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Welfare Reform Bill

Yes. Is there not an issue here in terms of the equality implications? How does the department see those implications? Secondly, I know that the Minister likes evidence-based policy-making and of course will be very aware of the research report UK Employment Retention and Advancement Demonstration, which has found that gains are made by providing support for people to advance in work through this programme. It states that, "““the evaluation found that for specific populations, gains can be achieved, even for some of the most disadvantaged job seekers, and that those gains can be sustained over a five-year period. These results suggest that the core elements of ERA offer something to build on in future post-employment interventions””." In what way is the department building on this? To me, it seems that it is going down the in-work conditionality route instead of developing the support provided in this programme.