Welfare Reform Bill

I must express a degree of envy. The noble Lord has put down an extremely good amendment that comes in straight alongside the issues with regard to good practice I was raising earlier. Unless you are qualified to carry out the assessment correctly, you cannot do it. It is that simple. Mental health is a subject that has been much on the minds of this House over the past few weeks, and we have seen that you need specific training. The noble Lord mentioned other types of disability. We can run down the list. Unless those involved have some expertise or training, or have at least been trained how to assess and bring in support—which might be a way of squaring this circle, although even then there would be limitations—they will not be able to do it. Once again I apologise for not adding my name to this amendment—I think our ““spring break”” has a little to answer for. Unless we get some form of assurance that we are getting people to carry out the assessment who know what they are talking about, the potential benefits of this system will start to miss a large proportion of its client base, or claimants—call them what you will. The people who are going through these assessments may well not get the help they need, and the system will fail. Will the Minister assure us that assessors will be qualified to do this and qualified in bringing in the expertise when it is needed? That is what is required here. If that cannot be done, and if we cannot be given some idea of structures, there is a damn great hole in the whole system.