Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Iain Duncan Smith and Mark Menzies

Monday 13th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

The whole point of that research was to look at how we can get value for money—how many people we can get back to work, and what we can best do to support them. We inherited a terrible situation from the last Government, with youth unemployment having been rising for a number of years. The programmes we are introducing—such as the Work programme and special provision within that, and the innovation fund—will help them much more than lavishing huge amounts of money for very little return, such as through the future jobs fund.

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

T7. What are the Government doing to reduce conflict between parents in their dealings with the Child Support Agency?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Iain Duncan Smith and Mark Menzies

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

The letter I sent to the right hon. Gentleman and, I think, to others is quite clear. The point I am making, and I make again, is that the purpose of what we are doing—what the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Maria Miller) is engaged in—is to review a complex system, which does not work very well. Many people who need disability living allowance often do not get it; people, when they go back to work, are confused about whether they will still receive it; and people often feel that they should not take work because they think that the allowance is work-related, which we know it is not. So, that complex system, which the previous Government left to us, has to be reviewed. Many have welcomed the review, and at the end of it we will make decisions that benefit those who need DLA.

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

T3. I should like to ask the Secretary of State what advantage he sees in placing young people on to apprenticeship schemes as opposed to a six-month placement on the Work programme.