Schedule 1
Welfare Reform Bill
4:15 pm
Jeremy Hunt (Shadow Minister (the Disabled), Work & Pensions; South West Surrey, Conservative)
I take this opportunity to welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Hood. I look forward to serving under your no doubt wise and erudite chairmanship.
I wish to speak in strong support of the amendments. We have reflected carefully on them and we support them because the role of education needs to be fleshed out if the Bill is to achieve the objectives that the Government have set out. In particular, part-time and even full-time education are often vital stepping-stones towards getting back into full employment. The Committee will be aware that one of the most iniquitous problems facing disabled people trying to lead an independent life and contribute fully to society is the education disadvantage that they suffer. Statistics such as the fact that a disabled person with a higher education qualification is more likely to be out of work than a non-disabled person with no qualification ought to give pause to anyone and make them think. In considering the drafting of the Bill we must be careful not to ignore inadvertently the fact that education is part of a solution, not part of the problem. Although we understand that for obvious cost reasons it is not possible to give the employment and support allowance automatically to everyone in full-time education, we would have much greater success in getting people into the labour market if we had a more positive attitude to the role of education.
I must declare an interest: before I was elected to Parliament last May, I ran my own publishing business. We published guides and websites to help people get on the right course and choose the right university or college. My hon. Friends might be relieved to know that it was a healthily capitalist occupation for me—at that time, of course, it was a different Conservative party. [Interruption.]