Today, Dame Anne asked Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith:
“Does the Secretary of State now regret responsibility for administering council tax benefit being given to local authorities? That seems to fly in the face of the whole concept of universal credit and creates the very difficulties he claims he is trying to solve.”
Mr Duncan Smith’s response was as follows:
“I am a huge admirer of the Chairman of the Select Committee, but her inducements for me to express any personal opinion must be resisted. My general view is that localisation is a good thing, and I am sure that local authorities will robustly deliver a system that works brilliantly. Collectively, we are absolutely in favour of it.”
The full debate is available to read and watch from Parliament’s website.
Dame Anne Begg 