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Welfare Reform Bill

Indeed. I believe that that will be the case and if it is not—if the noble Lord would prompt me on it—I will make sure that he gets the detailed figures. Apart from new staff being recruited, 2,000 staff have been redeployed from within Jobcentre Plus to deal with the increase in JSA claims. Some 4,000 more staff than the number given in our original spending review plans have been hired in the November 2008 to February 2009 period. In line with the recent Pre-Budget Report, Jobcentre Plus will be in a position to deploy some 6,000 additional staff by the end of 2009-10. So, considerable extra resource has gone into Jobcentre Plus. The announcements mean that we will be able to recruit up to 10,000 more staff on top of the 6,000 new staff already announced in the Pre-Budget Report. Those are considerable increases in staff numbers. If they are not apparent from the departmental expenditure plans then I am sure that we can find a way of supplementing the information for the noble Lord. There was also a strong theme about training. I understand that and I am not going to duck the issue, because we will be discussing it later in some detail. Perhaps it is best if we do so collectively then. However, I also bear in mind that Amendment 26 is to do with "work for your benefit". It covers those who are work-ready, not the progression-to-work group. These are not people on employment and support allowance. We will have the opportunity of getting into these things in some detail shortly. The amendment deals with Jobcentre Plus readiness and in particular seeks to ensure that "work for your benefit" is not implemented unless Jobcentre Plus is ready to operate the programme. The noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, acknowledged that "work for your benefit" is a contracted-out programme that initially will be the subject of pathfinders. The involvement of Jobcentre Plus will be around referring claimants to the provision and changes to the way that jobcentres work, so its involvement will not be extensive.