Confederation of British Industry annual conference: Gordon Brown arrival, speech and Q&A session

Confederation of British Industry annual conference: Gordon Brown arrival, speech and Q&A session; Brown speech SOT - Let me explain the principles for welfare that will guide our approach across the whole of government, both what is being announced this week and what we will set out in the coming months / First, if the best welfare is no longer the benefits you have today but the skills you gain for tomorrow then the inactive should, wherever possible, be preparing and training to get back into work / So when someone signs on as unemployed, they sign up for a skills review, be given access to skills advice and training if that is what is needed, and this could be taken into account in any benefit entitlement / In the same vein, we should not deny people who are looking for work the chance to better their skills, today Peter Hain is announcing we must reform the so-called '16 hour rule' / And we will help people not just get work but get on at work, helping them move up the jobs ladder, so we propose a seamless transition from out-of-work training to in-work skills development and a new adult careers and advancement service to help people in work improve their skills or change their career: a commitment not just to one-off learning but to life-long learning - Rights and responsibilities will be at the heart of our approach so we will intensify compulsion in benefits system while at the same time offering new incentives / In return for new rights to training and help to get into work, we will demand more responsibility / We want lone parents on benefit to be training in preparation for going back to work when their child goes to school, there will be a more modern regime for new Incapacity Benefit claimants which will mean work for those who can, education or training for those with no skills, and treatment for those who need medical help including mental health problems / Peter Hain is announcing today that in future we will look to apply this active approach t...