§ Mr. BurnsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will make a statement on the entitlement to benefits of those who agree to participate in Welfare to Work for long term sick and disabled schemes. [17724]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 25 November 1997]The Government strongly believe that work is the best form of welfare for people of working age, and have set aside £195 million to fund a programme improving opportunities for sick and disabled people who want to work. We are currently consulting representatives from a number of disability organisations and employers on our initial proposals. These include funding a number of innovative schemes to explore how best to help people move into work or stay in work; introducing personal advisers to help sick and disabled people to overcome barriers to work; an information campaign to improve knowledge of the existing help available to help people into work and to change attitudes of benefit recipients, employers and the public; and a programme of research and evaluation to develop our understanding of the client group and to determine the effect of our initiatives. Participation in the welfare to work programme will be voluntary.
In addition we are examining the effect of benefit rules on incentives for sick and disabled people who want to work as part of our comprehensive spending review, and are considering the need for any changes. We are particularly keen that benefit rules should not discourage participation in the Welfare to Work programme.
We are committed to looking at ways of ending the exclusion of disabled people, and empowering them to play a full role in society. We want to develop an approach which focuses on people's abilities, instead of their disabilities.