Amid all the drama about Maria Miller this morning it was
easy to overlook the DWP select committee’s suggestion that their evaluation of Universal Credit has been ‘hampered by Ministers’.
Dame Anne Begg MP criticised the ‘excruciatingly slow pace
of roll-out to date’, and said that Ministers have ‘hampered the committee's
scrutiny of Universal Credit implementation by not providing accurate,
timely and detailed information’, for example on the IT problems the scheme has
suffered.
We heard last
month that rising demand for food banks is not simply due to more of them
being set up. Evidence is starting to emerge that ties the explosion in the use
of food banks to Government welfare policy. A report
today from the University of Sheffield makes that point.
Furthermore, the DWP’s
reluctance to publicly release full data on food bank usage, and Iain Duncan
Smith’s reluctance to meet with charities such as the Trussell Trust, suggests
an unwillingness to listen when third sector organisations speak truth
to power on their beneficiaries’ behalf.
It is our sector’s duty to keep on speaking up, and raising awareness of the impact of public policy on
the lives of our beneficiaries.
Today the Joseph Rowntree Foundation also found in a study
of the ‘bedroom tax’ or ‘spare room subsidy’ that half
the tenants affected were in arrears after six months, further putting
pressure on third sector organisations who pick up the additional demand. They say the policy is forcing tenants to choose between
‘heating and eating’ – while three-quarters have had to cut back on food bills.
Our sector will continue to do
its job as always. But this would be easier – and many people’s lives better –
if the government were to be more open with their mistakes.
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