Incapacity Benefit

Lord Grayling Excerpts

Tuesday 25th January 2011 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

The trial for the reassessment of incapacity benefit customers in Aberdeen and Burnley has been under way since October last year. Over 1,000 customers have now been informed of the outcome of their reassessment.

The trial has tested a new process providing a number of additional support measures for customers as they go through their reassessment journey. At key points, Jobcentre Plus staff telephone customers to inform them about what is happening and to ensure they have access to appropriate help and advice. Customers also have the opportunity to discuss the decision on their case with a decision maker, putting into practice one of the key findings in Professor Harrington’s recent review of the work capability assessment. These additional support measures have been welcomed by staff and customers.

We want to ensure that the experience gained in the trial is shared across all of the centres that will be dealing with the reassessment of incapacity benefit claimants before we move to the full, national roll-out in April. So we intend to have a limited, introductory phase in every centre carried out in the same controlled conditions as Burnley and Aberdeen. This will ensure the process remains robust and we continue to learn valuable lessons as more customers are involved in more areas across the country.

At the end of February, we will begin this introductory phase. Letters will be sent to 1,000 customers a week nationally, marking the commencement of their reassessment. So a total of around 300 people will be assessed in each reassessment centre over this period. In April, we will step up the implementation and increase the number of cases to around 7,000 a week. From May we will be processing the full case load of around 11,000 cases per week. This steady ramp up of activity will ensure that Jobcentre Plus and its partners are ready and can deal with the volume of cases as it builds. Customers’ reactions to the changes will be closely monitored and lessons applied.

Our plans are on track. Reassessment remains a key priority for this Government. We cannot allow people to be trapped on benefits, but we will ensure people get the benefits and support that they are entitled to.

Employment and Social Policy Ministers (Informal Meeting)

Lord Grayling Excerpts

Tuesday 25th January 2011 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

The Informal Meeting of Employment and Social Policy Ministers took place on 17 to 18 January 2011 in Budapest, Hungary. I represented the United Kingdom on day one of the meeting and the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Minister with responsibility for employment relations, consumer and postal affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), attended the second day.

The themes for this two-day informal meeting were tackling youth unemployment and creating an employment-friendly recovery, which were discussed in workshop sessions. In the first workshop, tackling youth unemployment, the presidency underlined the importance of increasing youth labour market participation. Possible solutions included: raising skills, better careers advice, incentives to employ young workers, strengthening entrepreneurship and use of European Union funds especially the European social fund. The Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner highlighted some of the ideas in its “Youth on the Move” flagship initiative, including open-ended contracts and a youth guarantee and encouraged member states to take up these proposals. For the UK, I intervened to state that the European Union should prioritise a broad-ranging growth and competitiveness agenda and remove unnecessary regulation. I stressed the vital importance of impact assessments for any new regulation and early action to tackle unemployment by increasing labour market participation and improving skills. I outlined key UK policies that supported this agenda and highlighted the potential for member states to learn from each other through the open method of co-ordination. I also stressed that it was not necessary to apply the same solution in each member state. We needed flexibility around common goals. Many delegations broadly welcomed the Youth on the Move initiative although some argued that European Union-level action should not specify solutions and respect the differences in member states’ industrial relations systems. Otherwise, there was a broad consensus on the need for education reform and improving skills levels.

In the second workshop, the presidency noted that while the economic outlook was brightening, employment rates were not improving and that meeting the Europe 2020 employment target would be a significant challenge. It emphasised the importance of promoting labour demand through labour-intensive investments focusing on those furthest from the labour market. The Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner argued for doubling of effort to avoid a jobless recovery. The “New Skills and Jobs” flagship initiative, the joint employment report and the annual growth survey were all recent Commission initiatives aimed at promoting growth. The Commission would adopt guiding principles to assist job creation later this year, focusing on addressing administrative and legal obstacles to hiring and firing; reducing non-wage labour costs; and measures to assist the move from informal and undeclared work into regular employment. Finally, the Commissioner argued the case for more and more visible ESF funding and better use of the EU microfinance. For the UK, the Under-Secretary with responsibility for employment relations, consumer and postal affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton, agreed with the emphasis on skills and training and stressed the importance of apprenticeships and benefit reform to help vulnerable workers. He also highlighted UK plans to simplify employment law, thereby reducing regulatory burdens on business as well as retaining a fair deal for workers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Grayling Excerpts

Monday 10th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

15. What progress he has made on contracting arrangements for the Work programme.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

Happy new year, Mr Speaker. We published the full invitation to tender for the Work programme shortly before Christmas. Would-be bidders have until early February to submit their bids and we remain on track to launch the Work programme in the summer.

[Elizabeth Truss]

Downham Market has a community payback scheme that was initiated by volunteers. How will the community payback scheme fit with the Work programme, in which those volunteers are keen to get involved, as well as with voluntary work in my constituency?

[Chris Grayling]

That is an important point because many of those who go on to the Work programme will be former offenders or, in some cases, people going through community payback who are on welfare. I am in close contact with my colleagues in the Department for Justice and we are working together to try to ensure that we integrate their work on rehabilitating offenders with our work to get former offenders back into work.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

In my constituency of Stafford, a number of local voluntary organisations and social enterprises are committed to getting people back into work. What assurances can the Minister give us that they will be taken into account when it comes to awarding the sub-contracts under the main contractors?

