§ 28. Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans the Government have to reduce the number of families dependent upon welfare. [53503]
§ Angela EagleWe are determined to do everything we can to help those who can work to do so. That is why we want to modernise the structure of working age tax and benefits to create the right incentives, to reward work while at the same time provide security for those who cannot.
The New Deal for Lone Parents offers a tailor-made service of help and advice for people who are bringing up children on their own to make the move from Income Support into employment. Around 4,000 lone parents have already used the New Deal for Lone Parents and gone on to get jobs. The final phase of the rollout of the service (to lone parents who were already on Income Support before April 1998) takes place on 26 October.
The New Deal for 18–24 year olds gives young unemployed people real help and choices to improve their employability and their chances of fully participating in the labour market. By the end of August over 23,000 young people had found jobs and over 8,900 are improving their job prospects in other New Deal options.
From June, we have introduced a New Deal for those aged 25 and over who have been unemployed for 2 years or more. This provides a £75 subsidy for employers who recruit people from this group and opportunities to undertake full-time education and training for up to a year while on benefit. From November, £129 million is being made available to pilot a further development of the New Deal approach over the next two years for people aged 25 and over, reaching the 12 and 18 month stages of unemployment and those unemployed for longer.
The Chancellor announced in the budget a New Deal for the partners of the unemployed. Partners of the unemployed who are themselves out of work (90 per cent. of them women) have not had access to employment programmes on the same basis as the claimant unemployed. To address this imbalance, the Chancellor has set aside £60 million from the Windfall Tax receipts to ensure that partners over 25 have the option to receive the help they need to get back to work. Childless partners aged under 25 will be included in the New Deal for Young People.
959WThe Working Families Tax Credit will be introduced from October 1999 and will guarantee working families a minimum income, above and beyond the level of the minimum wage. The new childcare tax credit will increase substantially the support available for childcare.
From next April, the National Minimum Wage will begin to end the scandal of poverty wages without adversely affecting inflation or jobs.
Our objective is to help people prepare for and get work as well as making work pay.