Welfare Reform Bill

If the noble Countess will permit me, I should like to speak to two points. Of course the labour market is challenging at the moment, but we should not overlook the fact that there still is a dynamic market. Each month, if we look at the number of people who go on to JSA and those who come off, and look at the vacancies flowing through the system, there is activity in the labour market. I accept her point entirely that, until we get the economy around the corner and growing again, the full range of opportunities that we would like to see will not be available. The noble Countess is right that I did not respond to my noble friend, which was remiss of me. She is aware that, as regards couples where one or both are disabled, they can access tax credit at 16 hours of work. Otherwise, as she said, it has to be 30 hours of work. In terms of the proposition to combine the position of couples, I would use the escape clause that this is Treasury policy. But it is an interesting idea and worth pursuing. As my noble friend intimated, there would be complexities about how you would join two people for certain bits of the system where they otherwise are taxed individually. There is some complexity in all that, but let us reflect on it.