[Chris Grayling]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. We are very clear that we want to see small local community, voluntary sector, social enterprise and private sector groups having the opportunity to work alongside major contractors in the Work programme. We have been very clear to would-be prime contractors that if they do not bring together a consortium of smaller organisations that demonstrate the breadth of skills necessary to deliver support to all the different groups that will be helped under the Work programme, they will not be successful in their bids. That is of paramount importance.

[Sarah Newton]

I very much welcome the assurances we have received from the Minister about the small-scale organisations that are being brought in to the larger contracting. What assurances can he give my constituents and others in Cornwall who benefit from EU convergence funding that the locally identified priorities under that programme and the excellent work that has been done to get hard-to-reach groups of people back into work will continue and will benefit from the Work programme?

[Chris Grayling]

I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. At the moment, we are considering the next phase of the European social fund contracting. I am absolutely clear—indeed, the objectives of the scheme make it clear—that it must sit alongside the Work programme as part of a drive to help some of those who are furthest from the workplace to make the move back into work and to lift them out of poverty. That will remain a priority for us.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

Is not the Work programme undermined from the outset by the cuts that the Minister is making to the child care component of the working tax credit, which will hit families in my constituency to the tune of some £500 a year? Why is he instituting such a disincentive to work?

[Chris Grayling]

The hon. Gentleman has to remember the financial mess his Government left behind. If we do not sort out the deficit and create a stable economic environment in this country, there will not be secure jobs in the future. That is and will remain our No. 1 priority.

[Mr Chuka Umunna (Streatham) (Lab)]

On Thursday, I visited my borough’s alcohol and drugs service and spoke to service users and providers. One of the biggest problems found by people who have a history of misuse is moving from treatment into work. I hope that the Work programme will address that, particularly given the issues that I have been told that they have with Jobcentre Plus. We are told that the pricing system in the new programme will reward providers who help those who are hardest to reach. Will that pricing structure account for those with a history of alcohol and drug misuse?

[Chris Grayling]

The simple answer to that question is yes, it will. The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point and I want to refer to one other dimension of the issue. A key point is giving those people opportunities to volunteer while claiming benefit. Volunteering can be an extremely important part of the pathway from a long-term problem into work. We have changed the guidance for Jobcentre Plus and will proactively promote volunteering opportunities to those who face those challenges in the hope that we will help them take that extra step on the way.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

Just before Christmas, the all-party Select Committee on Work and Pensions—may I be the first to congratulate its Chair, my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen South (Dame Anne Begg), on her well deserved honour in the new year’s list?—warned of a looming gap between the future jobs fund closing to new referrals of young people at the end of March and the start of the Work programme in June. In an article this morning, the Secretary of State, commenting on rising youth unemployment, promised that

“the programmes we inherited will remain in place until we replace them later this year.”

Can we therefore take it that referrals to the future jobs fund will continue until June?

[Chris Grayling]

I start by offering my congratulations to the hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Dame Anne Begg). There are moments when awards are acclaimed in all parts of the House, and hers certainly has been.

We have already extended the contracts for all the legacy programmes, which people will take advantage of until June. There will be people on the future jobs fund in the new financial year, and we are working through the detail of the transition for the final few weeks before people join the Work programme. Obviously, some people will be referred for a short period before the start of the Work programme, and we will negotiate with the would-be contractors to ensure a smooth transition. Our goal is to ensure that there is proper continuity for all those who need specialist support.

[Gregg McClymont (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (Lab)]

2. What assessment his Department has made of the effects of changes to prices in January 2011 on the incomes of pensioners.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

5. What recent progress he has made on the introduction of the enterprise allowance.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

I am pleased to say that last week we announced that the new enterprise allowance would expand to become a nationwide scheme from next autumn. It will first be launched in Merseyside in about three weeks’ time, and it will be rolled out across those parts of the country that have a particular unemployment challenge from spring onwards.

[Andrew Bridgen]

I welcome the fact that the enterprise allowance scheme, which had such a positive effect in the 1980s, is being reinstated. However, I have a concern about the eligibility criteria: one has to have been unemployed for six months or more to be eligible. The National Audit Office noted in the 1980s that the longer someone spent on unemployment benefit before going into self-employment, the less successful that tended to be. Given that, will the Minister consider reducing that time and allowing people who have been unemployed for less than six months to go on to the scheme?

[Chris Grayling]

I would very much like to improve the support that we provide, but obviously we have to do that in the context of the finances that we have inherited from the Opposition. The big difference that the new scheme will make is that it will also take advantage of the expertise of existing business people. I hope that my hon. Friend, who has a strong track record in business, will look to become a mentor for one of the new business people. That is an important difference from the previous scheme; the new scheme offers both financial and practical support, and not just financial support.

[Mr Denis MacShane (Rotherham) (Lab)]

Enterprise allowance will work all the better if young people are educated into the idea of creating their own businesses, yet thousands of people from Rotherham and other parts of south Yorkshire who go into work experience via the education business partnership scheme do not know whether the scheme will be continued. It is funded by the Department for Education, but we do not know whether it will be cut or continued. Could the Minister’s Department talk to the Department for Education and get a bit of joined-up government on this?

