Housing Benefit (Loss of Benefit) (Pilot Scheme) Regulations 2007

I thank the Minister for introducing the regulations. He will remember that we opposed this power when the Welfare Reform Act 2007 was going through the House. We thought that, as part of the respect agenda, it represented government grandstanding—there for effect, but without serious intent. We are glad that they have the power only to set up a pilot scheme, which cannot be rolled out across the country without primary legislation. As the Minister acknowledged, many charities and organisations involved are deeply opposed to the idea of imposing benefit sanctions for anti-social behaviour. Several local authorities also oppose the idea. There are concerns that it will drive the most vulnerable families, often involving children living in poverty, out of safe housing into slums, and from there on to the streets. Will the Minister clarify how many families the Government expect sanctions to be applied to under the scheme, and how they will protect the children who will unavoidably be affected by the sanctions? The stick is meant to be balanced with a carrot. Those subject to sanctions must have the support they need. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions called this ““intensive””. There was a lot of concern during the original debate that the Government were not going to provide any extra funds to the organisations—the local authority, independent charities and so on—that would have to provide that support. Will the Minister clarify what funding has been made available to them? Will any extra funding that would be provided for in the pilot, but not necessarily in the rollout, be fully transparent in the final report? There was a lot of concern that those imposing the sanctions would not have the training or the duty to identify those whose anti-social behaviour was as a result of mental illness. What safeguards have the Government put in place to ensure that those with mental illnesses are identified and given the support that they need? Will the Government provide any extra funding to the mental health organisations that will have to provide this support, even if they are outside the usual ““intensive support”” that the Government intend to provide as a consequence of these regulations? Other pilots in the Welfare Reform Act were criticised either for the inadequate number of test bases, so that the evidence was meaningless, or for the fact that funding for the pilot was much greater than funding for the planned rollout, so that the results would not necessarily be comparable. I think that the Minister will see that the thrust of my contribution to this discussion is an attempt to ensure that the eventual report will be as full and transparent as possible. I hope he will guarantee that that will be the case. For our part, we will be interested in the pilot and await the outcome.