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Welfare Reform Bill

All-party consensus usually makes me a little nervous. On a topical note, the high degree of consensus in relation to the introduction of the Child Support Agency should act as a salutary reminder that the fact that we all agree with something does not mean that we have got it right. Undoubtedly, however, the thrust of this Bill is right, sensible and carefully balanced. Both current and recent Ministers should be congratulated on tackling an issue that only a few years ago was toxically controversial, and producing a package of proposals that can command broad support, subject to debate about a number of specific and detailed issues of implementation. I want to spend most of my time talking about the housing benefit elements of the proposals—housing benefit is an issue in which I take an almost unhealthy interest. Before I do so, I want to spend a few minutes on incapacity benefit, especially as it relates to my community. As my hon. Friend the Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley) was saying, just as national trends in incapacity claims tell us a great deal not just about the claimants but about the labour market, social and even cultural context, so local trends can alert us to something important going on, and warn us that we need to take action. In my constituency, the leafy-sounding Regent’s Park and Kensington, North, 11 per cent. of the working age population are on incapacity benefit—more than the number of people who claim incapacity benefit in the Rhondda, the equal highest percentage in London, and a higher percentage of the working age population than many areas traditionally associated with high IB levels, such as Barnsley, Bradford, Chesterfield and Clwyd. In addition, my constituency has 1,100 more claimants than in 2001, making it one of the largest increases in benefit take-up in the whole country. Therefore, something important is going on. We have some understanding of what is happening, but not necessarily of why it is happening. The message, of which I ask Ministers to take due note, is about the dynamic of London and London poverty, and not only about incapacity benefit. It requires us to take a much more robust approach to the analysis and treatment of such problems in London than has hitherto been the case.