Welfare Reform Bill

As noble Lords will know, I am not in a position to make those kinds of specific commitments, as I think noble Lords around the table know. However, these are real issues. We are conscious of them and are worrying about them. They are very broad issues and I will talk about them with my colleagues in the DCLG. With regard to having a formal process of assessment after two years, as noble Lords know, the universal credit will come in over a number of years starting in October 2013. Clearly there will be time to look at the impacts of its introduction and we will be looking at it very closely. One thing that I am hoping to discuss in the near future is how we will examine and improve the system the whole time, and I hope that a lot of noble Lords will be enthusiastic about that. Finally, Amendment 30BAA would add ““primarily”” in reference to who has responsibility for a child. The draft illustrative regulations on universal credit elements, recently issued, contain draft provisions on responsibility for a child or young person. These illustrative regulations draw on existing rules in child tax credit and housing benefit. The main test is whether a child or young person normally lives with the claimant. I apologise to your Lordships if that response was a little lengthy but I hope that the explanations and assurances I have given will satisfy the noble Lord and that, as a result, he will withdraw the amendment.