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Welfare Reform Green Paper

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his support for the direction of travel that we set out in the Green Paper. We look forward to working with him in the months ahead. I am confident that we can deliver the programmes of help and support that I have announced. As I confirmed to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond), it will involve the use of private and voluntary providers as well, which I consider entirely sensible. My proposals involve no extension of means-testing. Yes, we are considering making more part-time options available to people on incapacity benefit and lone parents, and we mentioned some in the Green Paper. The hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) asked about long-term reform. He has only had a few minutes in which to look at the Green Paper, but the final chapter sets out the options, and picks up some of the points that my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) has been making. We have already announced changes in the linking rules, extending the 52-week period of grace allowing people leaving incapacity benefit to test whether a new job works for them to two years. They can return to the existing level of incapacity benefit without having to reapply. I hope that that gives the hon. Gentleman some reassurance. Of course there will be proper appeal mechanisms in relation to any benefit sanction initiated here. The hon. Gentleman asked whether we could guarantee that we could complete the medical tests within 12 weeks. Yes, that is the commitment that we are making. His supplementary question, asking me to revise the benefits paid in the event of a failure, therefore does not arise.