My Lords, I strongly support the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Low of Dalston. He has made a strong case today, as he and other colleagues have made consistently, yet the Government continue simply to repeat that the original clauses will improve work incentives and somehow provide more support for disabled people moving into work, without any convincing evidence. Indeed, in the Commons the Minister fell back on the assertion that the Government strongly believe that this is the right thing to do. However, she did not even convince all her own Back-Benchers. As
the noble Lord, Lord Low, said, a number of them had grave reservations about steaming ahead without the kind of evidence that is being sought, never mind the reservations and concerns of the wider constituency of disabled people and disability organisations.
However, the main point I want to make is the one that I and the noble Baronesses, Lady Grey-Thompson and Lady Thomas of Winchester, made on Report, which was brought to our attention by Sue Royston. Because the limited capacity for work element acts, in effect, as a gateway to the extra £30 in universal credit to cover the additional cost for disabled people in work, abolition means significant future losses for the very group the Government say they want to support. When the three of us made the point on Report, the Minister did not provide any substantive response. I did not receive the letter until just now, so it is possible that I have not read it properly. I have a horrible feeling that it might be languishing in my junk email folder, because a number of previous letters from the Minister finally turned up in that folder—I do not know what my email knows.
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At the time, I said that I could not believe that this was an intended consequence. The Minister talked earlier about unintended consequences, and I apologise if he has actually dealt with this, but on a very quick reading of the letter, I do not think that he has. It appears that the Government are happy to countenance this as an unintended consequence, so that in the name of improving work incentives for disabled people, it will worsen the situation of those in work and in receipt of universal credit in the future. Whatever one thinks of the underlying premise that the measure is necessary to improve work incentives—I and others have made it clear that we do not believe that the evidence supports this premise—this cannot make sense. It is therefore essential that there is a proper review of the full impact of the original clauses before they are implemented, to address this issue if nothing else.
Despite the welcome concessions that the Minister has made, I hope that noble Lords will feel able to support the noble Lord, Lord Low of Dalston, who has worked so hard to protect disabled people from the worst effects of this Bill.