Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, my name is also on this amendment. My noble friend has explained the six-month rule. I would say that the DWP has recently interpreted it creatively. The rule was originally brought in partly to allow for the quick implementation of regulations and partly to stop the wasteful duplication of the same evidence being produced for the statutory consultation undertaken by the SSAC as for the parliamentary debate on the Bill. It dates back to 1973 and the predecessor committee, the National Insurance Advisory Committee, but that reasonable rule has been stretched beyond reason when a year, say, after Royal Assent, whole sections of Acts can be activated, at which point the DWP starts the clock to begin the six-month exclusion period. Not only is the SSAC barred from examining regulations brought in within the six-month period but the DWP itself is also exempt from consultation on certain matters, particularly those relating to pensions. This means that for many social security regulations, there is no consultation requirement with key interest groups at all, which is completely counter to best practice in governance nowadays. By this creative interpretation of the six-month rule, the DWP does not seem to mind that Parliament is in effect being kept in the dark about the most up-to-date evidence on the policy that it wishes to introduce by way of a statutory instrument, by preventing the SSAC from evaluating the pros and cons of the policy in the light of prevailing circumstances. As my noble friend has pointed out, the SSAC is a statutory consultee, and it has proved its worth time and time again. Its reports on important social security regulations, for which it carries out a wide consultation with key players, are invaluable to parliamentarians and to the welfare sector in general, as are its occasional reports on other social security matters. Its independence from government is all important and is laid down in legislation. As we know only too well, the Government do not have to take the advice of the SSAC, and Governments of all persuasions from time to time have chosen to ignore SSAC advice. However, even if they do not accept all the recommendations of a report, they will very often decide to take some of those recommendations on board, and they have to give reasons for all the recommendations that they turn down. My noble friend has dealt with the argument that this amendment might be no good simply because the SSAC might be overwhelmed by the sheer number of SIs that it will now have to examine. However, as he said, it does not choose to call for evidence on a lot of SIs now. It always has to make a judgment on the ones that it will look at and those it decides not to examine. At least under this amendment it will have a proper choice and will not be frustratingly barred from this judgment by the dodgy interpretation of the six-month rule. I will finish with the report on The Management of Secondary Legislation: Follow-up in 2008 by the Merits Committee, of which I used to be a member. It was very critical of the whole six-month exemption. It said: "““The analysis of a consultation exercise is not an afterthought but should drive policy. The full analysis should always be available when the SI is laid, as should any other supporting documents””." It also recommended the scrapping of both the SSAC’s six-month exemption from consultation and the DWP’s own six-month exemption where it still exists. I hope the Minister will agree to take a fresh look at this issue, particularly as it will affect this Bill.