25 June 08 – A work culture not a welfare culture
Freedom of choice will be central to radical welfare reform plans, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, James Purnell said today.
James Purnell outlined his vision for the future of the welfare system, devolving power, and opening the door for local providers to offer their own solutions to unemployment.
Speaking at the CESI Welfare to Work conference in Birmingham, James Purnell said:
“Claimants should have the choice over how to get back to work, not whether they should go back to work. We want a work culture, not a welfare culture and we can only achieve this by reforming the system so that it demands personal responsibility.
“I want to give more power to customers, providers and regions. We are reforming the Welfare State from an essentially passive one to a profoundly active one. “
Mr Purnell set out a radical approach to developing employment schemes. He said the Government recognised one of the strengths of local providers is the potential to develop new solutions to existing problems.
Under the new “right to bid” process every serious idea will be properly evaluated, by a DWP commissioning team, who will report to the Secretary of State and the Permanent Secretary.
James Purnell said:
“I want to hear their proposals. I want to be able to harness this creativity, and test the ideas we receive so that we can develop the innovative ideas for future programmes or enhance the effectiveness of current ones to help even more people back into work.
“Most radically, for the most committed areas, we want to experiment with a fully devolved model. We want to challenge areas to meet strict criteria – including ambitious pooling of budgets and a record of successful delivery, partnership working and clear governance arrangements. In return we will offer greater freedom to choose.”
Announcing an additional £5m to extend City Strategy pilots for a further two years, Mr Purnell said he wanted to investigate giving regions more control over improving employment in their area:
“Today, no region has a claimant unemployment level higher than four per cent. But in all of our regions, there are parts of our community that have been left behind. As the problems of worklessness have become more localised, so the solutions have too.
“To get those bespoke solutions, I want to devolve power to the local level, so that cities and sub-regions can pool funding. Put their budgets together to develop a comprehensive solution, not dozens of small interventions.”
Notes to Editors
- James Purnell was speaking at the CESI Welfare to Work conference in Birmingham. A copy of his speech is available on the DWP website at: www.dwp.gov.uk
- We are extending the 15 City Strategy Pathfinders for a further two years until 2011, with a further £5 million to continue to build their capacity. The 15 areas are: Birmingham, Coventry and Black Country; Blackburn with Darwen; Dundee; East London; Edinburgh; Glasgow; Heads of the Valley; Leicester; Liverpool; Greater Manchester; Nottingham; Rhyl; South Yorkshire; Tyne and Wear; West London. For further information on City Strategies see www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/welfare-reform/city-strategy/
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