Hutton launches wide-ranging Welfare Review

John Hutton, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, today launched a long-term review of the Government's welfare to work strategy to tackle economic inactivity and promote social mobility. The review is to be led by Jim Murphy, Minister for Work, with additional advisory input from David Freud, chief executive of the Portland Trust. The review aims to address what Hutton describes as a 'can work, won't work culture' and will focus on assessing what has worked over the last ten years, and make recommendations for the next decade.

Mr Hutton said that 'the Welfare State should give people the opportunity and support to overcome the barriers they face. But that can not be a passive one-way relationship. It requires individuals themselves to respond; to meet the responsibility this places on them.' He added that 'if we are to break the cycle of benefit dependency, we need to ask whether we should expect more from those who remain on Job Seekers Allowance for long periods of time in return for the help we provide.'