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Welfare Reform Bill

This touches upon the issue generally of someone who has a carer, an advocate or someone supporting them and the question of the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, about whether they could be contacted for help and support. The answer is yes. If the customer has given the adviser details of support workers, the adviser would normally then contact them. However, we need to be mindful of data protection issues and they could not do so without the customer’s consent. I am aware that women from ethnic minorities who do not have English as a first language often rely on daughters to go with them. I know that there are great issues around absences from schools and daughters missing out, but certainly there would be that opportunity for support, subject to data protection issues. I am advised that we have no information on access to telephones but, if someone has no number, the reminder is dealt with through the post. I have dealt with the point that if a customer does not turn up to a work-focused interview, a letter will be posted to them. If a customer has a mental health condition, learning difficulties, a condition affecting cognition or autistic spectrum disorder, the personal adviser will arrange for a home visit to take place. This will ensure that the customer fully understands the requirements upon them and the consequences of not complying. The adviser will always attempt to meet the customer before any reduction of benefit is imposed. The noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, asked if this would apply to non-ESA claimants or whether the assurance that I gave the other day would run more generally. The answer is that if we know that if someone on JSA has a mental health condition, the same process would follow. However, I am mindful that we would not always know. If someone comes through the ESA work-focused, health-related assessment, it is much more likely that there will be an awareness of their condition.