Work and Families Bill

I thank the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) for tabling new clause 1. It was not unexpected, given the extent to which we debated the issue in Committee, and there are strong views among the Opposition parties, who have come together to support the new clause and clearly wanted to pursue the matter further. Those views were emphasised by the CBI, which wrote to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State just before Christmas withdrawing its support for the Bill because the direct payment issue had not been resolved to its satisfaction. Understandably, a number of Opposition Members spoke in support of the new clause today, but in raising the issue of regulation in general, as the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) did, they lost sight of the balance that we are trying to achieve in the Bill and of the issue of direct payment. We consulted fully on the Bill, and sought the opinions of a range of organisations in the business community and the voluntary sector, as well as of stakeholders on whom the measure will impact. In fact, the Government were congratulated on the consultation and on the time that we took before introducing the Bill.