House of Commons, Welfare Reform Bill (Report stage and third reading)

Assessment of Limited Capability for Work (New Clause 3 etc)

Danny Alexander, Liberal Democrat Disability Spokesman

Mr Alexander asked: "I am pleased to be here to move new clause 3, which relates to the personal capability assessment for limited capability for work. This matter was discussed in Committee, but some of the outstanding issues are of sufficient importance to be raised again at this stage of the Bill."

"New clause 3, which I am pleased to say also has the support of other parties, proposes an annual report to Parliament on the operation of the personal capability assessment. It would enable monitoring, testing and independent evaluation, all of which are sorely needed in relation to the revised personal capability assessment. I am sure that all hon. Members would agree that revisions to the assessment for entitlement to incapacity benefit?or employment and support allowance, as it seems likely to become?are sorely needed."

He later concluded: "This has been a good debate, especially in respect of the need to secure continued independent assessment and scrutiny of the revised PCA. I welcome the Minister's response to our criticisms of the initial dummy runs, and the problems that arose with them. I also welcome the fact that there will be another set of initial assessments, but the Minister's partial concession that independent involvement will continue for the first two years of the new PCA does not go far enough.

"As happened with the current system, many of the problems will not arise in the first two years of the new PCA. The Minister spoke earlier about the changing nature of disability over the years, and that is why we need an annual review. The hon. Member for Kingswood (Roger Berry) wondered whether the ODI was the right body for that purpose, but I think that, in consultation with other organisations, it could play that role very effectively. Therefore, although I welcome some of what the Minister said, I still want to press new clause 3 to a Division."

Question put, That the clause be read a Second time:?

The House divided: Ayes 226, Noes 307.

The Liberal Democrats voted in favour of the amendment

Participation in Work-Focused Interviews (New Clause 7 etc)

Danny Alexander, Liberal Democrat Disabilities Spokesman

Mr Alexander asked: "This is an important group of amendments. I support new clause 7, which makes explicit the importance of the support group having equal access to the support offered by pathways to work?a matter to which I shall return. Amendments Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, which I tabled with my hon. Friends, as well as amendments Nos. 57, 58 and 116 to some extent, reflect on the appropriateness of the conditionality regime and the way in which it should apply to work-focused health-related assessments. Amendment No. 3, which would delete clause 10, is a probing amendment, designed to elicit a wider debate about those assessments and the regime in which they operate. Amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 4 relate to specific aspects of the clause and deal with concerns about timing, the conditionality regime and sanctions."

He continued: "I return to an idea that I suggested in Committee that in the longer term the Department should consider enabling more of a core assessment. At least part of the medical assessment process for incapacity benefit or employment support or allowance, as it will be, is similar to that which might be used for disability living allowance and for industrial injuries disablement benefit, for example."

"If it were possible to develop form sort of core assessment, that might offer claimants greater convenience, as opposed to what I have experienced in my constituency, when individuals are required to go to the same assessment centre three times in three weeks for similar but slightly different assessments for different benefits. That seems an unnecessarily burdensome system as it applies to some of the most vulnerable people in society, particularly those who may, in the end, qualify for the support group. I do not think a hard and fast two-week period is right. Empowering claimants to make a judgment for themselves about what would be most appropriate in the circumstances is a more sensible way forward."

Question put, That the clause be read a Second time:

The House divided: Ayes 219, Noes 294

The Liberal Democrats voted in favour

Social Model of Disability vs medical assessment (Amendment No. 79)

Danny Alexander, Liberal Democrat Disabilities Spokesman

Mr Alexander said: "I shall be very brief, as I know that the Minister wants to respond to the debate. The amendments so eloquently explained by the hon. Member for Kingswood (Roger Berry) touch the conceptual basis of the Bill, and are profoundly important. He was right to say that all parties subscribe, to a greater or lesser degree, to the social model of disability. They agree that a disability is not merely a health condition or impairment, but has to do with the barriers that society puts in the way of people who are disabled. It is important that the Bill reflects that conceptual agreement, and the amendments draw attention to the language that is used in the Bill."

"The hon. Member for South-West Surrey (Mr. Hunt) said that we debated amendments in Committee that would have used the term "labour market disadvantage" in relation to disability or impairment. I believe that that would capture much more accurately what the assessment procedure would determine, and today's amendments would allow the same thing to happen. They would not in every case lead to huge changes in how the assessment process works?although they might do so in respect of the work-focused health-related assessment but they would send the clear signal that the Bill makes real the Government's acceptance of the reality of the social model of disability. For that reason, I commend the amendments to the House."

Local Housing Allowance (amendment 48, etc.)

Danny Alexander, Liberal Democrat Disabilities Spokesman

Mr Alexander said: "In Committee, I moved an amendment similar to amendment No. 5, which is on the amendment paper today. It goes a little further than his amendment in that it proposes the abolition of the shared room rate altogether. I do not know yet whether he intends to press his amendment to a Division. If he does not, may I indicate at this stage, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I intend to divide on amendment No. 5, if that is in order?"

He continued: "The pressure and the competition faced by young people who are entitled to only the shared room rate is getting worse, not better. That competitive pressure will mean that the shortfalls that those young people face will become more dramatic and the consequences of those shortfalls for those young people, in terms of debt, hardship, eviction and having to go into supported accommodation, will all become more severe."

Third Reading

Danny Alexander, Liberal Democrat Disabilities Spokesman

Mr Alexander said: "As has been said, there has been a great deal of cross-party, or all-party, consensus on the principles behind this important Welfare Reform Bill. In particular, there was consensus that we need to encourage greater responsibility from claimants on the one hand, and to offer greater reciprocal support from Government to enable people to get back into work on the other. That is a philosophy that Liberal Democrat Members support very strongly."

He continued: "First, I return to an issue that I mentioned earlier, although the Minister poured scorn on what I had to say. The issue of funding and support, particularly for the pathways to work programme as it is rolled out, is important. We must make sure that the programme is genuinely available to the 1 million claimants?I suspect that there are actually a lot more than that?who would like to benefit from the additional support. I hope that that subject will be probed further in the other place."

"On a related subject, in respect of the roll-out of pathways to work and the use of the private and voluntary sector, the job has been half done. The Government are taking steps in the right direction, but they still have not fully grasped the opportunities that can be gained by taking advantage of the innovation of the private and voluntary sectors, and their potential to deliver some of the services. I hope that, in due course, the Government will have greater confidence in taking more radical steps in that direction. We Liberal Democrats will certainly develop our own policy on the subject in months to come."

"The Minister has been reassuring about the personal capability assessment today, but there is need for a great deal more reassurance, through further research, evaluation and testing, before everyone can be confident that the new test genuinely meets all the needs that people place on it."

He later added: "On housing benefit, there is unfinished business on the subject of the single room rent and in particular on openness among rent officers, and the way in which the process can be further opened up to public scrutiny. The most significant problem, which taxed everyone in Committee, is the issue of people with mental health problems. There is mixed evidence from the pathways to work pilots of the advantages for people who claim benefit primarily because they have mental health problems. I draw the attention of the House to the work of Lord Layard on the provision of mental health support in the NHS, which is critical to the condition management programme that helps those people to return to work. There is a big gap, however, and a great deal more work must be done if we are to help people with mental health problems back into work."

"One Committee sitting was rather odd, as all parties declared their support for the long-term objective of a single working-age benefit. Thinking on benefit reform must be directed much more along those lines. I hope that those considerations will be taken into account and, with those few caveats, Liberal Democrats are happy to give the Bill a Third Reading."