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Order, order. Questions to the Secretary of State for Work and | :00:00. | :00:17. | |
Pensions, Sir David a mess. Question number one, Mr Speaker. The | :00:18. | :00:24. | |
Secretary of State, Stephen Crabb. I will answer questions one, 11 and 20 | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
together. This government is committed to tackling disadvantage | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
and extending opportunities so everyone has the chance to realise | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
their fuel potential. We will focus on tackling the root causes of | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
poverty, such as worthlessness and family stability. Whilst I welcome | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
my right honourable friend's recognition that strong and stable | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
families need an enormous impact on the life chances of our children, | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
will he spell out to the house precisely what his department is | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
doing to ensure that those relationships are fostered and | :01:00. | :01:02. | |
strengthen, particularly in the coastal town such as Southend? My | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
honourable friend is exactly right, family stability is a really | :01:10. | :01:11. | |
important part of our mission to tackle entrenched disadvantage that | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
is why we have doubled funding for relationship support the ?70 million | :01:17. | :01:19. | |
and why we are significant lease expanding support preferred -- | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
support for parents. We are working with 12 local authorities to learn | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
how best to strengthen support they offer to families. As he knows, | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
there is a 12 year difference in life expectancy from one side of my | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
city of Plymouth to the other. Can I ask what advice of my right | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
honourable friend gave to ensure that the chances in life and the | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
could be improved in Plymouth? The first thing I would say to him is he | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
is right, that kind of inequality is just unacceptable in Britain today | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
and that is why our life chances approach includes this set of | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
indicators that would drive action to tackle this wide range of factors | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
that can trap people into poverty, damaging their health and preventing | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
them from making the most of their life. I would like to thank the | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
Prime Minister for it the amazing work he has done on the life chances | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
strategy. Can I ask the Secretary of State, the troubled families | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
programme has been a huge success. Does he agree with me that it could | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
be more positively labelled the supported families initiative? I | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
agree very much with a point about the leadership role that the Prime | :02:36. | :02:42. | |
Minister has played in this. It has been critical in driving this agenda | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
forward. I hope the future by Minister also shares that | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
commitment. She is right about the troubled families programme, it is | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
important that we do stay positive is about these changes and we should | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
not stigmatise any community or household. The Secretary of State | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
has mentioned support for working parents a number of times and those | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
hit hardest by this government's at stake and work support for parents | :03:08. | :03:10. | |
are single parents. Those who deserve the least. Can I ask him on | :03:11. | :03:17. | |
helping single parents to think again. I share her passion for | :03:18. | :03:25. | |
helping single parents. What the current statistics all demonstrate | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
an underlying is that when lone parents are supported back into work | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
they achieve remarkable things in bringing children in those | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
households out of possibly and the trends are moving in the right | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
direction and she should welcome the initiative is that what we have | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
taken forward with Universal Credit and the supported child care costs. | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
Does the Secretary of State agree that efforts to improve the life | :03:52. | :03:54. | |
chances of disadvantaged children and families will be undermined by | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
neglecting the importance of current income levels? I have always been | :04:00. | :04:07. | |
clear that income levels are important. If you are a family in | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
difficult circumstances that regular sum of money coming in that you rely | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
on is vital but it is important that we look beyond that and for the | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
first time as a nation start to tackle the underlying root causes of | :04:20. | :04:26. | |
entrenched poverty. Last year, child poverty increased by 200,000 as a | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
direct result of this government's tax and social security policies. | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
Two thirds of these children living and working households. I 2020 it is | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
estimated 3.6 million people children will be living in poverty. | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
There is evidence that child poverty is caused by... Given that we have | :04:47. | :04:58. | |
seen a catastrophic consequence of government policy implemented on | :04:59. | :04:59. | |
scant evidence will the Secretary of State to the right thing and | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
repealed the damaging effects of the 2012 and 2016 welfare reform act | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
which threatens the life chances of these children? Let me start by | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
welcoming the honourable lady to her new position on the front bench. | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
Given the work that she did on the Select Committee I am sure she will | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
do an excellent job. About the 200,000 figure she refers to, it | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
exactly points to what was wrong with the previous relative income | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
approach which are government took to tackling poverty. In real wages | :05:32. | :05:39. | |
grow poverty rates increase despite people's income not falling. It is | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
more important that we tackle the underlying causes of poverty, | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
worthlessness, educational failure, family stability, problem debt and | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
addictions. My right honourable friend will know that Norwich is | :05:55. | :06:03. | |
challenged by the social index as of this year. But it's all part of the | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
community to come together to address these problems, including | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
the third set the hand that the constituency MPs can play a key role | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
in leading these things. I agree with my honourable friend. The work | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
that she has championed in Norwich is a good example of local action | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
and we are local -- where a local MPs can be a champion of that. As | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
