Welfare Reform Bill

The process will clearly be an engagement between the Jobcentre Plus adviser and the individual. I envisage information being provided to the parent about what is available locally and what could be accessible. One cannot be certain about all these things, but I guess we can all envisage circumstances in which a lone parent might use childcare issues to avoid their obligations. A judgment might be made at some point. Given all the information, all the provision that is out there and the fact that the costs of it will be met in appropriate circumstances by Jobcentre Plus, if a lone parent still refuses to access childcare, the provisions for sanctions and conditionality will kick in. That is a different situation from a Jobcentre Plus adviser saying on a routine basis, "You must place your child in this provision". That is not what is envisaged. Ultimately, it has to be the choice of the parent. Nobody is going to force a parent to place a child in any particular provision but, in extremis, we could all conceive of circumstances where failure to do that would not be a good cause under the provisions.