My Lords, I thank the Minister for that explanation. Labour supports the aim of these regulations. Indeed, the leader of the Opposition said in a speech last June that in a workless household, both partners or a single parent should use some of the time while their children are at nursery to make some preparations that would help them get back to work. He also stressed that there would be no requirement to go back to work until the youngest child is five years old. So we support the aim of these regulations.
When this order was debated in another place, my right honourable friend Mr Stephen Timms asked a series of questions of the Employment Minister, Esther McVey. She was able to answer only two of them and perhaps not in the depth that my right honourable friend had hoped for. I shall therefore put some of the same questions to the Minister in the hope that the intervening week will have enabled his officials to brief him to answer them perhaps more fully than was possible on that previous occasion.
First and most seriously, why is there no easement in the regulations for lone parents who have suffered domestic violence? I acknowledge that the Government have taken domestic violence seriously. In this very Room not so long ago, we debated the new cross-government definition of domestic violence and I was pleased to give the Government support for aiming to do precisely that. In the Universal Credit Regulations 2013, there was a clear easement for domestic violence which stated that, for 13 weeks, there would be no work-related requirements. In jobseeker’s allowance, the claimant is exempt for four weeks, which can be rounded up to 13 weeks. But in these regulations, there is nothing.
On 3 March in the Delegated Legislation Committee in another place, Stephen Timms asked Esther McVey this question:
“Can she confirm that it is her intention that there will be guidance that makes it clear that there will be the 13-week easement for people who suffer domestic violence, in line with other regulations?”.
The Minister replied:
“I will indeed; it is right that, as such support is given in other areas, it should be given in this area”.—[Official Report, Commons, First Delegated Legislation Committee, 3/3/14; col. 14.]
Can the Minister confirm that it is indeed the Government’s intention that there will be guidance that makes it clear that there will be the 13-week easement for people suffering domestic violence? If so, can he explain why that is not in these regulations, as it is in the corresponding regulations on income support and jobseeker’s allowance? Finally on this first point, can he explain what a lone parent would have to do if a decision-maker should require her to undertake some work-related activity despite suffering domestic violence? After all, Gingerbread reports many cases of lone parents being pushed to do things which they are not required to do by regulations or by guidance, perhaps because of a misunderstanding among generalist advisers in jobcentres. What should a lone parent do in these circumstances?
The second question that I want to ask is on the issue of parents of children aged five who have not started school and are not legally required to receive full-time education. Parents have to explain why it would be unreasonable for them to find other arrangements for the care of the child until he or she is in full-time education. Why is that easement not in these regulations?
Thirdly, under the regulations and as the Minister explained, single parents cannot restrict their availability for work-related activities during their child’s normal school hours—which is to be expected—or when their child is under the temporary supervision of another adult. Gingerbread is concerned that the latter issue causes a potential problem, because it means that a single parent could be sanctioned for being unable to undertake work activities because informal childcare arrangements had broken down. The Minister may say that childcare is covered in the “good cause” provisions, but that is not acceptable because of the process that would have to be gone through to try to sort that out. In JSA, informal childcare is not taken into account when compliance is being determined, presumably for precisely this reason, so why is it here?
What would happen to a single parent asked to attend an interview or other work-related activity whose three or four year-old was not in nursery and who did not have access to reliable free childcare? How should she pay for childcare? In another place, when Stephen Timms asked about this, Esther McVey referred to the childcare subsidy available for the first year when a parent first starts work. She also referred to Childcare Assist, which helps with childcare costs in the week before a single parent starts work. What about someone who is not working and not required to work? How should she pay for her childcare in these
circumstances? Gingerbread suggests that Jobcentre Plus should pay for the childcare. What does the Minister think of that?
Finally, there is the question of travel time. The JSA and universal credit regulations place a limit of 90 minutes’ travel time to and from an interview. Can the Minister confirm that that limit will apply also to single parents undertaking work-related activity? If so, will that be made clear in the guidance to decision-makers? I look forward to the Minister’s reply.