much as we might want to talk about the national levels of poverty and | :06:31. | :06:33. | |
social mobility it is more important that we understand what is going on | :06:34. | :06:36. | |
at a local level and drive the collection with effective | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
partnerships. Many disadvantaged families include those with older | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
disabled relatives, including 2,000 my constituency. The government says | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
it will scrap attendance allowance. When will the government consultant | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
those plans formally? The government has not said it will scrap | :06:56. | :06:58. | |
attendance allowance. We are looking at options to devolve that a local | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
authority level that we have been absolutely clear that this does not | :07:04. | :07:06. | |
mean a cut to supporting attendance allowance. It is about looking at if | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
there are more perfect ways of delivering it at a local level. | :07:12. | :07:21. | |
Question number two, Mr Speaker. There will be no immediate changes | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
in the circumstances of British pensioners living overseas as the | :07:26. | :07:28. | |
result of the referendum. Negotiations with the future of | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
relations with Europe will begin under the new Prime Minister. What | :07:34. | :07:36. | |
discussions has he had with other countries in Europe regarding the | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
exchange rate and its effect on pensioners abroad? As a saint, the | :07:41. | :07:48. | |
negotiations proper will begin when we have a new Prime Minister but in | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
the meantime we have a European unit which has been set up in the Cabinet | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
Office which will report to the new Cabinet in due course. Wouldn't it | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
make sense for the Department for Work and Pensions to be doing some | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
investigative work now because there are millions of British pensioners | :08:06. | :08:09. | |
living elsewhere in the European Union who have access to the NHS in | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
those local areas without contributing for free the may | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
suddenly their finances in dire jeopardy intending to come back to | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
this country. Shouldn't you be working King acting immediately? | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
Waiting as if the new Prime Minister is going to be some way away might | :08:28. | :08:34. | |
be a bit of a mistake? I can assure the honourable gentleman that we are | :08:35. | :08:37. | |
working very closely with the new European Union at -- the new | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
European unit set up in the Cabinet Office. This is about what is right. | :08:45. | :08:54. | |
Why not remove that uncertainty, why not guarantee what they are entitled | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
to? It is about doing the right thing and with the new Prime | :09:00. | :09:02. | |
Minister let's cut off on the right is the dementia this happens. We to | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
need to make sure it's that the new Prime Minister is in place before | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
those negotiations start proper. The role of pensioners is a very | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
sophisticated and complex one. Many of them depend on support from the | :09:18. | :09:27. | |
relatives in this country. Has he not looked at this in some detail | :09:28. | :09:35. | |
already? The result of the referendum is only a few days ago | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
but I can assure him that there is detailed conversations going on with | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
the Cabinet unit. Britain still remains a member of the EU and I | :09:45. | :09:47. | |
want to reassure British people living in EU countries that there | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
will be no immediate changes in the circumstances. Number three, Mr | :09:54. | :10:02. | |
Speaker. Automatic enrolment has been a great success with nearly 6.3 | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
million people automatically enrolled into a workplace pension I | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
almost 143,000 employers. We will continue with our programme to get | :10:12. | :10:13. | |
many more people enrolled. Thank you, autoenrolment has met or | :10:14. | :10:26. | |
exceeded all its targets but to maximise pensions in the long term | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
we need to deal with charges. The Government put in a cap of 2.5%, but | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
the Government also said they would review the level of that cap, with a | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
view to it being lower in future. Could the Minister update us on that | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
I'm grateful to my honourable friend and I can give a assurance that yes | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
in 2017 we'll review whether the level of the charge cap should | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
change and whether to include some or all transUK costs in the count. | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
The Minister will know that in September last year the Economic | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
Secretary gave evidence to the DWP Select Committee and said that if | :11:07. | :11:13. | |
there wasn't transparency and comparability in fees, the | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
Government would legislate. Does he believe there has been transparency, | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
and if not, when is he going to legislate? The honourable gentleman | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
raises a good point. We are committed to transparency and | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
openness and committed when legislation, when opportunity allows | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
we'll be putting that into place in legislation. Thank you Mr Speaker, I | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
congratulate the Minister on the successful roll-out of | :11:40. | :11:42. | |
autoenrolment. What more can be done to help the self employed to engage | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
in the process? We are working closely with the pensions regulator | :11:48. | :11:54. | |
to make sure that the programme of autoenrolment is easily understood | :11:55. | :11:57. | |
particularly for small self employed people and those with one or two | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
employees, so the rules are clear on the website in easy to use language, | :12:03. | :12:08. | |
and with literature. Question 4 Mr Speaker. With permission Mr | :12:09. | :12:16. | |
Speakerly answer questions 4 and 9 together. Transitional arrangements | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
are already in place. We committed over ?1 billion to lesston impact of | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
these changes for those worst affected so that no-one will see | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
their pension age change by more than 18 months compared to the | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
previous timetable. We have no plans for further changes. Mr Speaker, my | :12:33. | :12:39. | |
constituent who turned 60 which year hasn't received any information | :12:40. | :12:42. | |
about the changes. The primary carer of her children and now can't work | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
because of her disability and has to work another six years. The Minister | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
has been presented with many proposals, including transitional | :12:51. | :12:53. | |
arrangements. When will the Government give these women the gist | :12:54. | :12:56. | |
they deserve? She refers to notice. Can I say at the time of the 2011 | :12:57. | :13:03. | |
pensions Act over 5 million people did receive notification and that | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
was using the addresses that HMRC then had. As far as the proposals | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
