Welfare Reform Bill

We had very good interest in the bids for that. People said that companies would not bid, but they did. We are now in the phase of post-tender negotiations, so there is a limit to what I can say, but we have said in the past that we are happy to consider whether we can front-load the payments for taking people on. We have also made it clear that the contracts say that if the volumes rise by more than 40 per cent., we can reconsider the matter. There is also a break clause after 18 months, so whereas we used to give contracts and then come back to them at the end of the contract period, now there is much more of a relationship throughout that period. We have a mutual interest with our providers in ensuring that they deliver a good service for us. That is how we will approach the matter, and I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will find out more when we say which tenders have been selected. As I said, the principle is that virtually everyone in the benefit system should be doing something to prepare their way back into work. We know that when people take up our support, it changes lives, but we also know that when it is voluntary, only a small proportion of people ever do so. That is why we want to increase the requirements for people to come in, take up that support and put it into practice.