Doubts remain over Welfare Reform plans - Alexander

5.04.33pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 15th Mar 2006

Respondiing to the launch of the Government's Green Paper on Welfare Reform, Danny Alexander MP, Liberal Democrat Work & Pensions spokesman, said:

"The Government is right to try to tackle the scandal of incapacity benefit (IB), and the Liberal Democrats are willing to work constructively with the government to help people with disabilities get back to work.

"The target of getting 1 million people off incapacity benefits over the next 10 years is ambitious, but perhaps not as ambitious as it might seem. There are roughly one million current IB recipients who will reach retirement age in the next 10 years. The Government needs to be clear about how many IB recipients it intends to get back into work.

"There are still real doubts about whether there will be sufficient resources and well-trained staff to provide the high quality of support that will be necessary if this plan is to succeed - especially in the context of dramatic staff cuts at the DWP.

"The Government needs to ensure that the new system is much more flexible to help those people who can work a little or whose conditions fluctuate."