Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, I concur entirely with the noble Baroness who has moved the amendment that it is the intention of all of us to enable people to get back to work. That must be the goal. I accept entirely what she says about the higher costs that exist in London compared with Wales, although probably within Wales itself there is a great range as well—comparing, for example, Cardiff with the valleys or the rural areas. The other element which comes into the question when people are deciding whether they can afford to work is the amount of money that they can receive from their work. That varies enormously as well. GVA per head in Kensington & Chelsea is nine times greater than the GVA per head in Anglesey, and that information brings the message home. These dimensions also need to be taken on board. We are moving in the right direction. It is question of how one gets a formula to address all these variables.