LORD Freud, Welfare "Reform" Minister in our Westminster Government, has stated that those with disability should be cheated of proper wages and thus treated as people of less worth in the community in order to save money ("Freud clings on to job after claiming disabled workers 'not worth' wage", The Herald, October 16).

This is the department that has constantly cut benefits and justifies this by vague promises of cutting "benefit cheating". This is a new depth to which a minister in this Government has sunk in penalising the vulnerable and taking us back to Dickensian standards.

The amount of fraudulent benefit claims made amount to 0.5 per cent of the total welfare budget. This is in contrast to the millions lost through those who avoid paying their taxes - an amount equivalent to 33 per cent of the NHS budget. Perhaps it is Lord Freud who needs reform and should resign immediately to avoid the tag of Lord Fraud.

Rev Dr Iain Whyte,

14 Carlingnose Point,

North Queensferry.

AS a school that specialises in the care and education of boys who require additional support for learning we were deeply disappointed by the comments from Welfare Reform Minister, Lord Freud, that some disabled people are "not worth" the minimum wage.

We undertake a number of work placement programmes, working with local companies.

More recently, we have established our own programmes to give young people experience of the world of work.

The rewards of getting these young people, many of whom boast excellent skills, into work are well worth it, with higher loyalty and retention rates as well as ensuring that the resultant cost to society of having these young people out of work is avoided.

On top of this, there are various recruitment incentives on offer from the Scottish Government, such as the Employer Recruitment Incentive (ERI), in order to help employers provide training and skills development opportunities for those in this group.

This and other packages of support available to employers and young people with additional support needs (ASN) should be made more widely known, as well as a greater effort made to support employers to personalise and design jobs for young people in this category and provide appropriate training.

We would urge Scotland's employers to look beyond the label of those with ASN, disregard the comments by Lord Freud and give our most vulnerable young people the support they deserve.

Stuart Jacob,

Director,

Falkland House School,

Falkland House,

Falkland Estate,

Falkland, Fife.