Welfare Reform Bill

The noble Countess, Lady Mar, makes a very important point. The whole concept of service users being engaged in evaluating and helping to deliver a service is very important. We have had extensive discussions, as the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, will know, about how the benefits system impacts on service users, when they get paid and how expenses et cetera come into play, which could be an inhibitor for service users to engage. We are beginning to address that. There is a little way to go, but we are on the path to a satisfactory outcome. That is particularly important in the health service, but there is no reason why it should not similarly operate for Jobcentre Plus and DWP more generally. In conclusion, I am conscious that that response will be a disappointment because we have not accepted the amendment as it is set down. But we have common cause in making sure that Jobcentre Plus personnel are trained to do the job that is required of them if we are to make a success of these proposals. That similarly runs to our providers. The key is not to be overly prescriptive in what we set down in legislation. Ultimately, it is a matter of how those contracts are constructed and how they are monitored. We will make sure that there is performance under those contracts to achieve what we want.