Harman To Shake Up Welfare State

"When the welfare state was set up it was for people who, for one reason or another, couldn't work...It wasn't for people who just didn't want to work. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and myself have made it clear that we are going to give a range of options for young people, quality training, worthwhile jobs...But there won't be the option of simply life on benefits" she said.

Ms Harman said she expects to make a great team with her deputy Frank Field and realise Tony Blair's conviction of putting welfare reform at the heart of his programme for government.

The Social Security Secretary also outlined plans of a "stakeholder pension" She rejected the idea of compulsory contributions and said the public sector would organise the schemes, ensuring value for money and the private sector would run them.

"It is a sensible public-private partnership...Definitely, we're saying that we'll open access. We're not talking about compulsory contributions, either from employers or employees in our stakeholder pension, which was in our manifesto...But I think that we've got to make sure that these schemes are such that people do want to pay into them and pay in, not only a basic level, but make additional contributions" she said.

Ms Harman said the Blair government would clamp down on benefit fraud. "It is an enormous bill, getting on towards £100 billion. We have got to have what is called probity there. We have got to make sure every pound is properly spent" she said.