Welfare Reform Bill

I apologise for coming in late and missing some of the opening speeches. For me, the amendment gets it the wrong way around. Can my noble friend tell us, or perhaps write, which fund, if any, the personal adviser could use to attach to somebody who is on or has migrated to ESA, so to speak, a dowry that they can take with them into employment situations which can then be drawn down in a particular circumstance? I do not think that the amendment would work. There is no way that you can tell what reasonable adjustment may or may not be needed for somebody who has a physical disability in a particular job, with particular stresses, colleagues and so on. However, if we knew, through their adviser, that that person had a dowry, so to speak, that could be drawn down when the need arose, that would cut the costs down to something more like £100 million rather than the £500 million that my noble friend was talking about. That would be much more flexible and would not require an unsuitable pre-assessment without knowing the conditions of employment. Will such a pot of money, such as £1,000 or £2,000—analogous to somebody who is blind getting extra equipment to be able to hold down a job with BT, which Access to Work currently funds—which can be drawn down to meet circumstances, which change over time, be available? After all, the ESA is itself a ticket into such need.