18 December 2006 - Hutton launches wide-ranging welfare review
John Hutton, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, today launched a long-term review of the Government’s welfare to work strategy to tackle economic inactivity and promote social mobility.
He said the review, to be led by Jim Murphy, Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform with additional advisory input from David Freud, chief executive of the Portland Trust, will address; How we can tackle the “can work, won’t work culture” – and help those who caught in a cycle of benefit dependency; it will focus on assessing what has worked over the last ten years, and make recommendations for the next decade.
Mr Hutton said that “The Welfare State should give people the opportunity and support to overcome the barriers they face. But that can not be a passive one-way relationship. It requires individuals themselves to respond; to meet the responsibility this places on them.
He added that “If we are to break the cycle of benefit dependency, we need to ask whether we should expect more from those who remain on JSA for long periods of time in return for the help we provide. More active steps to get back into the labour market. More involvement in programmes that could increase the prospect of getting a job. And for those who won’t do so, then there should be consequences, including less benefit or no benefit at all.”
The major challenges which he outlined were:
- How Government can deal more effectively with the hardcore element of the population who should be able to work but currently remain on benefits(including JSA) for a long period of time.
- How to tackle significant pockets of poverty and worklessness in towns and cities
- How Government can best support families to get themselves out of poverty
John Hutton said: “Big economic and social changes are heading our way. We face increasing competition fro the new economies of China, India and Brazil. Our society is changing quickly too; we are getting older and fewer children are being born. On top of this all of the developed economies of the world face the unprecedented challenge of mass economic migration.
“This means that the role of a modern, active welfare to work strategy will be crucial in continuing or efforts to tackle poverty, in supporting the family, promoting social justice and helping Britain to grow and prosper amidst all the challenges of technological, social, economic and demographic change.”
Notes to editors
John Hutton was speaking at Interbrand, 85 Strand, London. The full text of his speech is available at www.dwp.gov.uk
David Freud has had a distinguished career as a journalist for the Financial Times and as an investment banker at Warburg (now UBS). He has previously worked with Government on a number of issues, including the Channel Tunnel rail link, the national air traffic control system, and the Royal Mail. David is currently chief executive of the Portland Trust which works for stability in the Middle East through economic means.
The terms of reference are “to review progress on Welfare to Work programmes since 1997, taking account of evidence from the UK and international experience, and make recommendations on how the Government can build on its success in using policies such as the New Deal to continue to reduce inactivity and in-work poverty, and to help meet the Government’s 80% employment aspiration.”
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