Welfare Reform Bill

As the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, said, we have ranged over this issue extensively. If the noble Lord will allow, I shall respond just very briefly to his reference to the letter. Obviously, without sight of the letter, it is difficult to provide any comprehensive comment on it and, in any event, it would be inappropriate to do so on an individual case. I presume that the child involved is under the age of three, so one is talking about conditionality around work-focused interviews and not work-related activity. Attending a work-focused interview is mandatory, but a lone parent can give good cause for not attending. On the face of it, there may well be good cause in the circumstances to which the noble Lord referred, but it would be quite wrong of me to offer a judgment on that without the detailed knowledge and he would not expect me to do that. But I am very happy to follow up on that point outside the Committee.