[Chris Grayling]

One of the things that we are doing is introducing changes to the guidelines to ensure that young people who find themselves unemployed have a much greater opportunity to get work experience in enterprises while they are on benefits. We have also announced tens of thousands of extra apprenticeships to give young people the chance to get involved in, and understand, business. Young people will be among those who are eligible to take advantage of the new enterprise allowance, if they are unfortunate enough to find themselves unemployed.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

16. What his most recent forecast is of the claimant count in (a) Wellingborough and (b) the UK in 2011-12.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

The Department for Work and Pensions does not itself produce forecasts of unemployment. However, the latest UK claimant count forecast for 2011-12, published as part of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s autumn forecast, was 1.52 million at the start of 2011-12, falling to 1.47 million at the end of the financial year. I am afraid that no figures are produced at constituency level looking ahead.

Having watched the skill of my hon. Friend over the years in combating the former Chancellor and Prime Minister over the increased level of unemployment in his constituency compared with 1997, I am relieved to be able to stand at the Dispatch Box and note that unemployment today is lower than it was under the previous Government. Let us hope that it stays that way.

[Mr Bone]

I thank the Minister for his kind words. Every Labour Government have left power with unemployment higher than when they came to power. When they came to power, unemployment in Wellingborough was 1,826; when they left, the figure was 2,916—an increase of 60%. Does the Minister agree that the Labour party is the party of unemployment and the Conservatives are the party of employment?

[Mr David Winnick (Walsall North) (Lab)]

In view of some of the propaganda put out by the Government and their supporters, saying that unemployed people are reluctant to find work, I should tell the Minister that over the past few weeks the local press in my area has reported that where there are vacancies, more than 100 people have applied for one single vacancy. Does that not demonstrate that up and down the country the unemployed are desperate to find work?

[Chris Grayling]

I have never doubted that there are very large numbers of people on benefits who want work. Our challenge is to make sure that there are sustainable jobs for the future. That is why we are investing in apprenticeships, trying to create a better climate for business and trying to make Britain a good place to create employment for the future. The great tragedy of the past decade is that the previous Government failed to do those things in good times.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

No one in the House wants to see the claimant count rise—most especially, no one wants young people to have to add themselves to the rolls of the unemployed. Given what has happened in the past few months, does the Minister now think that summarily cancelling the future jobs fund was the right choice?

[Chris Grayling]

The whole problem with the future jobs fund was that, first, it was extremely expensive—twice as expensive as the new deal for young people; and secondly, it did not create long-term jobs. This Government believe in creating apprenticeships, which create skills that lead to a career, not in six-month expensive work placements that lead nowhere.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

18. What recent representations he has received on his plans to help disabled jobseekers into work.

--- Later in debate ---

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

I have recently received a number of complaints that jobcentres are sending applicants for jobs to which they are not at all suited. Can my right hon. Friend give an assurance that with the introduction of the integrated Work programme, there will be new checks and balances to ensure that applicants are not sent for jobs for which they are totally unsuitable?

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is important that we try to match individuals with the vacancies that are best suited to them. Under the Work programme, providers will not be paid if they do not give people the right opportunities and they do not get the jobs, because there is a payment by results system. That system is the best route to ensure that those who are on benefits for the longer term get the best possible support and access to vacancies.

[Mr Kevan Jones (North Durham) (Lab)]

T2. There has been a move from up-front, face-to-face contact at the jobcentre to more telephone systems. What plans do the Government have to reintroduce more face-to-face contact in jobcentres throughout the UK?

[Chris Grayling]

We welcome the hon. Gentleman back to the House after a breathless new year. We intend to find the right mix between the different channels of access to Jobcentre Plus. Many younger claimants prefer to access services online, many claimants prefer to deal with such matters face to face, and others are happy to apply for benefits and deal with such matters over the phone. The trick is to get the right mix, and that is what we will seek to do.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

T3. Atos Healthcare, which provides the Department’s medical examiners, has told me that it does not provide physiotherapy services in its assessments of incapacity benefit claimants. Will Ministers consider including core physiotherapy checks for Atos so that people who are in genuine need of help and those who claim to have bad backs but are not in such genuine need can be better identified?

[Chris Grayling]

I am a little confused by my hon. Friend’s experience, because tests and assessments of people’s physical capabilities are carried out under the work capability assessment. Our goal is to ensure that the WCA continues to improve and is the best possible mechanism. I am happy to talk to him about his constituents’ experiences.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

T4. Further to the Secretary of State’s previous answer, will he confirm that unemployment will return to pre-recession levels by the end of the Parliament?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Sam Gyimah (East Surrey) (Con)]

T8. Although I welcome the Government’s payment by results model as a way of delivering value for the taxpayer, the challenge for a lot of small organisations is that it will pose huge cash-flow problems. They will have to deliver the work and pay their staff, and then they will be paid by the Government. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that small organisations that can deliver effective work programmes are not disfranchised by the Government’s payment by results model?

[Chris Grayling]

I recognise the problem to which my hon. Friend refers, which is one reason why we have been absolutely clear to would-be bidders for the prime contracts for the Work programme that we expect them not simply to build but maintain a network of smaller providers. Where they have such cash-flow problems, it will be the big guys with the capital who are expected to carry the burden. In addition, we have put in place the Merlin standard, a code of conduct for contractors that basically states that if they do not do right by smaller organisations, and if they treat them badly commercially, they can lose their contracts.

