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Social Security

I have no doubt whatsoever that the report will stimulate much debate, as the hon. Gentleman says. We said that we expected it to be published early in the new year, which is round about where we are now, so hopefully he should not have to wait too much longer. Both hon. Gentlemen made points about lone parents. It is right that we need to make more progress on assisting lone parents into work because that helps us to secure further reductions in poverty. The employment rate for lone parents has increased by 11 per cent. since 1997 and the number of lone parents who are benefit claimants has declined by 230,000. The hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds was right to point out that there needs to be a carrot in this. The issue is broader than levels of benefit, because it embraces the structure of the tax system and a requirement for a substantial extension in the number of child care places. He is right that we need to consider the matter comprehensively, which is why our measures respond in all respects, including the extension of child care places, which have greatly assisted many lone parents to choose to move off benefits and go back into work. The orders provide more than £3.5 billion of additional support: £2.48 billion to pensioners, of which £300 million is above inflation; £16 million to children, of which £7 million is above inflation; £560 million to disabled people and carers; and £520 million to people of working age. The uprating order contributes to our overall programme of reform to the welfare system, which involves linking rights with responsibilities during working lives and providing the opportunity for all to build a decent income in retirement. We announced last year that we would continue our commitment to uprate the pension credit minimum guarantee by earnings rather than prices, so this year’s uprating order will take us another step away from the extent of pensioner poverty that we inherited in 1997. Through measures including pension credit, the state second pension and above-inflation increases in the basic state pension, we have lifted 1 million pensioners out of relative poverty and established a more equitable system. The uprating order continues that progress. It will lock in the progress we have made on eliminating pensioner poverty and ensure that the poorest pensioners share in the rising prosperity of our nation. As we look to the long term, we face the challenge of profound social and demographic change. In the next 50 years, the number of people over pension age will increase by more than half. If the system were left unchanged, there would be only two people in work for every one in retirement, as opposed to four at present. The measures that we are taking forward in the Pensions Bill will set in place a historic settlement that will meet these long term challenges. Let me turn to the aspects of the orders that deal with working-age benefits. Since 1997, we have taken forward a series of reforms to enable people to escape poverty and fulfil their potential by coming off benefit and moving into work. As a result, there are now over 2.5 million more people in work and about 900,000 fewer on out-of-work benefits. Since 1997, we have lifted 1.8 million children out of absolute poverty and almost 700,000 out of relative poverty. We have a historic target of halving child poverty by 2010, and if we are going to achieve that, we will need to renew our efforts. We want to ensure that children have the best start not just because that is morally right, but because we recognise that that individuals’ outcomes are often determined by their experiences in earlier life. From April, the poorest children will thus receive £64 a week through child benefit and child tax credit—in 1997, they received only £28. We will again uprate maternity allowance and statutory maternity pay by earnings and we will significantly extend the length of coverage over the course of this Parliament. Furthermore, because we know that the last months of pregnancy and the first months following a birth are associated with additional costs, mothers will be eligible for child benefit from the 29th week of their pregnancy from 2009. That will mean up to an extra £200 for the first child and an extra £130 for subsequent children. Ultimately, work is the surest way for families to escape poverty and give their children the best start. It is the only way to meet the challenges of an ageing and increasingly globalised society. That was why we began the new deal, which has helped hundreds of thousands of people to get off benefits and back into work. It was why we invested heavily in creating Jobcentre Plus, which has provided an integrated service for people who need support and help in finding employment. It was also why we introduced the national minimum wage and tax credits, which gave people the unambiguous message that they would be better off in work than on benefits. With the orders, we are keen to build on that success by enabling and empowering people to fulfil their potential and ambitions, rather than consigning them to a lifetime on benefits. Our Welfare Reform Bill sets out aspirations for an 80 per cent. employment rate. That would mean a million fewer people claiming incapacity benefit, a million more older people in work and an extra 300,000 lone parents off benefit. The uprating order further delivers on our promises to help those who need it most, to support families and to tackle the poverty suffered by pensioners and children wherever it occurs. However, we see the right to work as fundamental to tackling poverty and building aspiration, so we are supporting more people to find work, including people on incapacity benefit, lone parents and older people who want to return to, or remain in, the work force. The orders will assist that, so I commend them to the House. Question put and agreed to. Resolved,"That the draft Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2007, which was laid before this House on 24th January, be approved."