Meeting of the Parliament 01 March 2016
I am totally unaware of any such connection. I am sure that I speak on behalf of the Minister for Housing and Welfare when I say that neither of us has any such links. I have not even heard of such an organisation. I have not read The Ferret, but I have no doubt that the relevant article will be in my box tonight, so that I can find out what The Ferret is saying. Maybe The Ferret has got it wrong—not for the first time, I am sure.
It is a tragedy that the budget for the work programme has been reduced so significantly, for the very reasons that Willie Rennie outlined. The measure can make a major contribution, not just in solving problems of social security and poverty but in getting people with particular addictions, such as addictions to drink and drugs, back into a more mainstream way of life. I hope that, at some stage, the UK Government will reconsider that decision.
I move on to cost. In my opening speech, I said that it was our objective to reduce bureaucracy such as form filling and all the other things that cost money. I mentioned the assessment process as a good example of an area in which we can improve the service for the individual and enhance their dignity and the respect with which they are treated. Streamlining the assessment process for the benefits in question and integrating it with the assessment process that local authorities follow would be financially beneficial. A lot of the assessments that are undertaken for self-directed support are also undertaken for qualification for PIPs. If we had an independent medical assessment service that provided such a service to everyone, individuals would not have to repeatedly go through the same medical assessments for different benefits, whether they were provided by the local authority or the social security agency.
That is just one example of how significant amounts of money that are currently spent on administration could be saved and repetition could be reduced. That would benefit individuals, who would not have to go to so many assessments. The money that was saved could be reinvested in the system to further improve our delivery of benefits, as well as the benefits themselves.
We require such an imaginative and innovative approach. I am keen that the administration of the benefits system is as close as possible to the people who are affected. Although we will have a national agency, local delivery is an essential principle for success, efficiency and effectiveness.
In all those areas, I am delighted that there is fairly broad consensus in the Parliament. We should build on that consensus and build a new social security system of which we can all be proud.