§ Earl Russellasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether Baroness Hollis of Heigham intended to assert that people disentitled to means tested 62WA benefits do not suffer from "linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown" (H.L. Deb., col. 721); and, if so, on what sources of information this assertion was based. [HL211]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)People who become disentitled to benefits do so because they fail to comply with a limited number of very clear conditions of entitlement. At the heart of poverty and social exclusion are the problems of unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown. Our aim is to tackle this by ensuring all our children get a high quality education, encouraging people to work, helping people to aquire skills for a modern labour market, and by making work pay.