put forward are concerned, regrettably they will cost a huge | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
amount of money and therefore we have no plans to go down that route. | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
Thank you Mr Speaker, but in reality, it's the women, the 1950s | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
born women bearing the costs. My constituent is 62 years old and is | :13:28. | :13:34. | |
about to be made redundant in July, suffers with diabetes and has COPD. | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
She worked part time and couldn't contribute to a pings. She is | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
anxious she will never be able to secure another job, she won't | :13:44. | :13:46. | |
receive her state pension until she is 66. She has a large black hole in | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
her life. How does the Minister advise her on facing that bleak | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
future? I can assure the honourable lady that under the coalition | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
Government and under the present Government we have record levels of | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
employment for women, including women who are older and that is | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
something to bear in mind. We are working ex-tensively with employers | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
to make sure they appreciate the value of pool. Workers, and they | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
door. That's why we have record levels of employment, particularly | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
for women. Thank you Mr Speaker, I suspect that most honourable members | :14:26. | :14:28. | |
have been acquainted with these difficult cases such as the one | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
which the honourable lady mentioned just now. Ky ask my honourable | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
friend to keep an open mind on pension credit arrangements for | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
these type of people, which are after all means-tested and could | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
deal with the worst hardship cases? What I would say to my honourable | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
friend is that we do have particularly criteria and where | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
people fit that criteria of course they will qualify for whatever | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
benefit it is that they are seeking guidance on. Mr Speaker, 2,000 women | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
in dudply North worked hard to save and plan for their retirement but | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
have been affected by these changes. Will he meet Hillary Henderson, my | :15:08. | :15:13. | |
constituent, and other women will Dudley North, meet me and them to | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
discuss these changes in detail. And if he won't, why not? Mr Speaker, I | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
can tell the honourable gentleman I recently met with the leaders of the | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
campaign and I have also met with a lot of members of the campaign in my | :15:27. | :15:30. | |
own constituency, so I'm very well aware of all the details and facts. | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
And he'll be aware also there've been a huge number of debates in the | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
chamber as well in recent weeks. Thank you Mr Speaker, with take-over | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
by the new Prime Minister who herself falls into the category of | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
women affected by these pension changes, would now be the ideal | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
moment to look again at the various proposals put forward for much | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
fairer transitional arrangements, such as those from Marian Robinson | :16:01. | :16:07. | |
in Wales, for all women who don't have a prime ministerial pension to | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
fall back on? In 2012, only 6% of women due for retirement in the next | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
ten years were unaware of an increase in the pension age. The | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
Government has no plans to review this matter. Thank you Mr Speaker, a | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
little over a week ago thousands of women from across the UK came to | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
Parliament in a display of solidarity that very much reminded | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
me of the Dagenham Women some decades earlier. Isn't the Secretary | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
of State's refusal to revisit the financial issues faced by the 2.6 | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
million women who've had their pensions age brought forward without | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
adequate notice a slap in the face of those women? Given that the | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
former Pensions Minister admitted that they got it wrong, why is he | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
being so unreasonable. Mr Speaker, it is deeply regrettable that | :17:04. | :17:06. | |
opposition parties speak make capital out of the dispatch box and | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
from the backbenches when they do not have a proposal that is solid. | :17:11. | :17:17. | |
They do not have, they cannot give a proper, credible solution which will | :17:18. | :17:19. | |
ensure that the financial position of the country is taken into | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
account. I might also say that if the opposition parties are so, so | :17:24. | :17:28. | |
very keen on this, the pensions Act was actually in 2011, yet this issue | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
has not raised in any of their manifestos. Question 5, Mr Speaker. | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
With permission Mr Speaker I will answer questions 5, 12, 21 and 22 | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
together. The British people have Croated to leave the European Union | :17:44. | :17:46. | |
and the referendum decision must be respected and delivered. My | :17:47. | :17:50. | |
department is working closely with the EU unit that's been set up in | :17:51. | :17:53. | |
the Cabinet Office and we'll be working with the next Prime Minister | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
and the cabinet as we forge a new path for the country. Thank you Mr | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
Speaker, the provided number of legal protections of inequality and | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
human rights for disabled people. What plans has hit department put in | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
place to protect these rights following Brexit? Nobody with a | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
disability ar long-term health condition should have any fear | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
whatsoever about what's going to be happening in the coming months and | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
years as we negotiate Britain's exit from the European Union. We were | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
absolutely committed to protecting rights for disabled people in this | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
country. Our green paper, which we'll publish this autumn, will | :18:35. | :18:38. | |
outline our proposals for reforming systems to better support people | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
with disabilities and long-term health conditions. Last week the DWP | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
Under-Secretary of State for disabled people confirmed that the | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
green paper on the long promised work and health programme for | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
disabled people remained a priority for the Government. Will the | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
Minister today give us an assurance and a clear commitment in light of | :18:59. | :19:01. | |
the current uncertainty... When she reads the green paper which | :19:02. | :19:27. | |
we hopefully will publish this year she'll see how we are going to use | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
it to better support people with disabilities and close the | :19:32. | :19:34. | |
