Welfare Reform Bill

I will start by responding to the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, and his comments about the staff survey. Jobcentre Plus in particular is under enormous pressure, given the volumes that it copes with, and in my view is doing fantastically well. It is still meeting the targets that were set for its operations in an environment that was much more benign. As we debated in the Budget this year and the PBR last year, considerable additional resources were made available to Jobcentre Plus so that it could address the issues and programmes for which it was put in place. I know that the noble Lord goes on visits around the country, but in my visits to Jobcentre Plus I have seen the incredible dedication and commitment of the staff who have been involved in changes to the processes around JSA in particular. They have avidly awaited those coming on stream so that they could give more support and help more quickly to their customers. I found it truly impressive. Snapshots of staff surveys have a role, but I suggest that we need to see the wider context. The amendment seeks to enshrine in legislation that the support offered by "work for your benefit" must be "personally tailored". I agree that this is the type of support that we want providers to offer customers, but I do not think it appropriate to specify that in primary legislation in the way that the noble Baroness suggests. All welfare-to-work programmes are designed to help people obtain work, irrespective of their personal circumstances. I readily accept the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Afshar, that some individuals’ circumstances are very challenging and a lot of support should quite properly go to meet their needs. It is the nature of the support offered that is personally tailored to an individual, not the principle of the programme. What should be tailored is the personal support to an individual, whereas the programme itself may in some circumstances be a more general programme. As drafted, the amendment would require us to design separate programmes for each customer, rather than provide tailored support in a single programme. In "work for your benefit" we plan to have an overarching design that specifies the broad level of work experience required of customers and the level of employment support we expect them to receive. We will then ask providers to source individually tailored work experience placements and deliver additional support that is specific to each jobseeker’s barriers to work. The procurement approach we will take will be similar to that taken with the Flexible New Deal where we specified that: ""Suppliers will deliver work-focused support, tailored to each individual’s needs and consistent with local labour market requirements"." Crucially: ""Every customer, including those with more substantial needs, will receive a level of support appropriate to their level of need"." Using contracting rather than the legislative approach gives us the flexibility we require to respond to changing market and economic conditions without resorting to further primary legislation. I hope the noble Baroness will be convinced that that is the right approach and one that we have used successfully up to now. In terms of resources and capacity, before we undertake any new programme, the department examines its operational readiness to implement it and we plan to pilot the programme to see if it is successful in helping people find work. Through our evaluation, we will also be able to ascertain the experience of Jobcentre Plus in referring customers to the programme. The noble Baroness, Lady Afshar, asked whether it would cost too much to support some people as they need to be supported. Providers’ costs will be balanced. Some people will cost more to support and some will cost less, but we are clear that providers must address each individual’s barriers, whatever they are.