Welfare Reform Bill

I am grateful for the chance to address these amendments and, I hope, to reassure noble Lords about what the provisions are intended to achieve, although I acknowledge that they may be seen to be drawn quite broadly. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, and the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, for giving us the chance to debate these amendments. These provisions are not about frightening people off benefits. That is genuinely not what we are about here. Nothing could be further from the Government’s intention. I set out the policy intention behind the drugs provisions and the reason why Clause 9 should stand part of the Bill in an earlier debate. The new drug and employment support programme will provide integrated and personalised support for problem drug users—those dependent on heroin or crack cocaine. Schedule 3 inserts a new section and schedule into the Jobseekers Act 1995 and the Welfare Reform Act 2007. The new provisions will allow the Secretary of State to make regulations that relate to people who claim the JSA or the ESA and who are dependent on, or have a propensity to misuse, drugs or alcohol to the extent that it affects their ability to gain and keep employment. Some of those regulations will concern the supply and use of information. Noble Lords have tabled a group of amendments on these issues, as we have heard. I will deal with each of the amendments in turn. The Bill already ensures that the information covered by Amendment 99 cannot be used to incriminate a claimant who has provided it. It cannot be cited by the prosecution in criminal proceedings unless the defendant, or a person acting on their behalf, chooses to raise the matter. That is very clear. Jobcentre Plus will use information about a claimant’s drug use only to enable the operation of the new drug and employment programme. Information provided by a claimant in answer to a question about their drug use or the result of a drug test might therefore need to be passed on to the drug worker who carries out the substance-related assessment, or to the employment support provider. However, this information will be handled in strict confidence. Jobcentre Plus will not disclose any information connected with these provisions to third parties unless it has lawful authority under statute or common law and is satisfied that it is proportionate to do so, or is compelled by a court to do so. There may be some instances in which information needs to be disclosed because this is in the overriding public interest; for example, where disclosure is necessary to prevent harm to a child. However, any disclosure would have to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998, and be compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. Information provided by claimants about their drug use would be sensitive personal data, and the processing of the information would be subject to additional requirements under the Data Protection Act. If a member of staff discloses information without lawful authority they would be committing an offence under Section 123 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992, which is punishable by imprisonment. However, we do not believe it to be appropriate to agree to a provision which routinely prevents the use of this information in connection with civil proceedings. The noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, was right on that. These may include family court hearings where the use of class A drugs by a parent might be a relevant matter when making a decision about the residence of a child. This amendment would also mean that information from the claimant in answer to questions about their drug use, or information disclosed in connection with a substance-related assessment or drug test, could not be referred to in an appeal against a benefit decision. That clearly would not be sensible. On Amendments 100 and 108, paragraph 5 is intended to help Jobcentre Plus identify problem drug users so that they can be provided with the support that they need to prepare for and find work. We are aware that some problem drug users will not disclose that they have a drug problem due to stigma or embarrassment, or other reasons, but we do not want them to miss out on the support that will be available. Regulations will allow information to be supplied to Jobcentre Plus by the police, probation service or other person as may be prescribed. It will be used to check and supplement information already held about a claimant’s drug use. The information already held may include the claimant’s answers to questions about their drug use, the results of a substance-related assessment, and, in a minority of cases, the results of drug testing. However, I reassure noble Lords that none of the information supplied under paragraph 5 will contain medical details, and no data will be provided from Jobcentre Plus to the criminal justice system. The probation service will provide details of people who are subject to a drug rehabilitation requirement. These are issued by a court, as part of a community sentence, and require those convicted of a crime to undergo drug treatment. About 16,000 of these are issued each year. Supply of this information will enable them to be included in the programme. Information will also be supplied about people who fail to attend for a police "required assessment". This means they tested positive for drug use when arrested or charged with an offence and then they failed to attend an initial, or follow-up, assessment of their drug use, which is in itself a criminal offence. Details of those individuals, who number around 13,000 a year, will be provided by the drug workers who carry out these assessments. We intend to achieve this using the power to prescribe "other persons" at paragraph 5(1)(c), but these are flows into Jobcentre Plus.