James Purnell likes a bit of Photoshopping and we thought he might like the poster below. The Welfare Secretary's welfare ideas were meant to be launched on Monday but they've already been leaked to Sky. We should probably welcome the new bipartisanship on welfare (as Coffee House has done) but we have a sneaking feeling that Labour just won't implement the ideas properly.
CCHQ sent out this a little earlier, detailing the ways in which Labour has lifted ideas already announced by Chris Grayling:
"Conservatives lead the agenda on Welfare Reform
1. Announcement: ‘Work for the dole’ “In piloting a new ‘work for dole programme for long term unemployed people, the government wants to learn from international best practice. We plan to run pilots in a number of Jobcentre Plus districts from 2010 requiring participation by those who finish their period with a flexible New Deal provider without finding or having had recent experience of work.” (DWP, Welfare reform Green Paper, July 2008, p33)
Already announced by the Conservatives: “people who claim for more than two years out of three will be required to work for the dole on community work programmes.” (Conservatives, Work for Welfare, January 2008 p 8)
“The design of the community work scheme will build on successful international schemes like the Australian “Work for the Dole” programme. Participants will be required to spend most of their time in supervised productive work in their communities while still retaining access to back to work activities as designed by their welfare-to-work provider.” Conservatives, Work for Welfare, January 2008 p34
“The long-term unemployed will have to join community work programmes to get them back into the work habit.” Conservatives, Work for Welfare, January 2008 p 12
2. Announcement: Reassessment of all incapacity benefit claimants “Between 2010 and 2014 we will also re-assess all existing Incapacity Benefit claimants using the WCA to ensure people are receiving the right benefit” (DWP, Welfare reform Green Paper, July 2008, p52)
Already announced by the Conservatives: “Assessments for those claiming out of work benefits – rapid assessments for every recipient, including all new and existing claimants, to assess suitability for work.” Conservatives, Work for Welfare, January 2008 p11
“We will require all current recipients of Incapacity Benefit to go through a thorough Work Capability Assessment as soon as is practicable.” Conservatives, Work for Welfare, January 2008 P34
3. Announcement: Welfare to work programmes for existing Incapacity Benefit claimants “Until now we have not been able to extend the successful Pathways model to large numbers of existing customers. This has left around two million people already on IB without the support they need to prepare for a return to work and to get a job … As people are transferred from IB to ESA, we will ensure all those placed in the Work Related Activity Group are given a personalised programme of back to work support.”
Already announced by the Conservatives: “Those who Recipients of Incapacity Benefit who are found to be partially incapacitated but capable of preparation for work will be referred to welfare-to-work providers, but with additional support to reflect their conditions.” (Conservative Party, Work for Welfare, January 2008, p33).
4. Announcement: Private and voluntary sector providers and payments by results. “We will use private and voluntary sector providers to deliver this back to work support. They will be able to borrow to invest more upfront, and then be rewarded from the benefit expenditure they save … we will test this approach in five cities and sub regions, to learn what works.” (DWP, Welfare reform Green Paper, July 2008, p52)
Already announced by Conservatives: “Welfare-to-work services to be provided by the private and voluntary sector on a payment by results basis, according to their success in returning people to sustainable employment.” Conservatives, Work for Welfare, January 2008 p 8
The job of delivering our programmes will be contracted to third party providers from the private and voluntary sectors, including local authorities with relevant expertise. (Conservatives, Work for Welfare, January 2008 p12)"
Can you believe it? Photoshop has copy&pasted our ideas.
Unfortunately for Mr Purnell there is more to government than ctrl+c ctrl+v
Posted by: Conand | July 18, 2008 at 17:33
My point exactly Conand.
;-)
Posted by: Editor | July 18, 2008 at 17:38
Nice though that the official Conservative response was a bit more mature.
Posted by: David | July 18, 2008 at 17:47
Does anyone actually care what the Liebour Party trumpet as their next 'great idea' ?
