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What a pointless exercise in deliberately selecting soft questions and not even giving answers to them. If they want us to engage, then real, public debate has to happen - but the government is frightened of really tackling the problem because they won't get the fawning adulation and gratitude that some non-disabled people in power expect of us, as though they're doing us a favour.

OK then Chrissy boy, what questions would you have asked? Give it yer all and lets have this hidden hard-hitting debate out in the open now. I'm not sure what I would have asked.

Dear Chris

The Minister did not select soft questions and neither did DRC - out of the 280 questions which came in these were a selection of the most challenging and those which addressed common themes. In addition to what the Minister was able to answer in the hour, he has also agreed to answer a further 30, which we will publish soon. Perhaps Mr Murphy did not address all the questions head on - he is a politician after all! But I can tell you that all that stood between the questioner and the Minister was the ISDN line - he did not have advisers present and went over the allotted hour. We agree there needs to be much more debate about the Welfare Reform proposals - perhaps Ouch could provide a powerful forum for such debate or ask the Minister(s) to do a further on-line debate here? The DRC will continue to provide the (unmoderated) discussion forum on the same site, as well as host further live discussions in the coming months. You might also contact your local MP as the Bill receives its second reading on Monday and will be debated again in the autumn.

And to repeat Podman's question - what would you like to ask the Minister?

Best wishes, Neil

Can I suggest you read the Australian Welfare To Work Reform model

or this one

or this

Obviously this is a world wide undetaking NOT JUST Australia and England. This leads to the question Who is behind the push?? and what then is the World Human Rights International doing about it.

In Australia under present HREOC (Human Rights & Equal Opportunites) any one with a pre-exsisiting condition is and has been denied insurance cover for compensation of any sort and leaves those with disablilities vunerable to being sued. All the while we see the rich and famouse being handed large sums of insurance payouts for rediculous situations.
I worked for over 25 years never knowing I wasn't covered for compensation or injury. Government in Australia is handing out millions of dollars to companies to take on disabled workers buying equipment and making accessable situations for them. Yet unless these handouts were happening they wouldn't be taking them on.
Worl wide we are seeing governments spend big on rescuing able bodied persons from situations they have placed themsleves into traveling holidaying etc but at the same time cutting back on those most vunerable. An Aryan Nation was staumped out during Word War II or was it???

I took up the offer to return to work after the Labour Party office stated as a Labour member it was my duty to find work and set an example, thats when I left Labour. I took the advice and went to my Job Center, who sent me to a job broker, I signed the forms so they could get the payments for me, and that was it I never heared from them again, until, it time for me to rejoin. I went to the Shaw trust who stated they had helped thousands into work, then told me a meeting would take place Tuesdays and Thursdays at a local council office. Down I went and spent an hour looking at the Job center computer job site. Then I went down for a month without anyone bothering to turn up, I phoned and was told sorry about that, your DEA is ill, go down next week, down I go to be told a month later it had been cancelled due to lack of support.

I joined Remploy since all my emails and telephone calls to the Shaw trust were ignored or told to call back. Remploy looked to be different, it did not take long to find the real answers. I go down now once a fortnight and we go through the jobs on offer at the job center, when a job looks right they give me the application form and off I go. I am told if I get the job they will arrange help.

And thats it, thats the total of my help and assistance under the Pathways to work.

So I do a bit of checking and ask the job center, ok they say look we are holding a benefits fair in your town, it will have all the details and help you need, down I go and I ask can I get advice, sorry this is about joining a job broker we cannot give benefits advice. I ask again what about permitted working, well we cannot give advice on this subject because Permitted work is not really about returning to work is it, I was asked then about self employment, I was told a job would be available if I went self employed, perhaps as a wheelchair builder, I go do the small jobs nobody else wanted, it was an openning in the market nobody else had seen. I said a wheelchair builder sounds great. What the hell is going on.

Then it came out in my town we have 10,000 people on Incapacity benefit, 4000 unemployed and a massive youth unemployment, we had 168 jobs available within the town, and less then 900 in the county. We are having an influx of about 500 people from Poland, and the job market was saturated.

I was told then would you think of leaving the area to find work, and I asked what help would I get and the answer it's up to you.

Without a job market all the welfare reforms will do is get people registered to work and moved to Job Seekers Allowance, less benefits and deeper into debt.

As a Fifer I am thrilled, enthused and chuffed to see a Fifer as head of governance.

On the other hand I know, appreciate and understand how fly the (un)civil service can be.

And I have concerns...

Namely, the new PR about importance switching from "cure" to "prevention" as there is a consequence:

Is the NHS likely to say "OK, 10 years ago as part of our patient focus preventative strategy we advised you to stop smoking cigarettes. You did not do so. Therefore under the powers of preventative medication practices we deem you to have a 'self-inflicted' condition and so are unable to treat your present condition.

We are very sorry for the health matters you are presently experiencing but as you did not follow the advice offered to you we as an NHS are unable to provide a cure to your condition.

We are aware that some countries do indeed have a cure but as this is now deemed as self-inflicted under powers entrusted to the NHS please continue to die slowly, painfully and with as much torment as the condition permits because, after all, we are a rather fly (un)civil service"?