§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment his Department has made of the cost of extending the two-year linking rule to all people coming off invalidity benefit to take up work.
§ Mr. ScottIt would not be possible to produce a reliable estimate of the number of those coming off invalidity benefit to take up work, but we estimate that the cost of extending the linking rule from eight weeks to two years for all IVB recipients is around £30 million.