Welfare Reform Bill

In speaking to this amendment, I shall speak also to Amendment No. 87 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Wilkins. Unfortunately, she is still unable to be with us today. However, her amendment, like the others to which I spoke in her place, was suggested by Macmillan Cancer Support as a result of its familiarity with the difficulties faced by cancer patients. Its research shows that seven out of 10 households drop an average of 50 per cent of their income after a cancer diagnosis. Awareness of what benefits are available is therefore of great importance for many vulnerable families, but a National Audit Office report in 2005 showed that 77 per cent of cancer patients were not given information about what financial support was available. Current practice among jobcentres is clearly not suitable for informing claimants about what benefits they may be eligible. Macmillan reports that staff rarely inform patients about benefits such as disability living allowance, even when they are already entitled to incapacity benefit. A clear example of that lack of a suitable culture is that jobcentre scripts contain no information about disability benefits or questions designed to identify who might be eligible for those benefits. Indeed, the charity has examples where actively misleading or information was given in response to direct questions. We have all seen the brief—at least, I hope that the Minister has—from Macmillan Cancer Support, so I will not bother to cite any of the examples in it. Yet not a lot is being done in that area. Last July, as the Bill started in the Commons, the right honourable John Hutton promised to see whether there was anything more that the Government could do. He said: "““It is our—" the Government’s— "““responsibility to ensure that people are at least aware of the various entitlements that may be available to them””.—(Official Report, Commons, 24/7/06; col. 622.)" Can the Minister explain what has been done since then to improve the situation? Has there been any examination of the ESA application process to identify where people should be informed about potential entitlement and offered support to help them apply? Are there any plans to update the jobcentre scripts or improve the training and practice of jobcentre staff or does he have any other suggestions for practical improvements in this area?