§ Lord Carterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their estimate (a) of the numbers of people currently in receipt of long-term incapacity benefits who would like to work and (b) of the cost of extending the 1-year linking rule to all of those who decide to take up paid employment.
§ Lord Henley(a) The information is not available.
(b) It is not possible to provide this information only in respect of those who decide to take up paid employment, but to extend the linking rule from 8 weeks to 2 years for all long-term incapacity benefit recipients is estimated to cost about £30 million.