Making work worthwhile for all

BY PAISLEY AND RENFREWSHIRE SOUTH MP JOHANNA BAXTER

- 

When most people think about what MPs do, they often picture the rowdy back-and-forth of Prime Minister's Questions, not the hours spent in committee meetings.

But for me, the Work and Pensions Select Committee is one of the most important parts of my job as your MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South.

It might not make the news every week, but the work we do shapes how the welfare system works - from state pensions to benefits - and that affects millions of us every single day.

Just last month, we published our report on the government's Pathways to Work green paper.

It’s aim: To fix a benefits system that's struggling under the weight of rising health-related costs, to better support disabled people at work and to undo the damage left behind by years of austerity and poor decisions from successive Conservative governments.

If our welfare system is going to keep supporting the most vulnerable now and, in the future, it has to be financially sustainable.