I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
Constitutional reform is one of the most important objectives this Government has set for itself during its term of office. In addition, in our programme, A Government of Renewal, we clearly underlined the need for reform of the law and the practice of Government itself, including such issues as Cabinet confidentiality, the provisions relating to bail and reform of the Ministers and Secretaries Acts.
The focus of this second Social Welfare Bill this year is the proposed holding of a referendum later this year to remove the constitutional ban on divorce. One of the key issues which arose during the last referendum campaign on divorce was the extent of public disquiet and uncertainty about the implications of divorce across a wide range of issues, including social welfare entitlements for spouses and children.
The Government is determined to avoid a recurrence of that uncertainty. The programme, A Government of Renewal, commits us to the preparation of a detailed paper dealing with all the relevant issues and the putting in place of all necessary legislation. This Bill seeks to achieve that in the social welfare area. It is the latest in a series of legislative changes designed to provide clarity and security for families and individuals in the event of marriage breakdown. It is also a further indication of the Government's determination to place the fundamental human and social rights of all citizens at the top of its agenda of social reform.
Specifically the purpose of this Bill is to provide for the necessary changes in the social welfare code so as to ensure that no one — either spouse or child — will be disadvantaged in terms of their social welfare entitlements, as a result of their legal status being changed from married, separated or deserted to divorced. In this regard, the main areas of the social welfare code where protection is being provided are: widow's and widower's pensions; lone parents and deserted wife's schemes; occupational injuries benefits; family income supplement and prisoners wife's allowance.
I want to emphasise that what we are doing in this Bill is to guarantee no loss of rights under the social welfare system arising from a change in legal status from married, separated or deserted to divorced. We are not conferring new or additional rights.
The main elements of the Bill may be summarised as follows. The contributory pension scheme for widows and widowers is being extended to enable a divorced person who has not remarried to qualify for pension on the death of their former spouse. This means that on the death of a divorced person, his or her former spouse will be able to qualify for a contributory pension on either their own insurance record or that of the deceased even if the deceased has remarried. Where the deceased had remarried, their second spouse may also qualify for a widow's/widower's pension. Under the present arrangements, a married person whose spouse dies as a result of an occupational accident or disease can qualify for a pension or a gratuity, depending on the circumstances, under the occupational injuries benefit scheme. These benefits are being extended to the former spouse of a divorced person who has not remarried as well as to the existing spouse if the deceased has remarried. A woman in receipt of deserted wife's benefit or deserted wife's allowance who becomes divorced may continue to be regarded as deserted for the purposes of the deserted wife's benefit and allowance schemes.
A divorced parent caring for children will be recognised as a lone parent and may qualify for a lone parent's allowance. A woman receiving prisoner's wife's allowance who becomes divorced will continue to qualify for this allowance provided the other conditions continue. A divorced woman whose former husband is imprisoned may also qualify for the allowance. A divorced person in employment who is supporting his or her former spouse and children may qualify for family income supplement if their pay is below the relevant income thresholds. A divorced person supporting his or her former spouse may receive an adult dependant allowance in respect of them. They may also receive an additional adult dependant allowance if remarried or cohabiting.
The cost of the provisions in the Bill are minimal in the context of overall social welfare spending. It is likely to rise to £1 million over the next five years. Total spending on social welfare support to widows, widowers, lone parents and deserted wives at present is of the order of £630 million a year. The additional cost, therefore, will have no appreciable impact on the public finances.
During Question Time on Tuesday I was asked if I could indicate the cost which would arise over a ten year and longer period. I pointed out that it would be impractical to indicate costs over a 30 year period but I undertook to indicate the cost in years ten when introducing this Bill. The main element of cost relates to survivors' pensions. The costs of paying survivors' pensions to divorced people, who have not remarried, in year ten following the introduction of divorce have been estimated by the statistics unit of my Department at £2 million.
The main sections in the Bill are those dealing with survivor's pension, section 3, deserted wife's benefit, section 4, and widow's (non-contributory) pension, section 5.
