Benefit Payments 16. Mr. Knapman To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment has been made of the effect on financial incentives to work of changes over the past five years in social security benefit payments. Mrs. Gillian Shephard One of the major aims of our policies in social security has been to maintain and, where possible, improve financial incentives to work, and we are constantly monitoring the effects of policy changes in this area. Mr. Knapman Does my hon. Friend agree that, as a result of our reforms, help is being targeted to where it is most needed and that, in particular, low-paid and wage-earning families cannot be worse off now because they work? Mrs. Shepard I agree. We have reformed the income-related benefits and restructured national insurance. We have also improved earnings disregards. By those means we have virtually eliminated the worst effects of the poverty trap and considerably alleviated the unemployment trap.