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Lord Elton: In furtherance of the point raised by my noble friend Lord Carlisle, subsection (7) gives the power to use force where it would be used by a police constable. But surely the police constable could not use it unless he had first arrested the person who was about to make off. I do not believe that that point has been answered.
Lord Rooker: According to my reading of the situation, I believe that that is wrong. The police constable will probably have the power to detain prior to making an arrest. I am sure that it is that way round. I shall take advice from my learned friends during the break, but I am fairly certain that I am right on that point.
Lord Mayhew of Twysden: Before the noble Lord sits down, perhaps I may make a suggestion which is generally intended to help. Is not the way out of this matter to confer always upon community support officers the power to detain? That is, in any case, what the public would expect. We have already established that they may not always have it because the designation may not specify that it shall apply. If everyone has it then we do not have the confusion to which I have drawn attention of a person not having a power to detain but, none the less, having the power to use reasonable force to stop a man running away. That is nonsense.
Lord Rooker: The noble and learned Lord, Lord Mayhew, has been extremely helpful, and I shall certainly consider that suggestion.
Lord Bradshaw: I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Lord Rooker moved Amendment No. 201:
- Page 32, line 39, at end insert—
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 33, as amended, agreed to.
Lord Bassam of Brighton: I beg to move that the House do now resume. In moving the Motion, I suggest that the Committee stage resume not before 8.30 p.m.
Moved accordingly, and, on Question, Motion agreed to.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Hollis of Heigham) rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 6th February be approved [19th Report from the Joint Committee].
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, it may also be convenient if I speak to the Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2002. I shall move both orders separately, and if noble Lords wish to speak just to one or the other, that is their entitlement.
As the House will be aware, the draft uprating order and the draft guaranteed minimum pensions order are an important part of DWP business. The uprating order will increase most benefits from April in the normal way in line with the RPI for national insurance benefits and the Rossi index for income-related benefits. For the 12 months ending in September, both of those price indicators were 1.7 per cent. The other order will increase guaranteed minimum pensions by 1.7 per cent in line with the RPI. However, as in every year since 1998, there are some benefits that we want to increase by more than inflation.
I deal first with carers and the disabled. We know that it is particularly hard for families on low incomes who are bringing up children with disabilities. Indeed, children with disabilities or children in families with a disabled person are some of the poorest children in the country. Again, we want to provide substantial extra help for disabled children. We are raising the disabled child premium to £35.50 per week, giving an additional £5 on top of normal uprating, which will benefit around 80,000 children in the neediest families.
We also want to help remove the barriers to work for people with severe disabilities and make sure that work pays. Two years ago we substantially increased maximum payments and earnings disregards in the Independent Living Fund. I am sorry that my noble friend Lady Wilkins is not here. She was one of those who pressed that most urgently, and rightly so. We are abolishing the ILF earnings limits altogether, both for those severely disabled people and their partners. That will be worth an average £130 per week to those families. That means that there is now no disincentive to work for disabled people who are currently being supported in independent living by the Independent Living Fund. We shall also extend help to people with savings of up to £18,500 by increasing capital limits in relation to the fund. Since 1996-97, ILF provision has gone up from £109.6 million to the £150.5 million provided in 2001-02.
We have already announced a package of help for carers worth £500 million over three years. Carers will also benefit from the increase in the invalid care allowance earnings limit, which increases in line with the lower earnings limit. From next April, carers will be able to earn £75 per week after allowable expenses without their invalid care allowance being affected. Again, that is an encouragement to keep them in touch with the labour market. We know that the average period of caring is between two and three years.
We are doing more than ever to help families to balance their work and home lives. We are raising the standard rate of maternity allowance and statutory maternity pay from £62.20 to £75 per week. That will benefit around 340,000 families per year and is the largest weekly increase in the benefit since February 1958. I do not know what happened in January 1958 but I shall seek to find out. Additionally, the Sure Start maternity grant will rise from £300 to £500, giving a further substantial increase to mothers on low income when they most need it.
When we discussed that on an earlier occasion, the noble Earl, Lord Russell, pressed me on what happened to those who failed to qualify. We were worried that they might slip through the net. I was able to reassure him. After a quick "tracker" exercise, we found that in the case of almost everyone who was refused the first time round, it was because, for example, they had applied too early, and they subsequently received the benefit. The increase to £500 at the point at which a pregnancy is confirmed is a key initiative in ensuring that children have the best chance of coming into a secure life.
