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

I just want to go back to the report. In many ways, Parliament’s task in looking at the success of the pilot will involve the way the report is presented. The Minister mentioned that in certain cases local authorities will be making judgments on how to proceed with cases that might involve hardship, mental illness or a risk to the welfare of children. I hope that when the evaluation is made those judgments will be part and parcel of it, so that we will be aware how frequently, and in what way, they have been made. That will help to give us a balanced view of just how effective the mechanism has been and to what extent it is able to deal with the greater problem, and how much of that problem is identifiable as being caused by other elements of anti-social behaviour.