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

T9. Will the Minister join me in welcoming the establishment of the York Disabled Workers Cooperative, in which former Remploy workers, with the support of the GMB union and others, have established a factory making garden furniture and other products and selling them directly to the public? Does that not show that there remains a place for supported employment factories in the UK, and will she bear that in mind in the context of the review of Remploy?

Parliamentary Written Question (Correction)

Lord Grayling Excerpts

Wednesday 15th December 2010 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

I regret to inform the House that there was an inaccuracy in my written answer 25480 given on 30 Nov 2010, Official Report, column 786-88W. The response indicated that the monthly cost of press cuttings to the pensions regulator, a non-departmental public body of the Department for Work and Pensions, was nil. I can confirm that in fact the cost of press cuttings services to the pensions regulator, in each of the last 12 months is as follows:

Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council

Lord Grayling Excerpts

Tuesday 14th December 2010 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council was held on 6 December 2010 in Brussels. I represented the United Kingdom.

The main item on the agenda was a policy debate on the pregnant workers directive. Ahead of Council, the UK with the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden circulated a joint minute statement. This underlined the importance of subsidiarity and member state competence in setting social security systems; criticised the EP’s First Reading position; questioned the value of further negotiations; and called for a “pause for reflection” involving a Council impact assessment and consultation with social partners. In my intervention, I argued that the negotiations may be at the “end of the road” and while Council should at the very least have a pause for reflection, I see little point in further negotiations given the gulf between the co-legislators. We will continue to argue for these proposals to be abandoned. Despite the opposition of many member states to the proposal, the presidency intends to consult with the incoming Hungarian and Polish presidencies and table a roadmap for further discussions.

The other main agenda item was on pensions. The Council adopted conclusions and in the ensuing debate, the presidency asked the member states what measures they were taking to ensure the provision of adequate pensions, and asked for their initial reactions to the Green Paper on pensions. I outlined the UK’s reforms to improve state pensions, to encourage earlier saving for retirement and to extend working lives. In reaction to the Green Paper, I acknowledged the value added through sharing of best practice at a European level but stressed that there could be no “one size fits all” solution. In particular, I argued there was no evidence for why Solvency II capital requirements should be applied to pensions, which, far from being in consumers’ interests, could seriously weaken defined benefit schemes.

The Commission presented its EU 2020 flagship “New Skills and Jobs”. Council took note of presidency conclusions on the Commission’s flagship initiatives “Youth On the Move” and “New Skills and Jobs”; of Employment Committee opinions on employment and environment and the examination of countries’ employment policies; and of a joint Employment Committee and Social Policy Committee opinion on a monitoring framework for employment policies. It also adopted Council conclusions on employment policies and the green economy, adapting to an ageing workforce, the social elements of the Europe 2020 strategy, social services of general interest and gender.

Ministers adopted a progress report on the Directive on Equal Treatment—the anti-discrimination directive and a declaration on the European year for combating poverty and social exclusion 2010. They also agreed a general approach on the decision to create a European year for active ageing 2012.

On the “A” points, the UK submitted a minute statement on the Council decision on the EU-Switzerland agreement extending social security rights to non-active persons moving between the EU and Switzerland. This explained our decision not to opt in to the decision, our intention to seek a reciprocal exemption for non-active persons, and our disagreement with the interpretation given by the Council Legal Services to how the duty of sincere co-operation applied in these circumstances.

Skills Conditionality: Public Consultation

Lord Grayling Excerpts

Thursday 9th December 2010 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

Today my hon. Friend the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning and I have published a joint document setting out how we intend to implement skills conditionality when certain benefit claimants are referred to training as part of their journey back to work.

The Government believe that individuals who are able to look for or prepare for work should be required to do so as a condition of receiving benefit, and those who fail to meet their responsibilities should face a financial sanction. Improving someone’s skills is one of the key ways to help individuals prepare for and gain work.

This consultation proposes that claimants required to either actively seek, or prepare for, work could be mandated to undertake activity to address an identified skills need which will aid their movement into work. This puts activity to address a skills need on to the same basis as other conditionality requirements.

The proposed policy will require legislative changes. The purpose of this consultation is to seek views on the implementation of skills conditionality that will make it fair, consistent and as administratively straightforward as possible. The consultation will run until 3 February.

Copies of the consultation document are available on the Department’s website at: http://dwp.gov.uk/consultations/.

Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (Agenda)

Lord Grayling Excerpts

Friday 3rd December 2010 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council will be held on 6 December 2010 in Brussels. I will represent the UK, except for the agenda item on the pregnant workers directive where the UK will be represented by the Minister responsible for employment relations, consumer and postal affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey).

There will be two orientation debates. The first is on the pregnant workers directive, which is being renegotiated in a co-decision procedure between the Council and the European Parliament. As the European Parliament’s position goes much further than the Commission’s original proposal, and would require 20 weeks’ fully paid maternity leave, two weeks’ paternity leave and 20 weeks’ adoption leave, the UK will not agree to these changes.

The second is on retirement pensions, in particular maintaining a “living standard to a reasonable degree” and our reaction to the Commission’s Green Paper. This will include the presentation of a joint report from the Social Protection (SPC) and Economic Policy Committee (EPC) on pensions. The UK will stress the need to ensure that pensioners have the income to live with dignity in retirement and that each member state should find its own balance for public pensions.

