7. What assessment he has made of the potential effects on incentives to work of implementation of the provisions of the Welfare Reform Bill. (49044)

8. What assessment he has made of the potential effects on incentives to work of implementation of the provisions of the Welfare Reform Bill. (49045)

The Welfare Reform Bill introduces a fundamental reform of the benefit system and should ensure that work always pays. The universal credit will improve earnings incentives for some 700,000 people and could reduce the number of workless households by about 300,000.

Casual work and temporary work are important routes into employment, but many people are put off them, not only by benefit loss but by the complexities they will face. How will my right hon. Friend’s welfare reform programme help to address that disincentive?

One of the complexities that most people face is the fact that two Departments administer what are, in essence, benefits: the working tax credit and the Department’s own benefits system. One of the problems that occurs is that people in difficulty often find it difficult and stressful to figure out who they are supposed to notify of the changes taking place in their lives, their working hours and so on, and they have to go to two Departments to deal with two sets of figures. That will all be sorted out as we bring those together under one benefit. First, these people will not have to notify so many people, and secondly, universal credit will pick up a great deal of that through the real-time system.

Does the Secretary of State agree that in addition to the incentives in the Welfare Reform Bill, community initiatives such as the Enfield jobs club, which we launched this morning, play a vital role in securing employment, as does the support of a national charity such as GB Job Clubs?

May I take this opportunity to congratulate my hon. Friend on his job club, whose launch I attended? This is a good example of an area where Members of Parliament can help enormously, because by working with their local jobcentres to set up these job clubs, which we now discover work incredibly well with those who are out of work, people can be given real enthusiasm and hope for the future.

Can the Secretary of State give a clear commitment that nobody will be worse off in work when child care and other costs, such as the cost of school meals, are taken into account?

With respect, I think the hon. Gentleman will have to wait until I bring the proposals forward. As I said earlier, there is no point in introducing the universal credit unless we stick with our principle that work should always pay better than being out of work.

Work incentives are only effective where there is work. As we now know, unemployment is projected to be at or above 2 million for the life of this Parliament. Will the Secretary of State update us on whether the Treasury has provided him with additional funding to expand the Work programme so that it can take up the additional demand from the workless?

The Work programme is well set to cope with all the ups and downs that might take place over the next few years. The reality is that the Opposition go on about there being no jobs, but even now, advertised through the jobcentres, nearly a million new jobs have been placed in the past three months—that is 10,000 a day and about half the total number of new jobs created in the outside world. I say to the hon. Lady, with respect, that we are making these reforms and changing this complex system because more than half those jobs are likely to go to those from overseas, which does not help at all unless we reform the system to ensure that British people get a shot at the jobs, too.