Autumn Statement Resolutions

Ben Spencer Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

It is always a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms). I had the pleasure of serving on the Select Committee he chairs and I listened very carefully to the points he made. Like him, I intend to focus on the elements supporting people to work and back into work. Before I do so, let me say how much I welcome today’s statement. The measures will have a huge impact on people across the nation and, of course, in my constituency. To draw out one thing which for me is a huge headline, making full expensing permanent is a real game changer for businesses, giving them certainty in investment.

What I see as the social contract is our striving for equality of opportunity, knocking down the barriers to people’s getting on in life and in employment, while also providing support so that if things do not work out for people—they become ill—there is a safety net to catch them and help them through. That is really important. One common reason people drop out of employment is illness and disability.

Following becoming unwell, one of the most important outcomes in someone’s treatment pathway is getting them back into work. Why is that? Because work gives agency. Work provides opportunity. Work is hope. All of us need stable employment—a statement that colleagues will perhaps be mindful of, a year from a general election. Work gives people a reason to get up in the morning. It provides a structure to the day. It provides opportunity and the aspiration to invest in one’s self and to invest in society, and to continue as a citizen in our communities. Work is a core good. It is absolutely right that we do everything we can to support people back into work, to support people into work for the first time, and to help people who are struggling in work to ensure that they stay in employment. Several measures we have heard today are absolutely critical in that offering to people from the state.

The first measure, mentioned a moment ago by the right hon. Member for East Ham, is individual placement support. This is an incredibly good package. There is now a huge evidence base behind it supporting people into work, but, critically, retaining employment, which often is the real challenge. It is about not just getting a job but being able to sustain employment and ensuring it works out. I have been calling for it for years. Years ago, before I was an MP, I learned about the benefits of IPS and what an important package it is to support people in employment. In my constituency, we have a branch of Richmond Fellowship. The team, based in Chertsey, do fantastic work. They have spoken to me about the importance of IPS and what it will deliver to help people back into work and to continue in work.

The second measure is the expansion of broad support packages. I am particularly interested in the reform of the fit note system to try to get better pathways between health and social care, integrated care systems and the Department for Work and Pensions. We still have very siloed institutions and anything that will help them all work together, because it is a full package that works holistically, will lead to improvement.

The social contract I referred to is also about fairness. It remains the case that there are people—a small minority—who can work but decide not to. All things being equal, they can get into work and sustain a job but choose not to. It is not fair to ask our taxpayers to pay taxes, which they cannot refuse to pay, to subsidise someone’s decision to exit the employment market. What is fair is for us to say, “Hey—we will do everything we can to support you into work. We will provide packages to help you when illness happens, either because you cannot work because the illness is so severe, or”—and this is the primary focus—“to make sure that you can get back into work and you can get better, and that is part of your recovery plan for the future. But if you do not want to be part of that and you can be, it is not fair to ask other people to subsidise your lifestyle choice.”

I support, 100%, reforms that are fair not only to people who are receiving benefits and who are living with complex illness, but to our society as a whole.