There will be an exchange of views on the Employment Policies in Europe 2020 and the European Semester. This will include information from the Commission and presidency on the EU 2020 flagship projects “New Skills and Jobs” and “Youth on the Move”, approval of two Employment Committee (EMCO) opinions, on employment and climate change and an initial country analysis of the draft national reform programmes, and approval of a joint EMCO-SPC opinion on the Joint Assessment Framework and the Employment Monitor. The UK will stress how important it is that employment is at the heart of the Europe2020 strategy and that there must be a robust methodology for assessments, but it is important to recognise that this should not lead to policy prescriptions in an area that is primarily member state competence.

There will be a discussion of the general approach to the European Year of Active Ageing 2012 which proposes to promote active ageing and to do more to mobilise the potential of the rapidly growing population in their late 50s and above.

There will be a progress report on the directive on equal treatment where some progress has been made under the Belgian presidency. The Commission will also present its joint report with the SPC on the social dimension of the crisis.

The Commission will present the biannual report on social services of general interest which annexes a voluntary framework that was developed collaboratively with member states and stakeholders. The report is an overview of the initiatives implemented to guarantee and assess the quality of social services.

Ministers will consider a number of Council conclusions. There are two sets on gender; one on the implementation of the strategy on equality between women and men, and one on the fight against inequalities in salaries between women and men. There are also conclusions on the fight against poverty and social exclusion, employment policy for the low carbon economy, the impact of the ageing workforce, adequate and sustainable pensions, the social dimension of the Europe 2020 strategy and social services of general interest.

Under any other business, there will be information from the Commission on the New Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and the presidency will provide information on the second Euromed conference, the third conference of Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM), conclusions of the 5th Report on Economic, Social and Territorial cohesion, and the Equality summit. There will also be information on various conferences under the Belgian presidency and the Hungarian delegation will outline the programme and events for their forthcoming presidency.

Work Programme (Framework Providers)

Lord Grayling Excerpts

Thursday 25th November 2010 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

The Government have previously announced their plans for radical reforms of the welfare-to-work system and the implementation of the Work programme.

Work to deliver the programme is progressing quickly and we are on track to deliver nationwide by the summer of 2011.

Today we announce the providers who will be invited to bid to deliver the Work programme and subsequent employment-related support initiatives. These providers have been named on our framework for employment-related support services, which is the commercial vehicle through which the Work programme will be delivered. The list of suppliers will be released at 1pm today, and can be found here:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-DWP/what- we-buy/welfare-to-work-services/work-programme

We are delighted that we received so much interest in the framework and we had strong competition from the market. The providers we have selected represent the very best of organisations from both the private and voluntary sectors. There is a good mix of existing suppliers and new entrants to the market, including innovative partnerships.

The Work programme is the Government’s flagship welfare-to-work programme, and will be built around the needs of individuals: we will give providers longer to work with customers and greater freedom to decide the appropriate support for them. We will also offer stronger incentives for providers to work with harder-to-help customers, and to get people into sustained jobs.

Work Capability Assessment

Lord Grayling Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd November 2010 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

The Government are pleased to announce the publication of Professor Malcolm Harrington’s independent review of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). This is a substantial and thorough review of the WCA which the Government fully endorse. Alongside the review, the Government are publishing their response which sets out how we will implement the review’s recommendations.

A central part of the Government’s plans to reform the welfare state involves action to tackle incapacity benefit dependency. More than 2.2 million people in Britain today are on incapacity benefits and many have been abandoned, with little or no contact from the welfare state for as long as a decade or more.

Through the WCA we seek to change this, and to try to find a better way forward for those people. From April 2011 we will put 1.6 million people, all of those on incapacity benefits who are not close to retirement, through an independent medical assessment, the WCA. Those found fit for work or with the potential to return to work will be given support to help them do so, those who are deemed unable to work will continue to receive full support.

We believe that the principles of the WCA are right but we are clear that the process of assessment must be fair and honest about people’s potential. We do not wish to see people who are genuinely unable to work put in a position where they are expected to do so.

Professor Harrington’s review sets out how we can refine the system and significantly improve the process so that it continues to be fit for purpose. We intend to implement these changes as quickly as possible. Many will be put in place in time for the first assessments from the national migration in April 2011.

We will continue to review the WCA and to make further changes where necessary. We have invited Professor Harrington to continue in his current role as independent reviewer for another year and to make further recommendations to us as appropriate.

Copies of both documents are available in the Vote Office.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Grayling Excerpts

Monday 22nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Hazel Blears (Salford and Eccles) (Lab)]

3. What steps he is taking to encourage social enterprises to become providers under the Work programme.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

As the right hon. Lady knows, involving the specialist skills of the voluntary and social enterprise sectors in delivering the Work programme is extremely important, particularly where they have expertise in helping the hardest-to-help groups. Across the summer, we held a series of consultation events across the country, and we have had meetings through some of the professional organisations that represent different elements of the voluntary sector. The Minister for Welfare Reform—Lord Freud—and I have held meetings in the City to try to encourage financiers to support the voluntary sector in its approaches to the Work programme. I cannot give the right hon. Lady information about the specifics of the process today, because we will be publishing more details in due course, but I can assure her that we are keen to keep those organisations present.

[Hazel Blears]

I am grateful for the Minister’s reply. He knows that many social enterprises, such as Work Solutions, which does a fantastic job in the Ordsall area of Salford to get people back into work, have very tight margins, and often struggle with cash flow. If the national system is to be about payment by results, what measures will he take to ensure that small organisations, which are often without a financial buffer, can survive within the system and provide the specialist services that only they can provide?

