Cabinet Minister criticises Rochdale MP

James Purnell during his visit to Falinge earlier this year.

The Work and Pensions Minister, James Purnell MP, has criticised Rochdale MP Paul Rowen for “misleading comments” about the Government’s plans for the biggest shake-up of the modern welfare state since the Beveridge report of the 1940s.

Responding to a recent article on Rochdale Online in which Paul Rowen said that proposed welfare reforms failed to “address the needs of those with mental health problems and the disabled”, the Minister said it was clear that Rochdale’s MP had not read the Government’s Green Paper.

“My job is to work with all MPs to ensure that no one is written off,” said the Minister. “If the MP for Rochdale were to look at our reforms in closer detail he will find that Labour is to double the funding available to help local disabled people get into or stay in work. We should make sure that disabled people who feel they can’t work get all the support they need but we should never write off a disabled person by telling them they can never work.”

The proposed reforms to help more disabled people back into work have been welcomed by a number of disability organisations and will make it easier for businesses to employ disabled people by doubling funding to help pay for support such as sign language interpreters, wheelchair lifts, specialised equipment and transport costs.

SCOPE, Leonard Cheshire Disability and the Royal National Institute of Blind People are just some of the organisations to praise the proposed Access to Work programme.

The Minister, who visited Rochdale earlier this year to meet residents in Falinge, added that the welfare proposals would ensure that people with mental health problems were given greater support, as the Government planned to work with local areas to improve the co-ordination of mental health and back-to-work services.

“We want to combine these services with improving access to the psychological therapies roll-out of talking therapy led by the NHS,” he said.

Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Simon Danczuk, added his support to the welfare reforms, which he said offered more support in return for greater responsibility, and condemned the remarks made by Paul Rowen as “irresponsible”.

“Not only are Paul Rowen’s remarks grossly inaccurate as he conveniently avoids a huge chunk of the proposals aimed at offering greater support to the disabled, but they are also irresponsible and could cause unnecessary worry for many people in Rochdale,” he said.

“It is important that people are aware of the support the Government is providing to help get them back into work and ill-informed remarks by our MP do not help.”

The Work and Pensions Minister concluded by saying how useful his recent visit to Falinge had been and stressed that he wanted to listen to the views of disabled people in Rochdale about the support they need to get back into work.

“This isn’t just about paying for more wheelchair lifts or sign language interpreters,” he said. “We want to see a culture change in the approach of employers to disabled people by making it easier for them to employ disabled people.

“I want to hear the experiences and opinions of people with disabilities in Rochdale. What would help you get back to work? What barriers have you faced in looking for a job? What more could the government do to open up opportunities for you?”

You can send your views to the Minister for Work and Pensions by contacting: welfare.reform@dwp.gsi.gov.uk