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Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, we welcome the government amendment. As the Minister said, the noble Baroness, Lady Turner, also deserves congratulations on bringing this issue to the attention of your Lordships. The Royal British Legion has been highlighting for some time the peculiar case of the benefit that is really a rebate. If the simple process of changing the description from benefit to rebate allows more pensioners to feel able to take up what they are rightfully owed, we welcome this as an important step to cutting pensioner poverty. We are pleased to take on trust what the Minister said about the commitment to making this change. My right honourable friend David Cameron has pledged to support this change, and I will be pleased to inform him of what is effectively cross-party support for the amendment. I am sure, although I would not expect the Minister to admit it, that the change is probably the result of a titanic struggle in the Treasury, between that part that has to look after pensioner poverty targets and those who jealously guard the coffers. I am delighted that the Minister was on the winning side, and in this case the right side, of the battle. I hear what he said about the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee’s recommendations, and I am prepared to accept the consequent changes at Third Reading. With those remarks I, and we, reiterate our support for the amendment.