My Lords, I had hoped that we would not have a second round of our debate in the Chamber about the welfare uprating Bill, but clearly we have just had it. It slightly disappoints me because we will be re-rehearsing similar arguments. However, I must say to the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, that I support interventions that help people in their lives. I support very much the pupil premium, and investing heavily in helping young people, particularly young children, to find a better way of life. I also support the uprating and raising of tax thresholds, because we can raise the bottom tax threshold and adjust other tax thresholds in a different direction.
I note also, by way of a second round in this debate, that I heard no answer to the question about savings, except the £100 million according to the OBR, which was the only example that we heard of another way of saving money. In order to get this concretely in my mind, I would be grateful if my noble friend would say, for the year 2013-14, what the savings will be from the freezing of tax credits and from the elements that are before us in these regulations when they are added together. We can then compare them with the £100 million offer that we have just heard.
I have two further small questions. First, the Government are obliged under the Tax Credits Act 2002 to review the level of tax credit payments. They have done so for 2013-14, but while the review may have been made public it is not very easy to find. Perhaps my noble friend would either point me in the direction of the report or send me a link so that I can have a close look at it. I should add something in response to the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, who talked just now about the freezing of council tax benefits. I live in a Labour-run authority and my council tax has gone up. It does not benefit me at all. It is also managed by a Labour-run administration.
The second part of my question relates to the guardian’s allowance. I can understand why it has been excluded, given that the majority of people who are guardians will tend to be of an older age. I wonder whether that is the only logic or whether there is another logic behind uprating fully by CPI. I welcome the move, but I just want to understand why it has been taken.
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