Oral Answers to Questions

Hazel Blears Excerpts

Monday 22nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I will give those details soon. I will not give them today, but I can say that we have already been working on the issue. We believe that, as things stand right now, we will manage the cost within our present budgets—it will not require anything extra for us. Of course, as the right hon. Gentleman said, it forms a challenge to us—I accept that—but localising elements of benefits is important to local people, and councils have very much wanted to do this. I will definitely give him the figures for that in due course, but we believe that we will be able to manage it, and I am more than happy to discuss that with him.

[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.