My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing these regulations. I am fully supportive of the probing that my noble friend Lady Donaghy has done, particularly around the construction sector, on which she is very knowledgeable. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, that, given the
increasing demise of the contributory principle, it is important to consider how we re-establish that in this context, if we can. Of course, there has been an accelerated demise in various benefits. We shall talk about contributory ESA in a moment, but that is now payable for just one year and JSA is generally payable for just six months.
The Minister explained that these regulations refer just to contributory JSA and not to earnings-related JSA. I believe that he referred to my next point in introducing the regulations but, to be clear, I understand that as regards the entitlement under these arrangements, the national insurance contribution rules remain exactly the same as they are at the moment. In respect of national insurance credits, under current circumstances these can be obtained when the claimant satisfies the qualifying conditions for JSA, when he or she is not in work and earning. Will the Minister remind us what the credit and entitlement will be under universal credit when JSA is no longer with us? The Explanatory Memorandum recites that the rules for contributory entitlement are, except for the conditionality and sanctions regimes on which the Minister touched, “largely” unchanged. Will he particularise a little any other significant changes outside those two areas? As regards the alignment of the conditionality and sanctions regimes, we obviously see the merit of this and these regulations give us an opportunity to explore further how that actually works across the three benefits, including ESA.
Like others, I am grateful to Gingerbread, which briefed us on this matter, particularly as regards its focus on lone parent flexibilities, which was touched on extensively in our earlier debate. I will not go over that again except to say that I think the Minister said in response to the debate that 10 out of the 12 lone parent flexibilities are being carried forward, albeit in guidance rather than in regulations. I apologise if he covered this point earlier, but will he remind us which two are not being carried forward? We are aware that he has been pressed on flexibilities and that these should be set out clearly in the claimant commitment so that both the adviser and the single parent claimant can share the same understanding of what the regulations and guidance say about balancing work conditionality with caring responsibilities. It is understood that the noble Lord’s colleague in another place was sympathetic to this. Perhaps the Minister can say whether he agrees. It seems an ideal way of ensuring that all concerned are clear on the matter and it would help to focus the minds of advisers who may not always be up to date with the range of flexibilities available.
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