 |
access key options 
skip navigation what's new home site map search
disability benefits consortium home page
about us | benefits | contact us | frequently asked questions | links | make a donation | membership | publications | tax credits | what we do | what you can claim
Gordon Brown's speech to the CBI - 26 November 2007 Gordon Brown has delivered a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) at the Business Design Centre. In it he states his proposals for benefit recipients in terms of job hunting and work skills.
"For most of the past half century we have had a Keynesian paradigm - either you are in work or you are on welfare. And in the old days it was the economy that had to create work - what prevented full employment was lack of jobs.
"Now we need a new and very different paradigm. If in the old days the problem as unemployment, in the new world it is employability."
"If in the old days lack of jobs demanded priority action, in the new world it is lack of skills."
"While in the old days it was seen as the duty of government to create work for the inactive, in the new world there has to be both a duty on the government to help the inactive become employable and a duty on the inactive to take up those opportunities."
"In the old days when incapacity benefit was introduced the focus was on disabilities preventing work. Today in the interests of claimants and in the economy the focus must be on their capabilities and the opportunities for new skills for work."
You can view the full speech on the Downing Street website.
