Deprivation/Child Poverty

I thank my hon. Friend for those remarks. I shall come on to sanctions in a moment, if he will permit me. The Committee had the pleasure about 18 months ago of visiting Stratford jobcentre, which is very large. I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Minister knows it well. A huge number of people go through it. We met a group of lone parents who had some horrifying stories to tell about their experiences. Most of them had not even been offered a ““better off in work”” calculation, and those who had and then had it checked somewhere else—by the citizens advice bureau and so on—found that it was far from accurate. That shattered their confidence in the system. They felt that they were being used, abused and misled, and that does not help anybody. It damages the reputation of Jobcentre Plus and the whole welfare to work programme, and it undermines credibility. That really needs to be reviewed. As the Minister knows, a trial is being done in Yorkshire and Humberside, where my home is. I shall keep a close eye on it and report regularly and frequently about any discrepancies that I find.