Member

Bearing in mind that this amendment has been tabled in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Palmer, I want to make a strong point. It is no reflection on him personally, but I am afraid I will be a little bit political. I was amazed when I saw the noble Lord’s party leader on TV being interviewed—admittedly, just before the general election, which was about a year ago, when the carer’s allowance was regular and high-profile news in the press—and he unequivocally said that all, and I repeat “all”, carer’s allowance overpayments should be written off. I thought at the time, and still think, that that was entirely wrong and that he was being a bit cavalier, indeed reckless, with taxpayers’ money. That is an easy decision to make. The harder but better decision is to look into the reasons for the overpayments, do the work and understand how to claw back money that should not have been paid out. I would like to ask the noble Lord whether that is still the position of the Liberal Democrats.