[Chris Grayling]

We have introduced the Merlin standard, a new code of conduct for suppliers to the Department for Work and Pensions, which will apply to the prime contractors for the Work programme. They will be obliged to do the right thing to support their subcontractors appropriately financially. If they fail to do so, and treat their subcontractors financially inappropriately, they could lose their contracts. The system has just won an award for its role across Whitehall—there is potential for it to be used elsewhere in Whitehall—as best practice for dealing with small subcontractors. We must protect them, because they have a huge role to play.

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

Will the Minister join me in congratulating Progress Recruitment on its work in Blackpool? It is a social enterprise that works with many of the hardest-to-reach people in my constituency to get them back to work. Will he do all he can to encourage local government, when it again considers its service provision, to look at whether it can spin off organisations such as Progress Recruitment as social enterprises, as part of reconceptualising that service provision?

[Chris Grayling]

I certainly praise the work that has been done in Blackpool, and I praise my hon. Friend’s work in supporting that activity. Not many people understand the scale of the social challenge in Blackpool, and the work that is done by organisations such as the one in his constituency is extremely important. I very much hope that the framework that we are creating for the Work programme will give local authorities and local organisations the scope to work alongside providers to deliver local solutions to some of the problems. I have no doubt that social enterprise should be and will be part of that. Local authorities can help to make that happen.

[Mr Frank Field (Birkenhead) (Lab)]

Does the Minister accept that there is considerable support on the Labour Benches for the point that my right hon. Friend the Member for Salford and Eccles (Hazel Blears) raised? Does he accept that if we are to protect social enterprises, and if they are to play a greater part in welfare reform, that will require almost a total change in attitude from the big providers? Birkenhead had one of the best organisations—A&P Group—but it did not win the larger contract, and did not want to, and the large provider had no interest in making sure it survived. It was a huge loss to young people in the area who, until then, had had a Rolls-Royce service.

[Chris Grayling]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for highlighting such an important point. I have been very clear to people who are bidding for the Work programme that we expect them to demonstrate their ability to assemble a consortium or organisations with the specialist skills to help the hard-to-help groups. Many of those organisations are in the voluntary sector or the social enterprise sectors. If they do not demonstrate that ability and if they do not have those networks, they will not get the contracts. It is as simple as that.

[Mrs Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald) (Con)]

4. What plans he has to increase parental responsibility for child maintenance.

--- Later in debate ---

[Richard Harrington (Watford) (Con)]

13. What recent progress his Department has made on delivering its Work programme.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

The commercial delivery of the Work programme is on track. Before the end of the month, we will be releasing a list of those organisations that have successfully bid to be part of the framework for employment-related support services. Shortly after that, in early December, we will publish the full invitation to tender for the Work programme. We are still on course to launch the programme next summer.

[Henry Smith]

Regrettably, my constituency has one of the worst records for its over-50 unemployed people ever getting back into work. I would be interested to hear some specific advice about what the Government are planning for that age group.

[Chris Grayling]

Of course, this was one of the great failings of the Labour Government, who failed to understand the challenge that older workers faced. Their employment programme offered none of the personalised support that is necessary to deal with the specific challenges that my hon. Friend mentions. What we will do through the Work programme is offer personalised support by paying providers by results; they will have a full incentive to do the right thing by older workers and ensure they get into work.

[Richard Harrington]

Last week, Leavesden studio in my constituency was given a £125 million investment by Warner Bros. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that the Government’s new Work programme will help local unemployed people to get off the register and get jobs in this fantastic opportunity?

[Chris Grayling]

That is a great example of new private sector investment in the United Kingdom, which proves that the private sector can indeed create the jobs that we all want to see for the future. I congratulate my hon. Friend and his constituents on the work that they have done in bringing the investment to the United Kingdom. I hope that the local provider for the Work programme will forge a close partnership with Warner Bros to ensure that it delivers people with the right mix of skills and capabilities to fill vacancies, and I hope that my hon. Friend will help to facilitate that partnership.

[Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab)]

In the last four months alone, an employment agency in my constituency has helped more than 300 long-term jobseeker’s allowance claimants and single parents into work under the employment zone programme. Four such agencies operate in the constituency, but long-term JSA claimants and single parents will no longer be able to apply for that extra support after 31 December as a result of the transition to the Work programme. What specialist support will the Minister give thousands of my constituents, and thousands of others throughout the country, to help them back into wok?

[Chris Grayling]

We will provide enhanced support for people in that position through Jobcentre Plus for a short period, but I hope and expect that providers who are already in the framework and who win Work programme contracts will be able to take up some of the challenges that those people face and help them before the formal launch of the programme in the summer.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

There are some good ideas in the Work programme, and all of them were in the last Government’s flexible new deal. What proportion of the payment to be handed over to a Work programme provider in respect of a jobseeker will be handed over when that person obtains work, and how long will he or she need to remain in work before the whole payment is handed over?

