Indeed, a pilot of the pilot has already started. The full national programme is being evaluated separately. It, too, will include a cost-benefit analysis and will be available in spring 2002. The help that the new deal has given her and so many other lone parents is a major factor in helping the Government to fulfil their commitment to halving child poverty in 10 years. The Minister will not be hurt if I say that the majority of lone parents would love to sever their relationship with her Department.
Friend is right to point to the successes of the new deal for lone parents.
On his specific question, the Government have introduced a lone parents benefit run-on from last October. Column 8 two weeks' income support or jobseeker's allowance, depending on what they were claiming before moving into work. We hope that together those measures will tide lone parents over that difficult gap. They would love to get off benefits and into a stable job, but her Department is singularly failing to encourage them to do so. I can say that 32,710 lone parents are now in jobs who would not have been in jobs before, and 10,630 are in further education and training.