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Benefits Uprating

On Woolworths, let me be clear that we have a rapid support service located in every region and district. Where there are large redundancies—defined as those involving more than 20 people—the service will engage directly and locally with Woolworths when the jobs are under threat. As I said, we are, and have been, talking to the administrator at a national level. As and when that follows through in each region and locality, the hon. Gentleman can be assured that Jobcentre Plus will work alongside the rapid response service. Where the problem is larger and has a more distinct impact on a region or area, we will grow the service response as well. He will know that we have quadrupled, from £3 million to £12 million, the central co-ordinating costs for the rapid support service. On the hon. Gentleman's point about the White Paper, I welcome what he says about the single benefit. We think that it is the right direction to take. However, given his genuine concern for carers, he may know that one thing buried in the White Paper is the fact that we are taking the carers allowance out of the path to a single benefit. There were concerns in the caring community that putting carers on a single benefit akin to jobseeker's allowance would undermine what they saw as a strong job that well supported the members of their family who needed that care. We are looking at that whole notion again. I thought that I had made it clear—I am sorry if I did not—that fraud accounts for about one third of the £2.6 billion currently lost through fraud and error. Customer error also accounts for about one third of that, as does DWP jobcentre error. We need to do all we can—I think that this will be a consensual point across the House—to eradicate that fraud and error. Much is being done. We are at least going in the right direction, but quite slowly. The hon. Gentleman makes a perfectly valid point about the £1.3 billion. We will in due course announce how that is to be broken down, but a central part of it will be for Jobcentre Plus, given the circumstances, and some will be for employment services and intervention. We will make those announcements as soon as we can, and I will ensure that he knows when that happens. The only significant spend from that thus far has been in connection with the 60,000 additional jobs that we committed to Jobcentre Plus in the PBR. To be fair, I do not think I said that I was not aware that unemployment might rise. Again, that is a point of consensus, whether we like it or not. It is not my job to make forecasts. The hon. Gentleman will know that forecasts are made on a daily basis, with various degrees of legitimacy and cogency, by any number of people, some of whom probably should set up a little tent and call themselves Mystic Meg. However, I shall not do that. I take cognisance of the hon. Gentleman's general point about welcoming the uprating. Given the time, I will happily get back to him on the smaller points of detail at another stage.