House of Commons - Work and Pensions Questions
Laws presses Government to allocate money to get people back to work
Incapacity Benefit
David Laws, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary
Mr Laws asked, 'The Minister said last week that, for every £800 spent on pathways, the taxpayer is saved some £8,000 as a result of people returning to employment. If that is the case, why have Ministers briefed that they do not have enough money to roll pathways out for all claimants and may even have to ration it? Is it not bizarre that the Government can find billions of pounds of additional finance for benefits and tax credits, which can keep people in dependency, but they cannot find the money to get people back to work in this way?'
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Danny Alexander, Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions Spokesperson
Mr Alexander asked the Minister, 'What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of pathways to work for people whose primary reason for being on incapacity benefit is mental ill-health.'
Mr Alexander continued, 'I am very grateful indeed to the Secretary of State for that reply, but he will be aware of the evaluation of the pathways to work scheme carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, published in research report 354, which states:
"There is no statistically significant evidence that the policy has any impact on those who report having one health problem that is mental illness."
'To what does he attribute that poor performance? Given that people with mental ill-health now form the largest single group of new claimants of incapacity benefits, what steps is he taking to ensure that that important group can benefit further from welfare reform?'
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Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire
Ms Swinson asked, 'What is the Secretary of State's opinion of "The Depression Report", published last month by the London School of Economics, which suggests that huge savings could be made on incapacity benefit if cognitive behavioural therapy was made available to those suffering from depression or anxiety disorders, as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence? If he has not yet read the report, will he do so and give serious consideration to its proposals, along with his colleagues in the Department of Health?'
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Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey
Mr Hughes asked the Minister, 'If he will make a statement on the Department's progress towards reducing the number of people on incapacity benefit by 1 million by 2016.'
Mr Hughes continued, 'I watched the exchange about the general picture between the Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform, the hon. Member for East Renfrewshire (Mr. Murphy), and the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Mr. Crabb), who asked Question 1. May I ask the Minister a specifically London follow-up question? Just over 250,000 people in Greater London are claiming invalidity benefit or getting other disability benefit, which means that they are not working. Can the Minister tell me, either now or later, what proportion of them-excluding those who will have died or retired-will be in work by the target date of 2016?'
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Welfare reform
David Heath, Liberal Democrat MP for Somerton and Frome
Mr Heath asked the Minister, 'Whether we look at the Bill in electronic form or on paper, there are key areas that we cannot read simply because they have not been included. Examples include the proposals to withhold benefits from those who do not comply with its conditions, and the regulations that will follow in statutory instruments. Does the Minister agree that, if the House is to understand fully whatthe Bill is about, it is important to publish those regulations-at least in draft form-before the Bill's Second Reading?'
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Applicability: this item refers to the UK.