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<p /> <p /> <p>The Department for Work and Pensions has noted the report of the Secondary
Legislation Scrutiny Committee. The Prime Minister covered a strategy to manage several
aspects of migration at a national and international level. This inevitably engaged
the work of a large number of Government Departments simultaneously. Follow up details
have been announced by the relevant Secretaries of State. In particular, the Secretary
of State for Work and Pensions announced the detail as to how and when this Department
would implement the measures to restrict access to Housing Benefit for EEA jobseekers
in January 2014.</p><p> </p><p>Officials have engaged with a wide range of parties
on the detail of policy and implementation since January. Although urgency procedures
were used with both the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) and the Local Authority
Associations (LAAs), the draft proposals were informally discussed with SSAC at their
5th March meeting <a href="http://ssac.independent.gov.uk/meetings/" target="_blank">http://ssac.independent.gov.uk/meetings/</a>.
There has also been constructive engagement with Local Authorities on the detail of
implementation and new procedures to be adopted. The Department will continue this
engagement to monitor the implications and operation of this measure, including through
formal SSAC consultation, which was announced on 7 April 2014 following formal referral
to them on 2 April 2014. <a href="http://ssac.independent.gov.uk/news/press-releases/07-04-14.pdf"
target="_blank">http://ssac.independent.gov.uk/news/press-releases/07-04-14.pdf</a></p><p><strong>
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