[Chris Grayling]

I will publish the full details of the contractual arrangements for the Work programme in a few days’ time, but I can tell the right hon. Gentleman that we will not be paying up front as the flexible new deal did. Last year, the flexible new deal paid providers £500 million for 16,000 starts. That is £30,000 per job start, and in my opinion it was an inefficient use of public money. Even as the programme becomes more mature, the previous service fee arrangements would still mean a huge up-front cost. We will do things differently: we will pay providers when they succeed, and not before they have done so.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

9. What steps he is taking to help disabled people into employment.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) (Con)]

11. what recent progress has been made on the work capability assessment independent review led by Professor Malcolm Harrington.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

Professor Harrington will publish his report on the work capability assessment tomorrow. He will be available to take questions and I hope Members will come forward and put any issues and concerns to him, and indeed to me, during the course of the day.

[Tracey Crouch]

I thank the Minister for that reply. Can he assure the House that those who have varying support needs because they have fluctuating conditions will be considered accordingly during the assessment process?

[Chris Grayling]

I am very happy to give my hon. Friend that assurance. This issue—along with that of people with mental health issues—has been of paramount importance to me, and it is one of the subjects to which I asked Professor Harrington to pay the closest attention. I hope my hon. Friend will see tomorrow that he has recommended a number of measures that will help in that respect, but I can also assure her that we will continue to review this issue. We will continue to study the process as it unfolds, and we will make further improvements as and when necessary.

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that answer, which we welcome. He knows that there is support from both sides of the House for Professor Harrington’s review and Labour will support the Government in taking forward meaningful reform, particularly in identifying mental health problems such as depression and schizophrenia. What assurances will the Minister give the House that reforms to the work capability assessment will better support people with mental health conditions get back to work?

[Chris Grayling]

One of the things I made sure to do when we set up the review was invite the chief executive of Mind to take part in one of the support groups for Professor Harrington. That input has been hugely valuable. I have also invited the mental health charities to make recommendations about possible changes to the descriptors, which might also help enhance the process. They are due to respond shortly. We will make sensible changes as and when we can. I intend to brief the hon. Lady and her colleagues about the contents of the Harrington review tomorrow morning, and perhaps we can talk briefly behind the Speaker’s Chair about how best to arrange that. I want them to be part of the process, and I am very happy to take suggestions from Opposition Members as well. As the hon. Lady rightly says, this is a cross-party issue. We have to get it right. It is in all our interests that we get it right, and I think we share the aspiration that this process should be fair and firm.

[Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con)]

12. What assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed universal credit on work incentives.

--- Later in debate ---

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

14. Whether his Department plans to publish a gender impact assessment of the changes to be made to the benefits regime as a result of the comprehensive spending review.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

The Department for Work and Pensions assesses the equality impacts of any new policies or changes to existing policies and practice. In line with that commitment to transparency, equality impact assessments are published when they are available, and gender impacts are included as part of those documents.

[Cathy Jamieson]

I thank the Minister for that answer. What assessment are the Government making of the needs of vulnerable women, particularly those who receive housing benefit and are aged between 25 and 35? How will the Government ensure that their needs are met and, in particular, that if they have disabilities, they do not end up inappropriately in shared accommodation?

[Chris Grayling]

As the hon. Lady will know, exemptions are already in place for the most vulnerable people, and those will continue. The package of reforms set out in the spending review, particularly the introduction of the universal credit, will make a huge difference to women on some of the lowest incomes, particularly lone parents seeking to get back into work. The credit will make that journey much easier and mean that they are better off going back to work than they would otherwise have been.

[Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Con)]

16. What assessment he has made of the likely contribution of the proposed universal credit to his Department’s objective of encouraging people to work.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

My message to my hon. Friend would be that we are doing everything we can to promote volunteering for jobseekers, both before they enter the Work programme and, once the programme is in place, after they enter it. We have set out plans to allow jobseekers to do up to eight weeks’ work experience and I think that that gives them an important opportunity to take a step into the workplace that they would not otherwise have taken.

[Jo Swinson]

I thank the Minister for that reply. Many people who are out of work or who have fluctuating medical conditions already undertake part-time voluntary work but that was not previously recognised by Jobcentre Plus officials as part of the flexible new deal. What assurances can he give me that those people, who are already participating in the big society, will have their voluntary work positively recognised under the new Work programme?

[Chris Grayling]

I see volunteering as extremely important, particularly in helping those who have been on sickness benefits or incapacity benefit in the long term to make the step into work. I can assure my hon. Friend that we will give Work programme providers maximum flexibility to use volunteering as one of many vehicles to help people get into employment.

[Mr David Ward (Bradford East) (LD)]

18. What assessment he has made of the likely effects of his proposed reductions in housing benefit entitlement on jobseeker’s allowance claimants who have been unable to find work for more than 12 months.

--- Later in debate ---

[Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)]

19. What recent assessment he has made of the value for money delivered by the flexible new deal programme.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

The flexible new deal began in October 2009. Results of its full evaluation will be published in 2012. However, the initial figures, published last week, certainly give rise to concern that it represented poor value for money and that the arrangements set out by the previous Government were extremely expensive.

[Caroline Dinenage]

People in my constituency are concerned about the transition to the Work programme. What assurances can the Minister give me that the Government will take measures to ensure that people are not disadvantaged during the transition period?

[Chris Grayling]

I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. That is a priority for me at the moment. As it becomes clear who is on the framework and who is not, it will become increasingly clear where we might have issues with the transition. In those areas where the flexible new deal will continue to run until the summer, it is not an issue, and in those areas where the flexible new deal does not exist, it is a concern. We will take urgent measures in the next few days, as we have completed work on the framework and identified the gaps, to ensure that we put in place the necessary support, probably through Jobcentre Plus, to ensure that we look after those who are affected.