disability employment gap which I think is cross-party support for in | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
this House. Support for people placed on the ESA from April 2017, | :19:41. | :19:47. | |
left many disabled people in the dark and without the protections of | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
the EU. Will the Minister give a assurance the Government have a plan | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
for the green paper to give back so that those, those being affected by | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
these changes are accurately assessed and recognised in value by | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
the state? I absolutely do agree with him about recognising people | :20:07. | :20:10. | |
with these health conditions and protecting them. We are committed to | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
doing that. I would just, without repeating the answer I gave | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
previously, we do have money set aside. We have a green paper we'll | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
publish this year and that will set out clear reform options which I | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
hope will command support from both sides of the House and disability | :20:28. | :20:35. | |
organisations themselves. Does my right honourable friend agree that | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
one of the most important policy developments of the fact that once | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
we have left the European Union, decisions of his department relating | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
to eligibility for benefits will no lower than be at risk of being | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
overturned by the European Court of Justice? My honourable friend is | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
absolutely right. There will be that freedom in the future. There are | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
more options we can develop now even while we are still in the European | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
Union for further ensuring we have a fair benefits system that doesn't | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
act as an unnatural draw for move migrants coming into this country. | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
We absolutely want people to come here and work and bring their | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
talent, but we don't want the benefits system inflating the | :21:22. | :21:24. | |
immigration numbers. The impact of uncertainty on the economy following | :21:25. | :21:27. | |
the Brexit vote is already being felt and ultimately will affect | :21:28. | :21:30. | |
jobs, tax revenues and public spending. Before the referendum, the | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
Government predicted 500,000 jobs may be at risk. So what does the | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
Secretary of State doing to protect these jobs? And what is his estimate | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
on the impact on social security spending? I think it's really | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
important that none of us talk up the risks and the dangers to the | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
economy. I think we need be clear sighted about what the risks and the | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
challenges are but we shouldn't be doing anything to talk down the | :21:57. | :21:59. | |
British economy. The truth is our economy is fundamentally strong. We | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
have record numberses of people in work. The announcement by Boeing | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
today, continued investment in creating jobs in our country. The | :22:08. | :22:13. | |
lack of planning this will impact on pension funds. | :22:14. | :22:25. | |
Given that 5,000 of the 6,000 DB pension schemes are currently in | :22:26. | :22:28. | |
deficit and the pensions regulator has raised the concerns of | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
additional risks to these schemes following the Brexit decision, what | :22:33. | :22:34. | |
is the Secretary of State doing to protect the pensions of millions of | :22:35. | :22:43. | |
people who will be affected by this? Nothing fundamentally has changed | :22:44. | :22:45. | |
sings the outcome of the referendum vote. The economy still continues to | :22:46. | :22:52. | |
perform well. As I said, we need be careful that we don't do our bit in | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
talking down the economy at the moment. With respect to this | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
specific issue of DB pension scheme, I agree with the honourable lady | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
there's a systemic issue we need to look at there and that's something | :23:05. | :23:08. | |
my department will be discussing more in the months ahead. One thing | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
we do know has happened is the fall in the pound. That's resulted in our | :23:14. | :23:21. | |
exports being made much cheapered and exports more expensive. That | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
will lead to more business and more jobs. Wouldn't that help the | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
Minister in reduces the number of unemployed? But isn't the truth, Mr | :23:30. | :23:36. | |
Speaker, that right in front of us now we have a mixture of | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
opportunities and challenges? It is income bent upon us and we are | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
determined as a Government to turn those challenges do opportunities. | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
They can do their bit not to talk down the economic at this time. Mr | :23:52. | :23:58. | |
Speaker, already during this Parliament the Government austerity | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
cuts have taken ?12 billion out of the pocket of low income households, | :24:02. | :24:09. | |
mostly through changes initiated through the DWP. With many | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
predicting a further... And the pound less stable than bitcoin, will | :24:16. | :24:25. | |
I have set out the broad approach I take to welfare reform. With regards | :24:26. | :24:33. | |
to issues in Scotland, which I know she is prime air little concerned, | :24:34. | :24:36. | |
with I had a constructive meeting last week with her colleague, the | :24:37. | :24:39. | |
welfare Minister in the Scottish Parliament. We remain committed to | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
giving the Scottish Government the new welfare powers agreed to the the | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
Scotland Act. In the last week for the fourth year in a row the | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
infrastructure and projecting authority has given the roll-out of | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
personal independence payments an amber rating indicating with major | :24:59. | :25:01. | |
risks apparent in a number of key areas and urgent action needed to | :25:02. | :25:04. | |
address those problems. What's the Secretary of State going to do to | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
fix these problems and protect his department's project from the | :25:10. | :25:16. | |
impending doom of a cabinet full of Brexiteers? | :25:17. | :25:23. | |
I have been committed to driving through approvals to the PIP | :25:24. | :25:30. | |
process. It still has huge support over disability organisations. | :25:31. | :25:37. | |
On the one hand you have lush cosmetics who had just announced the | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
point it was the production overseas because they say their workers don't | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
feel welcome here. In the film and farming where 38% of the workforce | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
at the moment comes from overseas they say they would simply go out of | :25:52. | :25:55. | |
business because it would not be able to find the workforce. What is | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
his department doing to protect jobs in the south-west after the Brexit | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
vote? As a department we have clear plans in place for any significant | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
increase in unemployment whether that is in a local or particular | :26:09. | :26:15. | |
region or across the UK. We have contingency plans. What I would say | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
