Social Security Reviews (Hansard, 20 February 1985)

§ Baroness Lane-Fox
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, the Government are currently considering their conclusions on the reviews. Proposals for change will be announced in the course of the next few months.

§ Baroness Lane-Fox
My Lords, in thanking my noble friend the Minister for that encouraging reply may I ask a question that is connected with the reviews? I should like to know, if possible, when the feasibility study on the extent of disability is likely to be completed and, if it is found to warrant it, how soon afterwards the comprehensive study will be embarked upon?

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, as my noble friend will be aware, that particular review is not one of the main social security reviews. However, we have put in hand a major new survey on the prevalence of disablement, covering the number of disabled people, their circumstances, and their needs. It will be the first such survey for 15 years. I can tell my noble friend that it will start in July this year and will proceed through 1986, and the results from it should be published a year or two after that; but I am afraid that I have no more information.

§ Lord Kilmarnock
My Lords, the noble Lord says that the proposals will be published. Can he say how? Will it be in the form of a Green Paper or a White Paper? Will there be plenty of time to consider the proposals before they are embodied in over-hasty legislation?

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, I take it that the noble Lord refers to the four main social security reviews. The question of whether there will be a Green Paper, a White Paper, or whatever, will be decided and announced at an appropriate time.

§ Baroness Jeger
My Lords, can the Minister say whether the well-informed leaks in the press come from Ministers or from civil servants?

§ Viscount Whitelaw
My Lords, that is, I think, a question for me to answer, if I may say so to the noble Baroness. The answer is that there will be leaks, no doubt, in newspapers over a long time. We have a long way to go with this review and the noble Baroness will read of many more leaks. Where they come from is for her to judge, not for me.

§ Baroness Jeger
My Lords, not being totally disconnected with many newspapers in this country, I think that I might find the answers for myself. May I ask the noble Lord the Minister whether it is a fact that people who are working on these reviews have been instructed that there must be a nil cost effect in regard to anything that they suggest? Further, I wonder whether those involved will be able to consult the Treasury, so that we can at last get fiscal policies, taxation and social welfare integrated in a way which will be most essential if we are to make any progress?

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, in reply to the last part of the noble Baroness's supplementary, I would say that in evidence to the reviews many commentators have put forward ideas for longer-term solutions, including some which involve the tax system, to which the noble Baroness referred. The implications of these suggestions are all being considered. In regard to the suggestion that it is just a cost-cutting exercise, I would say, no, this is not so. The Government are conducting a much wider-reaching review. We are concerned, for example, about the complexity of the system and how it might be made easier to understand and more efficient to administer. We are concerned also to ensure that the best use is made of available resources so that help is channelled to the people who need it most.