Welfare Reform Bill

I support what my noble friend has just said. I set out at some length at Second Reading why consideration should be given to local delivery of the housing benefit element. I remind the Committee of the concern that I raised then about the information that claimants would be required to bring in to demonstrate who they were, their financial circumstances and so on. These are very important, precious documents. It would seem a sensible arrangement for them to be taken into a local office, much as you can take in documentation to the Post Office and get it checked for a passport application. Such a system could be in place in local council offices for that sort of documentation, and then feed into the IT system that we will, in time, discuss in this Committee. There is also the potential for council tax benefit to be integrated. An assessment for council tax benefit could be made at the same time as that for the housing element of universal credit. That assessment could then be passed back through universal credit processing for it to be included in the payment. Given that I made these comments at Second Reading, I wonder whether the Minister has had a chance to reflect on them. If so, perhaps he could enlighten us.