§ Mr. AlexanderTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the measures in his welfare reform programme which will assist disabled people to take up work. [141224]
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§ Mr. BayleyThe New Deal for Disabled People is a joint initiative between this Department and the Department for Education and Employment which has been testing a range of approaches—a personal adviser service, innovative schemes and benefit changes—to find out which approaches are more helpful for disabled people.
We have announced that a national network of Job Brokers will be set up to offer people receiving incapacity benefits the support, guidance and preparation they need to find paid work and move off benefit dependence.
Budget 2000 also announced plans to test the effectiveness of helping people when they become ill in work, with job retention and rehabilitation pilots. These pilots, beginning from 2001, will test the effectiveness of early work-focused help, involving health, employment and other services.