Welfare Reform Green Paper

My Lords, I, too, welcome this Statement, for which I am very grateful to the Minister. However, I am concerned about one group of people—he knows who they are. There are something like a quarter of a million people who have a diagnosis of ME/CFS. These people have fluctuating symptoms that vary from day to day. Very often, when they go for a medical examination they have rested well the day before and acquit themselves very well at the interview and in the tests. More and more evidence is building up, in the context of early intervention, that if they go back to work too early, they are likely to be off work for a very much longer time in the long run. Does the Minister agree that illnesses such as multiple sclerosis also carry with them a risk of depression? With regard to ME, why is stress laid on the psychiatric symptoms when, in his report, the CMO said that ME was equal to illnesses such as MS? Why is it stressed that people with ME are suffering from a mental illness or even a behavioural problem? It is simply not fair on them. More and more international evidence is coming forward that this is an organic illness, and it needs to be dealt with. Will the Minister please address my concerns in that direction? In addition, the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, talked about employers. It is very difficult for employers—especially in small and medium-sized enterprises—to cope with someone who is well one day but not able to work the next.