Welfare Reform Bill

I share my noble friend’s horror at being asked to ““press 1”” and so on for different things. I cannot absolutely guarantee that the very first answering of the call will not be that, but the key point is that it will be possible to have a conversation with a human being. That is the gateway. My noble friend Lady Tyler has much experience in this area and I am extremely grateful for her supportive comments, particular about the additional resources. The noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, also has a lot of experience in this area. I hope that my answer to the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, has addressed the nub of what the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, was asking. Our reforms will mean that maintenance flows more certainly and more quickly. If someone presented and told us that they had an aggressive partner, we would immediately help them to make a maintenance application. My noble and learned friend Lord Mackay asked why we took a power to take reasonable steps in the first place. In bringing forward legislation, we wanted to provide reassurance to parents and parliamentarians that we envisaged a light-touch engagement from the parent as a pause for thought. It was considered at that stage that ““reasonable steps”” had advantages. In particular, we believed that there were parents who could be clearly identified as having no reasonable steps to take in their circumstances. For instance, for those who had just exited an abusive relationship, there would be no reasonable steps to take to consider a collaborative arrangement. However, we have received representations that made it clear that that left interpretation open as to what we would ask people to do. The amendment makes clear that that will take the form of being invited to consider different options when a parent first contacts us. I look forward to the debate in a short while on my noble and learned friend's amendment. The Government propose to deliver two key things as part of the amendments. Amendments 62BL and 62BM will ensure that we have constrained our powers in relation to the gateway so that they meet our intended light-touch approach. That will give us the opportunity to invite a parent to consider their alternatives when they contact us, but not more. This reflects our original intention, as opposed to any question of dividing parents into two groups—those who have tried and those who have not—with us as the arbiter. Amendment 62CA ensures that we will report back to Parliament with a review and conclusions based on that review within 30 months. That reflects our belief that we have the right approach, but we will evaluate it to ensure that that is the case. Amendment 62BL agreed. Amendment 62BM Moved by