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No person shall be disqualified from receipt of an allowance by any scheme made under this Act by reason of his earnings where they are such as would be disregarded for the purposes of assessment of entitlement to supplementary benefit.—[Mr. Silvester.]
Brought up, and read the First time.
Mr. Silvester
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
If I take the Minister's winks correctly, I understand that this clause will receive a sympathetic response. Therefore, I shall not push too hard at an open door. Those who are not required to register for work and are in receipt of supplementary benefit are allowed a disregard of £4 before their benefit is affected. Therefore, it seems appropriate that a similar level of earnings should be permitted under this scheme. It will happen anyway. I suggest that it will ease the degree of enforcement if people are able to supplement their benefit in this way.6.30 p.m.
Mr. Golding
I hope that this matter will not be pressed, because we do not want such a provision to be included in an enabling Bill. We carefully examined the arguments aimed at allowing disregard in job release schemes following points raised on Second Reading by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mr. Craigen) and also by Opposition Members. I am happy to accept the spirit of the proposal.
I do not think it is right to incorporate such a provision in the Bill, but I have already changed the rules of the scheme so that people who earn up to £4 will in future be eligible for job release. I hope that the Opposition will appreciate that we have met completely the point raised on Second Reading.
Mr. Silvester
I am grateful for the change made in the rules. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion.
Motion and clause, by leave, withdrawn.