Welfare Reform Tim Loughton To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether people who have suicidal tendencies will automatically be part of the support group under the Welfare Reform proposals; and when final details of the support group will be available. Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 18 September 2006]: We are still developing criteria for entry into the support group. We anticipate that details will be available for the Commons Committee stage of the Welfare Reform Bill. Roger Berry To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what discussions have taken place between the Welfare Reform Bill team and the Social Security Advisory Committee regarding the drafting of the regulations provided for by the Bill; (2) whether all the regulations provided for in the Welfare Reform Bill will fall within the remit of the Social Security Advisory Committee and receive its scrutiny. Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answers 11 September 2006]: With Ministers’ agreement, officials have met the Committee on a number of occasions throughout the development of the social security policy in relation to parts 1, 2 and 3 of the Welfare Reform Bill. Our intention is to liaise informally with the Committee about the content of the key regulations under powers in the Welfare Reform Bill, where the Committee may have a future interest in those legislative areas. Under section 173 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 there is no requirement to refer regulations to the Social Security Advisory Committee when regulations are made within six months of the coming into force of an enactment. Any initial regulations associated with the Welfare Reform Bill that are not made within six months of the coming into force of their relevant provisions, and that fall within the Committee’s functions, will be subject to referral. Roger Berry To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what regulation-making powers are contained under Part 1 clauses and schedules of the Welfare Reform Bill; (2) how many regulation-making powers are contained in the Welfare Reform Bill. Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 11 September 2006]: We calculate that there are 180 regulation- making powers in the Welfare Reform Bill. Part 1 of the Bill and its associated schedules contain proposed regulation-making powers in the clauses shown in the following tables. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Clause |Clause |Clause|Clause|Clause|Clause | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2(1)(a) and (c) |4(3) |8(5) |12(3) |16(2) |19(4) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2(2)(c) |4(4)(c) |9(1) |13(1) |16(3) |19(5) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2(3)(c) |4(5)(c) |10(1) |13(2) |16(4) |21(1) in: “period of limited capability” and “week”| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2(4)(a), (b) and (c) |4(6)(a), (b) and (c)|10(3) |13(4) |17(1) |21(2) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |3(1)(c) |5(2)(a) and (b) |11(1) |14(1) |17(3) |21(3) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |3(2)(a), (b), (c) and (d)|5(3) |11(3) |14(4) |18(1) |25(2) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |3(3) |7 |11(7) |15(2) |19(2) |— | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |4(2)(a) |8(1) |12(1) |16(1) |19(3) |— | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Paragraph |Paragraph |Paragraph|Paragraph |Paragraph| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1(4)(a) and (b)|4(1)(a) and (c)|6(1)(b) |6(4)(a) and (b) |6(7) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |3(1)(a) |4(3) |6(2) |6(5) in (b) and (d) in “couple” |6(8) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |3(2) |4(4) |6(3) |6(5) in “education” and “remunerative work”|— | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |Paragraph |Paragraph |Paragraph|Paragraph|Paragraph| ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |1(a), (b) and (c)|4(2) |8(1) |11 |15(2) | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |2 |5 |8(2) |12 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |3 |6 |9 |14 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |4(1) |7(1)(a), (b) and (c)|10 |15(1) | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Paragraph |Paragraph |Paragraph | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |1 (section 6(9) of the Child Support Act 1991) |4(6) (s.71 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992) |s.5(3) (s.3 of the Jobseeker’s Act 1995) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2 (s.24(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1991) |4(7) (s.73 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992) |6(4) (s.11 of the Social Security Act 1998) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |3(2) (s.22(5) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992)|4(14) (s. 124 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992) |6(5) (s.27 of the Social Security Act 1998) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |4(2) (s.1 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992) |4(15) (s.125 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992) |6(6) (s.28 of the Social Security Act 1998) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |4(3) (s.2AA of the Social Security Administration Act 1992) |4(17) (s.132 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992) |7 (s.72 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999)| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |4(4) (s.5 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992) |4(18) (s.150(7) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992)|— | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |4(5) (s.15A of the Social Security Administration Act 1992) |5(2) (s.1 of the Jobseeker’s Act 1995) |— | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------- |Paragraph |Paragraph |Paragraph | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |1(a)and (b) |4(2) |7(a),(b), (c), (d) and (e)| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |2(a), (b), (c) and (d)|5(2) |8(1) | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |3 |6(1)(a) and (b)|9 | ------------------------------------------------------------------- In addition, there are a number of provisions which are intended to specify what must be included in the regulations or which illustrate the potential use of the powers.