Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Monday 1st July 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mr Mark Hoban)]

As I have said in earlier responses, we are continuing to build on the system that we inherited from the previous Government. We have also had the fourth independent review of the work capability assessment and our own independent review, and we are seeing that the proportion of people going into the support group has increased in recent years.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

T3. What assessment has my hon. Friend made of the number of people who have come off the main unemployment benefits since May 2010?

[Mr Hoban]

If my hon. Friend looks at the three main benefits—jobseeker’s allowance, employment and support allowance and lone parent income support—he will see that, since the general election, there has been a reduction of 300,000 in the number claiming those benefits. That is a consequence of the measures that we have taken to get people into work, and of welfare reform.