Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential impact on recipients of contributory Employment and Support Allowance once the one-year limit under the proposed new system passes; and on what evidential basis he determined that a one-year limit would be applied to this cohort.

In the Pathways to Work Green Paper we announced that we would be establishing a new, simple and clear Unemployment Insurance benefit through the reform of contributory working age benefits. Following recent consultation, officials are considering the responses and developing the policy for this new benefit, including the duration of entitlement.