Again, we want to do more for pensioners and give significant help to the elderly. That is an issue which has occupied your Lordships' House over the past few weeks. Measures in the order show our continuing commitment to tackle pensioner poverty and to ensure that our pensioners directly benefit from the growing prosperity of the country.
We shall, as promised, increase the minimum income guarantee in line with earnings to £98.15 for a single person and to just under £150, £149.80, for a couple. As a direct result of MIG, a single person will
The pension credit, which we recently debated, will boost significantly the incomes of low income and modest income pensioners by directly rewarding their savings. As I have said on many occasions, a pensioner, possibly a widow, with a modest occupational pension of £100 per month at present sees no benefit from that because MIG is of sufficient decency to float them above it. In future under pension credit, a pensioner with an occupational pension of £100 per month will keep £60 of it and be £60 per month better off.
Between now and the introduction of the credit we shall continue to ensure that those on low and modest incomes can also share in our growing prosperity. The transitional arrangements introduced in last year's order and continued in the order that we shall debate tonight allow for that. We shall, as promised, increase the basic state pension by £3 to £75.50 per week for single pensioners and by £4.80 to £120.70 for couples. Widows' benefits and bereavement benefits will rise in line with the amount for single pensioners.
The state second pension being introduced this April will, as it builds up, give more help to those on lower earnings or with broken work records such as carers and disabled people and, above all, women with interrupted earnings, while those on moderate and higher incomes will be encouraged to save through occupational and other funded pensions. Stakeholder pensions will fill a gap for low cost and more portable pensions.
I am delighted to see that the noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, is in her place. As I announced in the debate following Third Reading of the State Pension Credit Bill, we have reviewed the rules governing the reduction in benefit when one of our clients goes into hospital. Alongside the introduction of the credit in April 2003, we shall ease the current rules so that relevant income maintenance benefits are no longer downrated—whether for pensioners or other clients on benefits—after recipients have been in hospital for six weeks. We have effectively doubled the six-week rule so that benefit will remain in payment in full for 13 weeks. As most hospital stays, including those of pensioners, are shorter than 13 weeks, I am happy to say that most people will not see a reduction in their weekly income. An estimated 26,000 of the 35,000 people who currently have their benefit reduced—that 26,000 includes 20,000 pensioners—will benefit at a cost of around £40 million per year. I well recall the warm welcome that was given to those proposals in the House.
To conclude, we are continuing to target more money on families and people with disabilities as well as continuing our action to tackle pensioner poverty and end child poverty. We are able to do that because of our success in building a strong economy and
As I said, the latest figures show more people in work than ever before. Our fundamental overhaul is transforming the welfare system from a passive organisation paying out benefits to an active system which fights poverty, creates opportunity and helps people become self-sufficient and independent by helping those of working age into work.
A combination of the national minimum wage, which again largely benefits women, of tax credits, which largely benefit women, and changes to national insurance, including raising the point at which one pays national insurance while protecting one's benefit entitlement on the LEL, which again largely benefits women, as well as changes to the tax system, all ensure that work pays. The new deals make work possible and have so far helped well over 600,000 people into jobs. We are taking a single approach to work and benefits delivered through Jobcentre Plus. It will no longer be, "Here is the benefit office, à la 'The Full Monty', and there is the employment office". There will be an integrated service. We know that sometimes people move in and out of work. We want an integrated service so that we can offer help to everyone of working age for the first time. The measures we are taking all help to shift that culture.
We believe that this uprating order further delivers on our promises. Many points raised by your Lordships were aired at the time that the uprating statement was made. However, I shall do my best to follow up any of your Lordships' concerns during tonight's debate. I beg to move.
Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 6th February be approved [19th Report from the Joint Committee].—(Baroness Hollis of Heigham.)
"( ) In this Chapter—
"Director General" means—
(a) the Director General of the National Criminal Intelligence Service; or
(b) the Director General of the National Crime Squad; and
"Service Authority" means—
(a) in relation to employment with the National Criminal Intelligence Service and to its Director General, the Service Authority for the National Criminal Intelligence Service; and
(b) in relation to employment with the National Crime Squad and to its Director General, the Service Authority for the National Crime Squad.".
7.29 p.m.
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