2Report
(1)
The Secretary of State must appoint an independent person to prepare a report on the operation of the provisions relating to the imposition of a penalty during the period of a year beginning with the day on which this Act comes into force, so far as that operation relates to relevant penalties.
(2)
The person must complete the preparation of the report and send it to the Secretary of State as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of the period mentioned in subsection (1).
(3)
On receiving the report, the Secretary of State must lay a copy of it before Parliament.
(4)
In this section—
“penalty” means a penalty that may be imposed for—
(a)
failing to participate in a scheme within section 17A(1) of the Jobseekers Act 1995, or
(b)
failing to comply with regulations under section 17A of that Act;
“relevant penalty” means a penalty that, but for section 1 of this Act, would not be or would not have been lawfully imposed on a person.