is we need to be really careful that we don't exaggerate the bad news | :26:22. | :26:27. | |
that she may think is out there. The opportunities for this country to | :26:28. | :26:35. | |
securing new investment. There are risks and challenges we need to be | :26:36. | :26:38. | |
clear-sighted and unprepared for those. Number six, Mr Speaker. The | :26:39. | :26:45. | |
number of workers households is not the lowest on record. Since 2010 it | :26:46. | :26:49. | |
has fallen by more than three quarters of a million. In real and | :26:50. | :26:57. | |
district the number of people needing support fire the work | :26:58. | :27:04. | |
programme for long-term unemployed has dropped in the last 18 months. | :27:05. | :27:12. | |
While this is good news, claimant rates remain concerning imports of | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
Rhyl. Can the Minister assure me that the new work and health | :27:18. | :27:20. | |
programme will take particular account of individuals who are less | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
receptive to intervention and need more intensive input? I absolutely | :27:25. | :27:30. | |
do agree with him. The new work and help programmes are being designed | :27:31. | :27:33. | |
to have those people with multiple and complex barriers to getting into | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
work. Our Green Paper will look at the ways we can reduce the | :27:39. | :27:45. | |
disability and employment gap. I look forward to meeting with him and | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
his GP collects to discuss these important issues. Given that the | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
Secretary of State... That the work programmes have been cut by 87% and | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
the Secretary of State nine knows who the next Prime Minister will be | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
the confirmed that he will lobby her to increase the funding for the | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
Green Paper and the resulting system that produces and confirm a | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
timetable for its roll-out today? I am pleased to tell the honourable | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
gentleman that the next Prime Minister of this country absolutely | :28:19. | :28:21. | |
shares a passion and commitment for a one nation vision of our society, | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
breaking down barriers to disadvantage and ending | :28:27. | :28:29. | |
inequalities. We await the specific decisions that the new Prime | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
Minister takes on the important issues we are discussing today. Just | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
building on the point about the significantly reduced amount of | :28:39. | :28:42. | |
funding made available for what could and health programmes, what | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
assurance can he give us that if we do in later Brexit see a significant | :28:47. | :28:49. | |
increase in the number of general people looking for work high world | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
that's programmes serve everybody? The important point to make is that | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
the work and health programme is just one part of a wider package of | :28:59. | :29:02. | |
initiatives that we are taking forward to closing the disability | :29:03. | :29:06. | |
employment gap and better supporting people with long-term health | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
conditions. Without repeating what I have said in previous questions the | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
Green Paper that we will this year will outline the full range of | :29:16. | :29:19. | |
possible reform options that we are interested in taking forward? Amber | :29:20. | :29:26. | |
seven, Mr Speaker. We know that work is the best route out of poverty. | :29:27. | :29:31. | |
The number of people in workers at a record high and the number of | :29:32. | :29:34. | |
children living in the household were no one works has fallen since | :29:35. | :29:40. | |
450,000 since 2010. My constituency has the third highest level of child | :29:41. | :29:46. | |
poverty in the country and 13,600 families currently receive tax | :29:47. | :29:49. | |
credits leaving them vulnerable to the government cuts to Universal | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
Credits. In his aborted bid for Tory leadership he said that he had a | :29:55. | :29:57. | |
strong grasp of the social and economic divisions in our country. | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
If that is true, will he agree with me that cuts to Universal Credits | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
will only compound social and economic divisions in our country | :30:06. | :30:08. | |
and will he not committed to reversing these changes so that our | :30:09. | :30:12. | |
children don't pay the price of his government's political choices? I | :30:13. | :30:19. | |
absolutely stand by what I said. What I would say is we have this | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
massive expansion of tax credits under previous Labour governments | :30:25. | :30:28. | |
and did not do a single thing to tackle the underlying causes of | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
poverty. The Universal Credit, that is just one part of what we are | :30:34. | :30:38. | |
doing. Also look at the National Living Wage which the Labour Party | :30:39. | :30:41. | |
is to support at one time, increasing personal alliances. We | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
are in the business of transforming the landscape for people on low | :30:46. | :30:48. | |
incomes. That is why the figures are moving in the right direction. | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
Whatever the recent changes have been to benefit it does not seem to | :30:54. | :30:58. | |
have dealt with the big issue around the tip. I have had to deal with | :30:59. | :31:04. | |
that horrendous case where a person should have got temp one and didn't | :31:05. | :31:07. | |
have to go through the whole process. What is the government | :31:08. | :31:15. | |
doing to make to the people he deserved to get Pip Gattaca and not | :31:16. | :31:22. | |
wallowing? My colleague will be happy to meet with you to discuss a | :31:23. | :31:28. | |
particular case. In terms of the broader issue, we are including the | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
PIP process. We are speeding up decisions and appeals. If there are | :31:34. | :31:36. | |
specific concerns that the honourable member has I would be | :31:37. | :31:40. | |
happy to meet with him to discuss it further. Number eight, Mr Speaker. I | :31:41. | :31:46. | |
will answer questions eight, 15 and 16 together. This government is | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
committed to having the disability employment gap. We announced a real | :31:52. | :32:00. | |
spending inks. In the last three years many disabled people have | :32:01. | :32:04. | |
entered employment under paper will set out our plans to support more | :32:05. | :32:08. | |
disabled people into work. In my constituency over 99% of that rated | :32:09. | :32:14. | |
enterprises are small and medium-size enterprises. Can he tell | :32:15. | :32:22. | |
us what he is doing to help SMEs bring people with disabilities into | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
work? I understand that point. We have three successful pilots | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
concentrating on a small employer offer matching up those with a | :32:31. | :32:34. | |
disability to the 45% of jobs that are available through SMEs. In | :32:35. | :32:43. | |
Britain there is an astonishing 30% between disabled and non-disabled | :32:44. | :32:47. | |
people in work. What steps are being taken -- taken to make sure that | :32:48. | :32:51. | |
disabled people are being afforded the same professional opportunities | :32:52. | :32:57. | |
as those without disabilities? We are committed to having the | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
discipline -- disability unemployment. There will be named | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
coach, upscaling our job centre support staff. We are also | :33:09. | :33:11. | |
recognising that we need to create opportunities so we're working with | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
businesses through the access to work scheme, the small employment | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
offer under the reverse job fairs. I recently attended a celebration at a | :33:22. | :33:26. | |
college in North Devon to thank the employers and congratulate the | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
