Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to review the welfare system regarding (1) the increasing number of people claiming benefits and (2) the growing costs of the benefits.

The Get Britain Working White Paper focuses on building a thriving labour market, reducing economic inactivity, and increasing the number of people in work. It includes reforms to employment support, skills, and health to get more people into work and help them progress in their career. A link to the White Paper can be found here.

We are committed to reforming the system of health and disability benefits so that it promotes and enables employment among as many people as possible. The system must also work to reduce poverty for disabled people and those with health conditions and support disabled people to live independently. It is also vital to ensure that the system is financially sustainable in the long term.

We are working to develop proposals for reform and will set them out in a Green Paper in spring.