[Simon Danczuk (Rochdale) (Lab)]

20. What effects he expects the introduction of the proposed universal credit to have on marginal deduction rates experienced by households currently in receipt of tax credits only.

--- Later in debate ---

[Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con)]

T5. What can the Secretary of State do to assure unemployed people in Staffordshire Moorlands that the Work programme will help them to find not just employment, but sustainable employment?

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

One of the key differences in the Work programme, compared to previous programmes, is that it will pay providers not simply for getting someone into work, but for supporting them while they are back in work over an extended period. That is crucial to ensuring that people do not come off benefits, stay in work for a few weeks and then return to the unemployment registers, as has so often happened in the past.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

T9. Is the Minister aware that his own Department’s statistics show that the impact of restricting local housing allowance to the 30th percentile in Glasgow is that 92% of recipients in one-bedroom properties will lose out by, on average, £7 per week? The Glasgow Housing Association told me on Friday that that is likely to lead to higher levels of rent arrears and lower levels of available investment for its properties. Does not that show how unfair and badly designed the proposals are?

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

T6. The whole House will welcome the news that unemployment is on the decline and look forward to the introduction of the Government’s Work programme. However, my right hon. Friend will be aware of the particular issues facing the north-east. What steps is he taking to ensure that there is support in the meantime for those seeking employment in the region?

[Chris Grayling]

My hon. Friend will be aware that I am always extremely concerned about the employment situation in the north-east. I was therefore extremely pleased this summer to see an increase in private sector employment of 17,000 in the region. I was disappointed, however, that the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance barely changed, which simply underlined for me the need for the Work programme to deliver real change in that area. However, the introduction of the new enterprise allowance and some of the other measures that we are taking to support small businesses, as set out in the Budget by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will help to continue the process of job creation in the private sector in the north-east, which is what we all want.

[Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North) (Lab)]

As the Secretary of State and his team develop their longer-term thinking on social security, including for state pensions, what emphasis and importance will they place on the contributory principle?

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

T7. What measures will be contained in the Work programme to ensure that the unemployed in rural areas get the help they need?

[Chris Grayling]

One of the benefits of working with smaller organisations as well as the larger prime contractors is that we can get the input of specialist organisations with expert knowledge of the rural community and the rural jobs market. I believe that the contracting structure we have set up maximises the likelihood of prime contractors identifying the right organisations to deliver support in rural areas.

[Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)]

My constituent, Mr Edwards, is in receipt of the independent living fund, which empowers him to buy services to meet his needs. Uncertainty over the future of the fund is causing him and his family great concern. When will the Government end that uncertainty?

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Grayling]

I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. It is particularly true for areas of the country that have high levels of incapacity benefit dependency. For the first time, we will be attempting to provide real support to people who have been on incapacity benefit long term and are found fit for work or potentially fit for work through the work capability assessment. I am convinced that the specialist support that we can bring to bear for those people will make a particular difference in those parts of the country where the problem is substantial.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

Most jobseekers will become eligible for entry into the Work programme after they have been on jobseeker’s allowance for a period of 12 months. Can the Minister explain how it is sensible that at precisely the moment at which they become eligible for the extra support of the Work programme, they will see a cut in their housing benefit because of the period that they have spent on JSA?

[Chris Grayling]

The hon. Lady must understand that we are seeking to maximise the incentives in the system. What we inherited from the previous Administration is a system that is full of disincentives to go back to work. If we do not remove some of those disincentives, create a push to get people back into work and combine that with support to do so, we will end up with the same 13 years of failure as we saw under the previous Government.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

T10. The Barry branch of the mental health charity Mind often advocates in favour of service users at work assessment appeals, with a very high success rate. This demonstrates the difficulty in assessing people with mental health illnesses. What action is the Minister taking to ensure that they are treated fairly in the new work capability assessment?

[Chris Grayling]

My hon. Friend will see tomorrow, with the publication of the Harrington review, some innovative suggestions about how we can deal with that problem. It is a very real problem. I am determined to ensure that we do everything we can to avoid people with mental health problems being wrongly diagnosed by the assessment. I pay tribute to Paul Farmer of Mind, whose input into the process has been hugely valuable.

[Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

May I bring the Minister back to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North East (Mr Bain) about the cuts to housing benefit? The cuts to local housing allowance are the same cuts that will make people in Chesterfield up to £11 a week worse off. Will the Minister confirm that that was not in the Labour party manifesto and is nothing to do with the cap? Will he set the record straight?

--- Later in debate ---

[Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)]

I warmly welcome the long-overdue review of the work capability assessment, but does the Minister agree that there are problems after the assessment, and that the time spent going through appeals and tribunals is far too long? What steps is his Department taking to rectify that?

[Chris Grayling]

There are two aspects to what we are doing. First, we are seeking to improve the process not simply within the assessment itself, but before and after, in the way that individual cases are handled. I hope that that will make a difference. Secondly, my Department is working with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that we streamline and improve the appeals process, create extra capacity to deal with any appeals that result from next year’s migration and have a system that works as effectively as possible.

[Thomas Docherty (Dunfermline and West Fife) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State knows how vital Remploy and other supportive workshops are in helping people back into work. Will he outline the steps that the Government are going to take to promote that through public procurement, and will he or one of his Ministers meet me and trade union representatives to discuss the matter?