Welfare Reform Bill

Before my noble friend addresses this matter, can he help me? Perhaps I should know this, but I do not. I know that when we were exploring the New Deal for Partners, which very often tended to be for older people who were both unemployed—it was not a particularly successful scheme—one of the problems, given what is happening to the labour market, is particularly for older men who may have been in semi-skilled heavy work, who lose their job at 50 to 55 and cannot go back to work, except perhaps to become even further deskilled as a building labourer. That, too, would depend on the situation in the construction industry, and so on. They find it very difficult to get back into full-time work. Women with a partner, because they are usually willing and able to take part-time work, find that there is far more flexibility. Perhaps my noble friend can tell me whether the Government have given any thought or carried out any research on whether we could treat the total work hours of a couple together to make the equivalent of one full-time job, so that they could come into the tax credit regime, if appropriate. He might work for 16 hours and she might work for 15 or 16 hours. In practical terms that would take them over the 30-hour rule. Both would get easier access to the labour market, they might be able to work non-social hours, Box and Cox with each other, and so on. They would then stay attached to the labour market, and as and when conditions were right, they might be able to increase their hours. Perhaps they could be treated jointly. I realise that there are bureaucratic complexities, but if we are not doing this, perhaps we could start to think out of the box on this. If the two did a part-time job of 15 or 16 hours each, together that hits the 30-hour rule which would therefore become a full-time job, and would qualify them for working tax credit, if appropriate, and both partners would be happy, satisfied and remain attached to the labour market. I should have consulted my noble friend in advance, and I apologise; but if we are doing any work on this, can he help me, because it would be a natural extension to the work being explored previously by the department on the New Deal for Partners?