Section 1 deals with the definitions used for the purposes of the Bill. Section 2 deals with death benefit which is a payment available under the occupational injuries benefit scheme to the dependants of a person who dies as a result of an accident at work or an occupational disease. It includes payment of a widow's pension and a dependant widower's pension or gratuity. The purpose of this section is to allow a divorced person qualify for death benefit when her former spouse dies as a result of an occupational accident or disease. Under existing provisions, a widow who remarries or who cohabits with someone as a husband is not entitled to death benefit. This section extends those provisions to widowers.
Section 3 is central to the thrust of this Bill. Its purpose is to ensure that a divorced person may qualify for survivor's pension on the death of his former spouse provided he has not remarried or is not cohabiting with someone as a husband. In addition, this section extends to divorced persons a number of provisions relating to widows and deserted wives. For example, it is not necessary for a widow or widower to satisfy the contribution conditions for entitlement to survivor's pension if the deceased spouse was entitled to an old age (contributory) pension or retirement pension which included an increase in respect of an adult dependant. Similarly, a woman in receipt of deserted wife's benefit is not required to satisfy the contribution conditions for survivor's pension on the death of her husband. Both of those provisions are extended to divorced persons under section 3.
Section 4 provides that a deserted wife who becomes divorced may continue to be regarded as a deserted wife for the purposes of the deserted wife's benefit scheme. A similar provision in relation to deserted wife's allowance is included in section 6.
Section 5 provides that a divorced woman who fails to qualify for survivor's pension on the death of her former husband may qualify for widow's (non-contributory) pension, provided that she has not remarried or is not cohabiting with someone as a wife and, of course, that she satisfies the other conditions such as means. In addition, this section also provides that a divorced woman in receipt of deserted wife's allowance shall, on the death of her former husband, be entitled to receive a widow's (non-contributory) pension at the same rate as her deserted wife's allowance.
A similar provision is included in section 7 in relation to prisoner's wives. A woman in receipt of prisoner's wife's allowance who becomes divorced may continue to be regarded as a prisoner's wife for the purposes of this scheme. In addition, this section also enables a divorced woman whose former husband is imprisoned to qualify for prisoner's wife's allowance.
Section 8 performs a similar function in respect of lone parents by ensuring that the definition of a lone parent for the purposes of the lone parent's allowance is extended to include a divorced parent. This will give proper recognition in social welfare legislation to divorced parents.
Section 9 extends the definition of a family for the purposes of the family income supplement scheme by including a former spouse where he or she is wholly or mainly maintained by the claimant. The effect of this change is to enable a divorced person who is maintaining his or her former spouse and children qualify for family income supplement.
Section 10 contains a number of changes to existing practices in relation to adult dependants, as follows: the definition of an adult dependant is being extended to include a divorced person, a similar extension is being made to the definition of a spouse in the old age pension scheme which is used to determine entitlement to an increase for a spouse, and provision is being made for regulatory powers under which a person may receive more than one increase in respect of an adult dependant and for determining the circumstances in which a person is or is not to be regarded as wholly or mainly maintaining another person.
Section 11 contains the usual provisions relating to the short title and the construction of the Bill. It also provides that the provisions of the Bill will be brought into force by way of a Commencement Order.
The thrust of these legislative proposals is to ensure that neither divorced persons nor their children will be disadvantaged in terms of their social welfare entitlements.
This required us to look critically at the level of additional protection that will be necessary following the introduction of divorce. I am satisfied that we have approached it in a straightforward and comprehensive manner. All the changes which require to be made in legislation are made in this Bill. In order to give full effect to the `no loss' principle, it will be necessary to make some adjustments to the treatment benefits scheme and the free schemes to which many pensioners and others are entitled. As these provisions are governed, respectively, by regulations and by administrative measures, the required adjustments do not involve changes in the primary legislation. I intend to introduce them, as appropriate, at a later date.
In the meantime, I am fully satisfied that this Bill represents a just, comprehensive and caring approach to securing the rights of all adults and children directly affected by marriage breakdown. I, therefore, have no hesitation in commending it to this House.