Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, that was a bit of anticipation on my part. This is essential legislation, which seeks to modernise the welfare state. I agree with those who say that the change needs to combine compassion and care, but I think that we should look at Labour’s inheritance between 1979 and 1997. The number of people on incapacity benefit trebled, as people were written off to a life on benefits to hide the true number of unemployed. If numbers on incapacity benefit had continued to grow at the rate that they did under the previous Government, there would now be 4 million people on incapacity benefit. Unemployment doubled between 1979 and 1997; it twice hit 3 million. We had long-term youth unemployment, which topped 300,000 compared with just 6,700 today. We had a benefits system that was passive, providing little support and few obligations to encourage people out of benefit dependency and poverty. Over an 18-year period, child poverty more than doubled. That was the situation that this Government sought to improve, and in many areas, whether it is employment or reducing child poverty and benefit poverty, there have been significant gains. As it was for others, it was a privilege for me to hear the noble Lord, Lord Morris of Manchester, give us an historical analysis based on his previous disability legislation. I believe that this Welfare Reform Bill has it right when it talks about the rights to benefit being accompanied by each person’s responsibility actively to seek work, recognising that some people, by virtue of their disabilities, will be unable to work, a point made by many noble Lords. Even changing the name of the benefit from ““incapacity benefit””, which seems to define a non-changing, permanent condition, to ““employment and support allowance”” seems positive. I welcome the Government’s assurance that this is not about cutting benefits or forcing people into work, but I recognise the concern expressed by some. The noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, expressed his anxiety about conditionality, and the noble Baroness, Lady Murphy, referred to the sanctions. They saw it in a negative light; I see it as a positive encouragement, although I recognise that disabled people face barriers. We know from our experience with the New Deal and jobseeker’s allowance that successful support is founded on complementary benefit and support structures. The examples that we have had of the Pathways to Work pilots and jobseeker’s allowance give us encouragement. Transforming the gateway to benefit—the personal capability assessment—from being purely focused on establishing benefit entitlement to a much more constructive and proactive approach which focuses on capability is, I believe, the right way forward. It will examine not only what an individual cannot do but also what they can do and how they might be helped to improve their capacity. I share the concerns of those who cite mental health problems. We know that the number of people involved has risen significantly from less than 20 per cent in the 1980s to nearly 40 per cent now. We want this new personal capability assessment to be more sophisticated so that it can better identify people with mental health conditions and tailor help to them more effectively. That means more resources, and I hope that that will be taken care of in the Minister’s reply. The policies are not about forcing people to seek work or undertake work-related activities that are detrimental to their health conditions; they arean attempt to break down the barriers faced by incapacity benefit recipients. I share the concern of a number of noble Lords about changing employers’ attitudes, but the laudable desire to get people back into work will not succeed unless we can make a fundamental difference in this area. Some years ago, I tried to get a young deaf person back into employment and I remember the difficulty that I had with a large employer. It characterised itself as an equal opportunities employer yet seemed unable to understand the flexibility that it had to apply in recruiting someone with that disability who could make a positive contribution. There is plenty of work to be done in that area if the Government’s long-term aims and aspirations are to succeed. We also need to break down the age barriers, recognising the huge demographic challenge ahead: by 2050, we will have 50 per cent more pensioners. The Government’s aspirations are laudable: 80 per cent of the working-age population in employment, reducing the number of people on sickness benefit by 1 million, and getting 1 million older people and 300,000 more lone parents into work. Those are challenging targets. Having listened to the contributions of others more expert than me, I am not sure whether the current proposals will simplify the benefits structure, but I hope that they will. I agree with my noble friend Lord Morris of Handsworth that we have to tackle benefit fraud. That is essential if we are to maximise support for the deserving cases. Although the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, said that it is just a question of carrots, I do not see this as a carrot-and-stick situation. That is an unfortunate and negative analysis. People in this country expect fairness, and benefit fraud has to be dealt with, regardless of the extent of that fraud. I think of the recent case, which received a lot of publicity in the papers, about the marathon runner who had clearly overcome his incapacity to work. My noble friend said that he lacked any motivation to seek work; no doubt he was too busy training. I was also interested in the comment of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Leicester on housing benefit withdrawal. I am sure that that would be the last resort. For those of us who have lived either in or close to estates where there are serious problems, the question is: what do you do about families who refuse to achieve a reasonable standard of behaviour? Do you let them continue to terrorise the rest of the estate where you live or do you decide that, as a last resort, and having attempted to help as best you can, some action has to be taken? I do not believe that the Government intend in any way to punish children. As I have already said, the record on reducing child poverty has to be acknowledged. I do not want to end on a negative note, because I believe that this is positive legislation. It is time to reform our welfare programme. The Bill allies the right to work with the right to benefits for those who need help and care, and I commend it to your Lordships.