§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the progress of his Department's review of social security.
§ Mr. HagueWe launched the fundamental review of social security last spring. Last year, we published "The Growth of Social Security", which described recent developments in social security and gave projections of expenditure growth to the end of the century. Subsequently, at the time of the Budget, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced a number of major changes concerning incapacity benefit, statutory sick pay, benefits for the unemployed and the future equalisation of state pension age. Changes in the first two areas have now been enacted by Parliament and we plan to introduce legislation on the other areas in due course.
We are continuing to keep the social security programme under review to ensure that vulnerable people are protected, and that the benefits system does not outstrip the nation's ability to pay for it.