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Welfare Reform and Incapacity Benefit

The hon. Gentleman says that that was not his question, but he certainly implied that the pathways to work projects were cost-cutting exercises. He used those words quite deliberately. We shall ensure that the active support that we provide for claimants in receipt of incapacity benefit is fit for purpose and does the job that we want it to do, which is to get people back into work, when they are able to work, as quickly as possible. Of course we will provide the appropriate level of resourcing to ensure that we can deliver such an effective policy. I was talking about rights and responsibilities. We want to continue to pursue this agenda because we want to continue to work towards our aspiration of an 80 per cent. employment rate, which will help another 1 million people to escape from the trap of incapacity benefit. That is why I wholeheartedly endorse the principles of welfare reform that my right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Brightside published last month, and why I am committed to taking forward this reform agenda, and to building a modern, active and inclusive welfare state that balances rights with responsibilities, that matches the respect of society for the individual with respect for society by the individual, and that, above all, helps people to move away from dependency and to make their own way in the world. In our modern world, people can do 10 jobs in a lifetime instead of one, and they might even pursue several careers. A renewed welfare state must provide the support that enables people to make the transition from one job to another, by assisting them through rapid change and insecurity, helping them to balance the multiple pressures of work and family life, and enabling them to re-establish their independence and to benefit from the opportunities that change creates. In our Green Paper, which the right hon. and learned Member for Kensington and Chelsea mentioned, we shall go further to tackle exclusion from economic activity and independence across the working-age population. We shall establish the necessary steps that we all need to take—as individuals, in Government and in the wider communities—to engage people with social and economic activity. We shall outline further measures to simplify and streamline the benefit system. We shall also develop the right support systems through which we can raise employment, skills and productivity and improve social inclusion and cohesion, at a time when the integration of communities worldwide has never been more important. As has now been made clear, we shall set out our detailed proposals in January.