students who have been taking part in the successful supported | :33:31. | :33:33. | |
internship programme which provides valuable work experience for young | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
people with additional needs. Will the Minister join me in | :33:38. | :33:47. | |
congratulating everyone concerned? I would like to pay tribute to my | :33:48. | :33:50. | |
honourable friend because I had the pleasure of meeting the students and | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
staff at the college at his own reverse jobs they the one he took a | :33:55. | :33:57. | |
proactive approach to linking employers with a good opportunities | :33:58. | :34:01. | |
provided by organisations like the college. Given the prominent Brexit | :34:02. | :34:11. | |
campaign has called for a bonfire of EU protections for workers what | :34:12. | :34:14. | |
guarantee will the Minister give that all of the current protections | :34:15. | :34:18. | |
extended to disabled people by our membership of the EU will be safe? | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
As a government we have a proud record. We spent over ?50 billion | :34:24. | :34:29. | |
supporting people with disabilities. Up 2 billion since the last | :34:30. | :34:31. | |
Parliament and we will continue to work in this area. Question number | :34:32. | :34:40. | |
ten, Mr Speaker. The Minister for pensions, Aramis Altman and I met | :34:41. | :34:47. | |
with representatives to listen to their concerns. We made clear the | :34:48. | :34:50. | |
position of the government that we will not be unwinding past decisions | :34:51. | :34:53. | |
and there are no plans to change the policy. The Minister will be aware | :34:54. | :35:03. | |
that in my constituency alone between 2016 and 17 and 2025 and | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
26/5000 women will be affected by these changes. Some of them will | :35:10. | :35:13. | |
need to work six years longer than they anticipated. For the last time, | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
will the today show some leadership and Radovan shrugged his shoulders | :35:20. | :35:22. | |
step up to the mark an end this injustice? No one is shrugging | :35:23. | :35:30. | |
shoulders. There is no credible alternative that has been put | :35:31. | :35:34. | |
forward by any of the parties. It was not in their manifestos. May I | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
say to honourable members that they don't help the woman by leaving them | :35:39. | :35:44. | |
to have expectations when the position of the government is clear. | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
There was a 1.1 billion concession made in 2011. The period involved | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
was reduced from two years to 18 months and 81% of the women | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
affected, the period concerned is no more than 12 months. 81% of women | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
will not be affected by more than 12 months. A few moments ago his | :36:05. | :36:14. | |
Secretary of State made a statement saying that Britain's economy was | :36:15. | :36:20. | |
booming, or words to that effect. If it is that good why doesn't he make | :36:21. | :36:29. | |
sure that women get the proper pensions and not this load of clap | :36:30. | :36:35. | |
that they are chucking out now? Can I correct the honourable gentleman. | :36:36. | :36:42. | |
My right honourable friend said this economy was fundamentally strong. It | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
would've been helpful if he had listened to some of the answers I | :36:47. | :36:49. | |
gave earlier on while he was this question. If he had listened to the | :36:50. | :36:53. | |
questions he would have appreciated... He would have find | :36:54. | :37:02. | |
that it 1.1 1p concession was made, in 2011. Number 13, Mr Speaker. In | :37:03. | :37:12. | |
the east of Finland the number of people in employment has increased | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
by nearly 300,000 since 2010 and the employment rate is close to the | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
highest on record. In my constituency unemployment has come | :37:22. | :37:27. | |
down from 4.3% to 1.5% last month? Only last Friday March three and | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
most are very welcome ?23 million investment in the King's Lynn plant | :37:33. | :37:37. | |
thus creating more well-paid skilled jobs. Does he agree that in this | :37:38. | :37:41. | |
post Brexit climate all of us should be doing what we can to flag up such | :37:42. | :37:48. | |
successes? This is yet another sign of just how fundamentally strong our | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
economy is, which is what is helping us deliver record numbers of people | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
in employment. I did not study geography at University at the | :37:59. | :38:02. | |
honourable gentleman's constituency is a little bit away from East | :38:03. | :38:12. | |
Anglia. I am in a generous mood, but they do need the honourable | :38:13. | :38:16. | |
gentleman that if he wants to persuade me that Bedford and Clemson | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
is a hop, skip and jump away from the honourable gentleman's | :38:21. | :38:28. | |
constituency he has a taxing task. As a lifelong watcher of Anglia | :38:29. | :38:34. | |
television, from the heart of Bedford, we are very proudly members | :38:35. | :38:42. | |
of East Anglia. I would like to say that in Bedford, which is a small | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
town, we have only small employers. We don't have a large employment | :38:47. | :38:53. | |
company. What steps is the government taking to encourage small | :38:54. | :38:55. | |
businesses to take up young people and others who are unemployed? I | :38:56. | :39:03. | |
would never have done anything like the honourable gentleman has just | :39:04. | :39:07. | |
done when I was a backbencher. 45% of private sector jobs are created | :39:08. | :39:11. | |
by small businesses so the key to the success of trading | :39:12. | :39:14. | |
opportunities. This will be at the heart of the Green Paper, making | :39:15. | :39:18. | |
sure they are aware of the initiatives. Number 17, Mr Speaker. | :39:19. | :39:30. | |
The DWP have received my honourable friend from Racal north's | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
recommendations and agree that the requirement to achieve level one | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
English and mouth in an apprenticeship as a hurdle for those | :39:41. | :39:43. | |
with learning disabilities. We will look to adjust this requirement to | :39:44. | :39:46. | |
entry-level three as soon as possible and monitor the impact. | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
Last month I received a wonderful letter from a 13-year-old | :39:52. | :39:55. | |
constituent, Eleanor, who wrote to me about 20 world brother. Richard | :39:56. | :39:59. | |
has autism and learning difficulties and struggles to find work. The news | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
about the educational assistance there is very welcome. He has met | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
with frustration and discrimination in employment. She wrote to me, | :40:10. | :40:14. | |
seeing how the public and treat him is terrible and it is hard on him | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
and the family. Please help him and people with disabilities to have a | :40:20. | :40:22. | |
fairer life with implement opportunities. Does he agree with me | :40:23. | :40:26. | |
that the enormous contribution of disabled employees are not only | :40:27. | :40:27. | |
being recognised by employers? That's right, the point about | :40:28. | :40:37. | |
employers. That's why we've worked with Autism Alliance across our | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
network. We have specialist teams in this area for access to work, and | :40:42. | :40:46. | |
the small employer offer will match employers with the support and help | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
to get more disabled opportunities. Question 17, Mr Speaker. | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
THE SPEAKER: 18, indeed. Provided performance is measured across a | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
range of service level agreements setting out the expectations for | :41:03. | :41:10. | |
quality service, this ensures that audit and others are in place. Given | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
the infrastructure and project authority's rating of his | :41:17. | :41:19. | |
department's pit programme once again is marked as amber red, | :41:20. | :41:22. | |
