Incapacity Benefit (Hansard, 28 July 1997)

§ 12. Mr. Dismore
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans she has to improve services to those claiming incapacity benefit. [9039]

§ Mr. Denham
In our terms of reference for our comprehensive spending review, we announced that we would review the purpose and nature of all the major components of the social security system, including sickness and disability benefits. A key priority will be to simplify the complex system of provision for sick and disabled people, which includes incapacity benefit, with particular emphasis on removing the barriers in the system that currently prevent people who are able and wish to work from doing so.

§ Mr. Dismore
Does my hon. Friend agree that the previous Government's approach to disabled people and those with long-term ill health was simply to write them off as unemployable, when many of them would value the opportunity of a job? Does he agree that the country really needs a Government who are committed to looking at people as individuals and not as statistics, and who are looking to give everyone who is able to work the encouragement and opportunity to do so, to provide a better life for themselves and their families?

§ Mr. Denham
My hon. Friend is right. Through no desire of their own, many sick and disabled people are trapped in a benefits system that encourages sickness and encourages people to stay out of work. We aim to remove the barriers inherent in the system, which prevent people from maximising their ability to work and will, therefore, be developing similar welfare-to-work proposals for the sick and disabled to those already announced for lone mothers.

§ Mr. Flight
Will it not be more difficult for people to claim incapacity benefits as a result of the stricter medical tests proposed in the Social Security Bill?

§ Mr. Denham
We all agree that the procedures that we use should be fair and that there should be a proper assessment of an individual's capacity for work. The focus should be on assessing that capacity, rather than having a benefit system that simply says to so many people, "All the incentives are to make yourself unavailable for work."

§ Mr. Swinney
Following the Minister's point about fairness in the system of allocating incapacity benefit, will he give me some advice that I can pass on to those of my constituents who previously received incapacity benefit and whose health has not materially improved, but who have lost incapacity benefit and now find that they have to wait nine months for independent tribunals to examine their case?

§ Mr. Denham
The hon. Gentleman raises an important point and I hope that we will enjoy his support during the passage of the Social Security Bill, one of whose aims is to simplify and streamline the system of appeals and appeal determination, while retaining the essential elements of independence and fairness.