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Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, perhaps I may make one brief point. In common with others around the table today, I have had long and—I hope—harmonious working relationships with DWP staff, who have been almost universally helpful, constructive and anxious to take policy forward. However, I believe I am right in saying that in the DWP, more than in any other area of government, staff often start work in benefit offices at the age of 16 with fairly low-level qualifications. Like the police force, this is a field where one can go up through the ranks. The Civil Service is very good at in-service training and so on. However, this is nevertheless an area where a great deal of responsibility is delegated, rightly, to staff at EO level, many of whom have come up through the ranks. Certainly when meeting and discussing policy development with them, it was always clear to me within a few minutes where their education had effectively stopped. As a result there was, in some cases, a real issue about driving up standards and trying to professionalise the service. Nothing that I say should be taken as criticism. It is clearly obvious that in benefit offices staff may very well start at 16, 17 or 18 rather than go through higher education, particularly given that higher education has only recently become more widely available to young people. However, junior staff at the DWP, more than in any other field of Government that I am aware of, are taking key decisions affecting the well-being of hundreds of people and need professional support, training and the continual driving up of standards from the department.