meaning successful delivery of the project is in doubt, with major | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
risks or issues apparent in a number of areas, what urgent a is he taking | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
to ensure problems in assessment are addressed and that disabled people | :41:32. | :41:36. | |
do not continue to bear the brunt manufacture his policies? Actually | :41:37. | :41:41. | |
we've seen that those who go through the pit process, 22.5% of claimant | :41:42. | :41:47. | |
secure the highest rate of benefit compared to 16% under DLA. We have a | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
constant revalue, and a claimant would expect to have their | :41:54. | :41:57. | |
assessment process through 13 weeks median end to end, well within | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
expectations. Thank you Mr Speaker. Will the Secretary of State | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
personally intervene in a case of one of my constituents, who suffered | :42:08. | :42:14. | |
a stroke, has severe eyesight problems, is almost fully wheelchair | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
bound, was refused PIP. As a result his wife has been refuse carer's | :42:21. | :42:24. | |
allowance. He hasn't had a reassessment since November last | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
year. That is not acceptable. I would be happy to meet with the | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
honourable member to discuss this specific case. Question 19, Mr | :42:33. | :42:41. | |
Speaker. The Government set out assessment of the impacts of the | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
welfare policies in the welfare reform and work Act on 20th July | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
2015, with similar assessments for previous changes. Spending to | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
support people with disabilities and health conditions will with higher | :42:54. | :43:02. | |
in real terms to every year in 2010. Scotland and my constituency of | :43:03. | :43:07. | |
Glasgow East has higher levels of long-term health problems compared | :43:08. | :43:11. | |
to the UK as a. People living with disabilities tend to be more | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
dependent on benefits from a lower than period of time and are more | :43:16. | :43:18. | |
vulnerable to changes to disability benefits. Given that Government and | :43:19. | :43:29. | |
predecessor embarked on the biggest overhaul, the Government take | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
regular cumulative impacts assessments, it is vital to do so. | :43:34. | :43:45. | |
Her Majesty's Treasury already publishes cumulative analysis, | :43:46. | :43:48. | |
including welfare spending, health spending, income support. We need to | :43:49. | :43:56. | |
consider increases in employment, personal credit, PIP, and investment | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
in infrastructure. THE SPEAKER: Topical questions, Mr | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
Speaker Richard Graham. On 6th July I appoint Paul Grey to lead the | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
second independent review of PIP. A call to evidence has been published | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
today. Seeking evidence from individuals to reform the review. | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
The review will consider how further evidence is being used to assist the | :44:19. | :44:25. | |
claim decision. As well as building on recommendations from the first | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
review. I am announcing the department's intention to conduct an | :44:30. | :44:33. | |
evaluation of PIP with initial find position be published by pearl 2017. | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
To help deliver our manifesto commitment of #13wri7k million | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
people with disabilities into work, will my right honourable friend | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
consider extending the come. Pumpings for apprentices to | :44:49. | :44:52. | |
additional apprentices and full-time employees with disabilities, so that | :44:53. | :44:56. | |
like the US, the Netherlands and Ireland, our tax system benefits | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
employers who see the abilities as well as the disabilities of all our | :45:02. | :45:06. | |
constituents? Mr Speaker, when it comes to closing the disability | :45:07. | :45:09. | |
employment gap I'm clear there are no options left off the table. We | :45:10. | :45:16. | |
want to look at the widest range of solutions, including financial | :45:17. | :45:19. | |
incentives, like our employment offer, to increase local job | :45:20. | :45:24. | |
opportunities for disabled people. In May after a two-year fight the | :45:25. | :45:29. | |
Government published redacted reports of 49 social security | :45:30. | :45:33. | |
claimants who died between 2012 and 2014, revealing that ten of the 49 | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
had died followings a sanction and 40 of the deaths were associated | :45:39. | :45:45. | |
with a suicide or suspected suicide. Another nine social security | :45:46. | :45:49. | |
claimants have died since 2014. When will the Secretary of State publish | :45:50. | :45:53. | |
their reports into their deaths, lor we have to wait in the two years for | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
these as swell? I hear the point that the honourable lady is making. | :45:59. | :46:03. | |
It is important not to infer too many causal links in the factors | :46:04. | :46:09. | |
that she is raising. She is being extremely careful in how she | :46:10. | :46:12. | |
describes these changes at the dispatch box. I am happy to discuss | :46:13. | :46:18. | |
these with the honourable lady on another occasion. Can my right | :46:19. | :46:21. | |
honourable friend say what support his department is offering to those | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
in late and middle age and older seeking work? My honourable friend | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
raises a good point. Mr Speaker, we are doing a number of things in this | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
area. For example, as well as access to full Jobcentre Plus offer of | :46:36. | :46:41. | |
personalised support, DWP introduced older claimant champions in each of | :46:42. | :46:48. | |
the Jobcentre Plus groups to raise the profile of older workers, | :46:49. | :46:52. | |
highlight the benefit of employing older job seekers and share good | :46:53. | :46:58. | |
practices. Could the Secretary of State explain to the was pi women | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
from the North East some of whom are already retired in the mistaken | :47:05. | :47:08. | |
belief they would be receiving their state pension sooner, in a region | :47:09. | :47:12. | |
that continues to have the highest level of unemployment in the | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
country, how are they to make ends meet? Can I say to the honourable | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
lady she is well aware there are a number of benefits involved here. | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
The DWP suffer carried nowt 2012 found that only 6% of the women who | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
were due to retire within ten years were unthat were the state pension | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
age had increased. Thank you Mr Speaker, thanks to the work hof the | :47:37. | :47:43. | |
Government the night rate in Bath is just 1.5%. As well as providing a | :47:44. | :47:50. | |
stead income working provides health benefits physical and mental? I | :47:51. | :47:56. | |
fully think that being in work has many benefits. It gives us a sense | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
of value and can greatly benefit our mental and physical wellbeing. | :48:02. | :48:04. | |
That's why this Government is championing the role of work, with | :48:05. | :48:07. | |
more people in work than inferior before we are making sure shah the | :48:08. | :48:14. | |
whole society benefits. With an 87% Budget cut by the UK Government in | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
the first year of predict services in Scotland, could the Secretary of | :48:19. | :48:21. | |
State tell us the what his Government is doing to support | :48:22. | :48:24. | |
people back into work in Scotland and perhaps the Secretary of State | :48:25. | :48:27. | |
could take this opportunity to congratulate the Scottish Government | :48:28. | :48:31. | |
on the ?20 million of extra support they've been given to help people | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