In the last 11 years, how many thousands of these sorts of things have they pledged ? Hundreds and hundreds.
They all come to nothing. Liebour are dying on their feet - these are just their final desperate but fading squeals.
Posted by: Stephen Tolkinghorne | July 18, 2008 at 18:23
Doesn't matter you know. They could steal every single idea and we could be voting for two identical manifesto's but I am still voting conservative. :P
Posted by: meli | July 18, 2008 at 19:03
Truly pathetic, and this pillock wants to be our Prime Minister HA!
Posted by: Anon | July 18, 2008 at 19:55
Tory or Labour, these ideas sound nasty stuff and another attack on the vunerable :(
Posted by: Comstock | July 18, 2008 at 20:03
1. Someone should compile a list of policies that Labour has nicked from us over the years.
2. I agree with the editors. Labour nick ideas but then bring them into public disrepute by implementing them badly.
Posted by: Vincent Wall | July 18, 2008 at 20:10
I disagree Comstock
I don't think it's a coincidence that life expectancy is so low in areas like Glasgow East, where the number of people not working is so high
I genuinely believe that working instils a sense of pride and something of a reason to exist (I know that while I was job-hunting I had a few bad days, but I worked 2 part-time jobs while I sought full-time work, which helped my self-belief)
Any measures that get people working, even menial jobs in exchange for "benefits" has to be better than having jobless people with a lot of time on their hands and, as is well documented in Glasgow East, a lot of drugs available
This measure will hopefully provide some sort of a bridge back to work, get the jobless used to being in a working environment again and, I hope, get them back into the workforce sooner rather than later. This is a good policy and one that I'm glad the government wants to implement
Posted by: Paul D | July 18, 2008 at 20:39
But Grayling's stuff is all nabbed from Freud.
Posted by: Michael A | July 18, 2008 at 22:21
Where are all these jobs going to come from especially in the current climate?
Who is going to convince employers to take chance with people who have a poor work history or history of poor health? They don't do it now so who is going to change there mind. Employers don't want to take the risk.
Yet again our caring government is going to pick on the sick and vulnerable.
No doubt the unemployed won't show up in true figures, the figures will be manipulated to show what a wonderful job our government they are doing.
Posted by: Jonothan | July 19, 2008 at 02:10
Ok tell me what would you do with me, I had an accident in 1990 in which I broke my back, damaged my spinal cord, then caught MRSA in 1991, forget who was in power then but thats does not matter.
The damage to my spinal cord is a partial spinal cord lesion, I have a bag strapped to my wheelchair which is a urine bag, but my bowel simply refuses to stop leaking, so when I go out I take body spray because of the smell well you would.
The accident took five years before all the damage came to light, now I have failure of the bladder bowel Kidneys and liver, I use a wheelchair, which I bought myself second hand because we could not get them on the NHS in the 1990's even under Major and then under Blair.
Then I had another bout of MRSA in 1995 which really hit me badly and caused one of my kidneys to fail totally.
But I had an infection again MRSA to my spinal cord doctors opened me from my neck to my bottom and then drained the puss from my spinal cord but the damage to the nerves caused pain which went chronic I now have an implanted morphine pump under the skin which delivers morphine to my spine, and guess what I had another dose of MRSA thats three this time under Blair's mob.
I now have a wife who is trained in giving injections of morphine, because without this to stop the pain I will go into a coma.
What would you do with me, be honest, not that honest gas would cost to much, but come on then tell me what would you do with me.
Posted by: Robert | July 19, 2008 at 12:14
The Labour Party ought to change their theme tune from "The Red Flag" to "The Thieving Magpie"!
When the Conservatives announce a policy, the collective thieving magpies [why pick on Purnell, they're all at it] purloin the policy, twist it around, and water it down. Why? To try to discredit the Conservatives. And then they have the cheek to say the Conservatives don't have any policies!
Posted by: Jill, London | July 20, 2008 at 00:05