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Welfare Reform Bill

I am grateful for that clarification. The other issue in this group of amendments is the failed pilots. Actually, that description is rather uncharitable, and I do not like being uncharitable. A pilot that proves that a scheme is not a good idea is not a failed pilot, but a pilot: a scheme was trialled and tried, and proved not to be cost-effective. I could not help musing that we have spent about an hour and a half this afternoon talking about a new sanctions regime, when we are repealing a sanction that did not work. It is great that the Government tried a sanction for offenders and discovered that it was more trouble that it was worth, and cost more than it saved. I cannot help wondering whether the Government might not learn from that experience in other areas. It is always easy to apply the rhetoric of being tough, penalising people and forcing them to do what they should do, but some sanctions can be counterproductive, and we have a case before us this very afternoon. In conclusion, broadly speaking, this is a very welcome group of amendments. Many outside the House would welcome clarification from Ministers on what they are doing about DLA, and whether the RPI power will be used in future—and if it will, why Ministers did not give themselves the power to do that in this legislation.