back in works whereas this Government has let the people of | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
Scotland down? I disagree with the honourable lady's question. We are | :48:41. | :48:44. | |
continuing to roll out universal credit in Scotland. The early | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
results from positive. I had a constructive and useful meeting with | :48:49. | :48:52. | |
Angela Constance, the Scottish welfare Minister, last week. I | :48:53. | :48:55. | |
recognise that Scottish Government have separate choices and | :48:56. | :48:59. | |
priorities. We are committed to giving them to powers to help them | :49:00. | :49:02. | |
take them forward. Starting a new business is one of the best ways out | :49:03. | :49:05. | |
of worklessness. Will the Secretary of State join me in encouraging the | :49:06. | :49:10. | |
entrepreneurial job seekers from across the country to apply for the | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
Government's new enterprise allowance? We absolutely do wont to | :49:15. | :49:24. | |
support more want to develop the entrepreneurs of the future. The new | :49:25. | :49:29. | |
enterprise allowance has helped the start of 25 thousand new businesses. | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
I look forward to seeing some of these businesses in action. Mr | :49:34. | :49:40. | |
Speaker, for obvious reasons refugee families and children don't usually | :49:41. | :49:47. | |
require to meet residency requirements, so why are the | :49:48. | :49:54. | |
Government trying to deny disabled refugees, including children, access | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
to DLA. Many of them have been resettled here because of their | :50:00. | :50:02. | |
disability? This is an issue we are considering legal advice on at | :50:03. | :50:08. | |
present. As Paralympians from Cardiff, Wales and across the United | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
Kingdom prepare tore the Paralympics in Rio, how we can use the Minister | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
to change the perception of disabled people and what the Government are | :50:19. | :50:21. | |
doing to prepare for this? I would like to thank for hosting the | :50:22. | :50:25. | |
announcement of the tennis Paralympic team for Rio. I wish the | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
pay tribute to Channel 4, who will be showing over 700 hours of the | :50:31. | :50:34. | |
Paralympics. A 75% of their presenters having a disability. It | :50:35. | :50:37. | |
is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the ability. We are all in | :50:38. | :50:43. | |
for a real treat next Friday when Channel 4 launch their fantastic | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
video. THE SPEAKER: I'm extraordinarily | :50:50. | :50:52. | |
grateful for the Minister giving me my cue. May I take this opportunity | :50:53. | :50:59. | |
to warmly congratulate Gordon Reid on his success at Wimbledon | :51:00. | :51:02. | |
yesterday. I'm sure the House will want to join me in congratulating | :51:03. | :51:09. | |
most warmly Andy Murray... Hear, hear.. On an outstanding performance | :51:10. | :51:18. | |
on womening his second Wimbledon title and third Grand Slam so far. | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
Diana Johnson. The disabilities Minister just agreed to meet with a | :51:24. | :51:26. | |
Member of Parliament and their constituent about an issue they were | :51:27. | :51:30. | |
concerned about. Can I try with the Pensions Minister? Will me meet with | :51:31. | :51:35. | |
me and some of the 0,000 women affected by the pension changes | :51:36. | :51:38. | |
being born in the 1950s and come to Hull and meet some of these people | :51:39. | :51:43. | |
and hear directly from them? Mr Speaker, I have met with the | :51:44. | :51:48. | |
leadership of the campaign. Very met my constituents. She has Arctic | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
lated the views of her constituents, as have many other MPs on a regular | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
basis. I know all the facts. The issue here, Mr Speaker, is that | :51:58. | :52:04. | |
members like her should not be given expectations to women when the | :52:05. | :52:08. | |
position has been made absolutely clear at the dispatch box, the | :52:09. | :52:12. | |
Government has no intention of change its policy. Can I thank the | :52:13. | :52:18. | |
disabilities Minister for accepting the recommendations of the review | :52:19. | :52:26. | |
that I chaired into the disability apprenticeships are. Which | :52:27. | :52:31. | |
recommendations can be applied to hearing loss and sight loss as well? | :52:32. | :52:37. | |
I would like to thank my honourable friend, as it was his task force | :52:38. | :52:46. | |
which conclude its work, and we've secured... I'm sure we'll be coming | :52:47. | :52:52. | |
soon to my honourable friend to extend the next wave which he will | :52:53. | :52:59. | |
be delighted to chair. The Government is trialling new | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
technology for the payments and spending of claimants benefits. It | :53:04. | :53:06. | |
is a fantastic new technology but Government's only port says it needs | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
a regulatory, ethical and data framework. So how do we though that | :53:11. | :53:17. | |
vulnerable benefits claimants are not being forced to share their data | :53:18. | :53:23. | |
without giving informed consent? I thank the honourable lady for this | :53:24. | :53:26. | |
interesting question. Question. This technology is new. I'm not an expert | :53:27. | :53:33. | |
on it. The noble Lord Freud is in other place is an expert on it. We | :53:34. | :53:38. | |
are committed to the highest standards of protection of data. In | :53:39. | :53:42. | |
terms of the wired tax issue she refers, to I look forward to | :53:43. | :53:47. | |
discussing this with her in more detail. Currently children under | :53:48. | :53:54. | |
three are not eligibility for moatability Williams. Would my | :53:55. | :54:05. | |
honourable friend agree to look at this issue to see if these specific | :54:06. | :54:08. | |
young people can get the support they need? I know my honourable | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
friend has been campaigning in this area for some time. It is an issue | :54:14. | :54:17. | |
we are acutely aware of. I would be happy to meet with him to discuss | :54:18. | :54:23. | |
further opportunities. I don't want to upset anybody on our frontbench | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
by showing passion and anger about this Government's failure to tackle | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
the unscrupulous employers that give no guarantee of employment, no | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
contract, no certainty, no pension, nothing but zero hours contracts and | :54:39. | :54:42. | |
people being hired from agencies. When is this Government going to | :54:43. | :54:48. | |
take on these rotten employers? Zero hour contracts only form a very | :54:49. | :54:52. | |
small proportion of the overall jobs in the labour market. The thing | :54:53. | :54:57. | |
that's pernicious about zero hour contracts is the exclusivity | :54:58. | :55:00. | |
clauses. That's widespread, we were the Government that took action to | :55:01. | :55:02. | |
deal with that. We have an initiative with the DWP | :55:03. | :55:14. | |
and the Salvation Army foodbank. People come into the foodbank and | :55:15. | :55:19. | |
the DWP can help them in any way they can. Would my honourable friend | :55:20. | :55:23. | |
like to come to Morecambe and see first-hand how this initiative is | :55:24. | :55:27. | |
working night? Yes, I would like to go to Morecambe | :55:28. | :55:31. | |
and see that project. I am clear that one of the things we need to be | :55:32. | :55:36. | |
doing more of in our local job centres is integrating the local | :55:37. | :55:45. | |
services. Urgent question, Helen Goodman. I would like to ask the | :55:46. | :55:54. | |
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he would make a statement on | :55:55. | :55:57. | |
whether or not the government will seek Parliamentary approval before | :55:58. | :56:06. | |
triggering Article 50? The question of how to invoke Parliamentary | :56:07. | :56:09. | |
discussion around triggering Article 50 has two distinct assets, one | :56:10. | :56:14. | |
legal and the other Democratic. To take the legal consideration first, | :56:15. | :56:19. | |
everyone will be aware how about the debate about whether Article 50 can | :56:20. | :56:21. | |
be done through the royal prerogative which is not legally | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
parliamentary improvement approval, or if it would need a Parliamentary | :56:27. | :56:31. | |
approval. I believe the lawyers | :56:32. | :56:32. |