§ 33. Mr. Eadieasked the Minister of Social Security whether she will take steps to ensure that the Supplementary Benefits Commission do not make the right to a supplementary allowance conditional on registration for employment in the case of persons who are unlikely to obtain full-time employment.
§ Mr. PentlandRegistration is required when a person claiming a supplementary allowance is capable of full or part-time employment and without domestic ties. I do not think it would be in the interests of the community or the individual concerned to waive this requirement solely because of difficulty in finding work.
§ Mr. EadieIs my hon. Friend aware that in the past sticking to hard-and-fast 23 rules has caused some hardship and injustice? In the light of that, will he consider whether this matter does not require to be weighed very carefully indeed?
§ Mr. PentlandWe should be quite prepared to accept any evidence coming from any of my hon. Friends about the imposition of hardship, but the waiving of any requirement to register in the case of a man fit for work could have exceedingly bad effects psychologically. We also have to accept that a disabled man particularly might think that he had been more or less thrown on the scrap heap. We have to watch that very carefully.