Incapacity Benefit claimants who are

migrated to ESA, who have a diagnosed mental health problem which impacts on

their ability to undertake work, will be entitled to an assessment carried out by,

or linked to, Access to Work to determine what reasonable adjustments may

improve the likelihood of retention should they find employment. This

assessment must be carried out before the claimant may be compelled to

undertake any compulsory work-related activity.

(2)	The assessment will include evidence gathering from agencies responsible for a

person’s employment support and for the provision of health services where

appropriate and must include at least one interview with the claimant themselves.

(3)	Any reasonable adjustments, recommended by the assessment, will be funded

through Access to Work and will be available to any employer wishing to employ

the claimant. Available funding for reasonable adjustments will be

communicated to employers by a claimant’s employment adviser and will be

transferable to a new employer in the event that the claimant moves jobs or

employers.

(4)	The assessment will be reviewed regularly and/or when the claimant moves jobs

or employers to identify any changes to the adjustments required by the

claimant.’.

Mininum income level for persons subject to sanctions

John Mason

NC6

To move the following Clause:—

‘Regulations made by the Secretary of State shall set minimum income figures

per week which no individual or family in receipt of benefits, and subject to any

sanction under this Act, is permitted to fall below following the imposition of any

sanctions.’.

Public Bill Committee: 24 February 2009

89

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

Implementation of sanctions in relation to income

John Mason

NC7

To move the following Clause:—

‘External providers and jobcentres shall not apply sanctions under this Act when

the job offered to a claimant provides a lower income than that provided by

unemployment benefits.’.

Means inquiry before sanctions imposed

John Mason

NC8

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	In any case where regulations made by the Secretary of State under this Act or

other powers contain provisions for the imposition of sanctions resulting in the

loss or reduction of any sum in benefit, the regulations shall contain a duty that

before any sanction is imposed—

(a)	a means inquiry is conducted as to the means of the person on the day;

(b)	regard shall be had to the welfare of any person residing with him;

(c)	regard shall be had to a medical report as to his/her physical and mental

well-being and any person residing with him/her;

(d)	any sanction resulting in loss or reduction of benefit will be reasonable in

the circumstances;

(e)	regard shall be had to the impact of any deduction on the ability of the

person to pay costs in respect of the accommodation which he/she may

occupy.

(2)	Following consideration of the matters prescribed in paragraph (1) the decision

maker shall then determine whether the income remaining to the person who will

be subject to the sanction falls below the minimum figure for income in one week

which is set by the Secretary of State.

(3)	If any sanction is imposed following the inquiries in (1) above of any sanction,

the decision-maker shall ensure that no person will be left either with a total

income which is either below the minimum figure for income set by the Secretary

of State or in any other case is no more than two thirds of the amount in benefit

payable to the person in any one week during which it is proposed that the

sanction shall operate, unless the relevant amount of benefit payable in any one

week is £5.00 or below.

(4)	Where the means inquiry establishes that a person is already subject to deductions

from benefit which but for the effect of this subsection would result in the amount

of benefit available to the person in any one week falling below the amount set

by the Secretary of State, the imposition of any deduction shall be suspended.

(5)	Any regulations made by the Secretary of State permitting or allowing any

sanction resulting in loss or reduction of benefit to any person shall be subject to

a right of appeal.

(6)	Any person affected by a sanction imposed may appeal to the Secretary of State

for a variation of the amount, provided that no variation however occasioned shall

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Revised 24 February 2009