I thought it was pretty reasonable as well.
It's reasonable for the govt. to straight-up lie in response to a petition because you agree with the govt. stance on mandatory unpaid work?
The alternative to mandatory work schemes is for long-term unemployed people to stay home doing nothing, their experience of the work-place getting further and further into the past. At least if they're doing something and still getting their JSA for a few weeks, they're potentially gaining something useful.
No, the alternative is for the unemployed to spend their time looking for work - which is a full-time job in itself.
Secondly, the Mandatory Work Activity scheme has been empirically proven to be ineffective at helping people find work. In fact, people who took part in MWA schemes were slightly less successful in finding work than those who didn't.
Thirdly, free unpaid labour has the effect of pushing down wages and reducing employment, since companies, always seeking to reduce costs, will naturally sooner take on free labour than hire someone and pay them a wage. So it is ultimately counter-productive.
Fourthly, JSA is a form of social security. It is something which people have fought for over centuries. The able and working people pay for the security of those ill, unable to work, or temporarily unemployed. It is not charity, it is a right, and the majority of those people claiming JSA have themselves paid in the past.
Finally, mandatory unpaid labour is another name for slavery. It is wrong in principle, and all right-thinking people should condemn it in the strongest terms possible.