Member

Following on from the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, I thought that the point about lockdown was that we encouraged young people in particular to think that, if they had the slightest hint of illness, they should not go into work. We somehow have created a situation of making it okay for people not to go to work. One of the shocking statistics that came out recently, in a different context, was that, last year, 63,000 students went straight from university to long-term sickness benefits, while the number of 24 to 34 year-olds on incapacity benefits has risen by 69% in five years. My concern is that young people are now being inculcated into imagining that they cannot cope with going to work.