The number of people out of work and claiming benefit totalled 135, 200 in October - a rise of 500.

BBC: Scottish jobless rate increases

The Department of Work and Pensions maintains it is making an out-dated benefit much clearer.

BBC: Walking stick

The Department of Work and Pensions maintains it is making an out-dated benefit much clearer, and that broadly the same number of people will be entitled to extra mobility help.

BBC: Man's hand on wheelchair

It is hard to see how the 11.3% of the German workforce who are out of work, measured by the latest unadjusted figures, benefit from trade-union opposition to the idea of more flexible working patterns and less rigid job protection.

ECONOMIST: Why is Europe growing so slowly?

Campaigners like Alison Garnham argue that the public attitudes have been influenced by tabloid caricatures of benefit scroungers when, in fact, the amount paid to out-of-work people had gone down, in real terms, over the past 40 years.

BBC: Political reporter, BBC News, in Manchester