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Social Security (Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance) Amendment Regulations 2006

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Skelmersdale and Lord Oakeshott, for their general welcome of the order. A number of important points have been raised, which I shall attempt to answer. I suspect that noble Lords may like a fuller explanation of the point about the eight-week period than I can give today. I have spoken to officials, and we shall provide that in the next few days. Our research on the eight-week limit has shown that the vast majority of court cases last eight weeks or less. I acknowledge that a minority can be much longer—fraud cases have been mentioned—and officials will keep that under review. If any jobseekers are shown to be disadvantaged by the eight-week limit, we shall consider extending the provision. This is a very important issue and we shall—