MPs to quiz Iain Duncan Smith over Universal Credit delays 9 December 2013 Last updated at 07:53 Problems surrounding the implementation of a central pillar of government changes to the welfare system are to be examined by MPs. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith will be asked to explain why the new Universal Credit will not be paid to about 700,000 people until after a planned 2017 deadline. The Work and Pensions Select Committee will also ask about IT system problems. Ministers have said the initial roll-out was a success. Mr Duncan Smith told the Work and Pensions Select Committee in July and the Commons in September that the 2017 plan remained in place. Total failure Both Mr Duncan Smith and the official in charge of the project, Howard Shiplee, will give evidence to the committee. Universal Credit merges six working-age benefits - income-based jobseeker's allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, income support, child tax credit, working tax credit and housing benefit - into a single payment. Labour said official figures showed only a tiny fraction of the numbers due to be using the new system by the time of the next general election in 2015 would be transferred on time. Shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves accused Mr Duncan Smith and Prime Minister David Cameron of "a total failure of leadership." She said Labour, which agrees in principle with Universal Credit, had repeatedly told Mr Duncan Smith it was clear the project was in "disarray" and called for cross-party talks to try to get it back on track. The offer was rebuffed and Labour had set up its own group to look at how to implement the project should they come into power at the next general election, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.