Governments plans must allow local firms to help people back to work - Alexander

Commenting on today's Government announcement that private firms and voluntary groups will be given a bigger role in helping the unemployed back to work, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Danny Alexander said:

"After 10 years of failure on welfare reform, this Government is finally giving a bigger role to the private and voluntary sectors. However, These plans are still not going as far as we have proposed to help the 2.6 million people on incapacity benefit.

"Ministers need to be careful that this does not become a licence for foreign multinationals to overwhelm the market. The many highly effective local and voluntary organisations need to be able to compete on an equal footing for these contracts.

"These plans should be about providing new opportunities for people who have been out of work for a long time, not about stepping up harsh rhetoric against claimants. Ministers should focus on getting people into work rather than gaining lurid headlines."