Oral Answers to Questions

Jack Rankin Excerpts

Monday 16th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Liz Kendall]

That sounds like a fantastic programme by the YMCA in my hon. Friend’s constituency. That is precisely why we need to join up with what local colleges are doing, with the support provided by local councils and with supported employment programmes run by the NHS. If we join that up and base it on local needs, her young constituent and many others like her will get the chance they need and deserve to build a better life.

[Jack Rankin (Windsor) (Con)]

13. What steps she is taking to reform the health and disability benefits system.

[The Minister for Social Security and Disability (Sir Stephen Timms)]

We want to reform the system to do a much better job in helping people to enter and stay in work. We will publish a Green Paper next spring and we will be discussing our proposals with disabled people.

[Jack Rankin]

To protect those in need and to deliver for taxpayers, we need to take tough decisions. Reforming health and disability benefits will require Ministers to make difficult choices, but so far the plans rely on reducing NHS waiting lists, which the Office for Budget Responsibility has said will have hardly any effect on economic activity. Are Ministers willing to make unpopular decisions to solve this issue and, if so, when?

[Sir Stephen Timms]

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that we will make the right decisions, and they will be set out in our Green Paper in the spring. There is a need to reform the health and disability benefits system—there is no question about that—and we want to talk to disabled people themselves about the details, in order to make sure that we get it right.