Welfare Reform Bill

I think that I am clear about what is supposed to happen in these circumstances, but I have had experience in the past of systems that failed operationally and practically. What is magic about the number 13? That is a very good question. Was it tested in the Pathways to Work pilots in those ambitious periods when personal advisers had to work with incoming and outgoing data? Did those pilots suggest that these were things that could be measured, not only in the specially chosen pilot areas but in downtown Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and so on? These are very important questions. What happens to the clients and their claims if the computers do not deliver on the systems thatthe Minister is setting out as targets. Will that create the difficulties that we have discussed in policy terms? What happens if the computers do not work and the system fails operationally so that the poor customers, as the Minister calls them—claimants, as I like to call them—suffer because the system is broken?