Letter: Jobs to be done

It's good to see that Tory ministers are coming up with ideas that justify their high salaries (like getting those on benefits to do work like gardening or clearing litter). I presume that the 'pay' for this will be that claimants continue to receive their state benefits. Perhaps if ministers approached the problem from another direction it wouldn't be so contentious.

For example, ensuring that employers like councils had plenty of gardening jobs to offer whereby those out of work could receive a wage and, in turn, pay taxes.

As for clearing litter, I'm sure that we've all seen litter being dropped. If officials - employed by councils or police forces - were empowered to stop miscreants and issue fixed penalties, the streets might get cleaner almost overnight. Some sensible precautions should be taken, of course: uniforms are a real giveaway and a certain degree of musculature on the part of the officials may be handy.

BARRY LEES

Denholm Street

Greenock