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of parliament at 11 o'clock this evening. Firstly questions of the | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
work and pageant secretary Steven Crabbe and his team of ministers. | :00:00. | :00:26. | |
Hors d'oeuvre. Order. Questions to the victory of state for work and | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
pensions. Number one. Work coaches in Manchester have been | :00:32. | :00:44. | |
working with a food bank since October last year. Feedback shows | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
the service helps signpost support for people to move into work and | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
navigate the welfare system. I am keen for all job centres to explore | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
how they work with local initiatives in their communities. My local food | :00:56. | :01:03. | |
bank in West Cheshire has seen a 6% increase in use in the last 12 | :01:04. | :01:09. | |
months. A disgraceful 13% extra children are committees of the bank | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
in that period. Can the Minister give as an expert nation as to why | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
there's been such an increase. Does he believe its welfare benefit cuts | :01:17. | :01:23. | |
or another explanation? I would say and I'm happy to speak to an further | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
about this situation, the trust recently found recently that there | :01:29. | :01:31. | |
be no overall increase in the last 12 months. The average price of food | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
has fallen by 2.5% over the last 12 months while average wages have gone | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
up and we continue to spend more than ?80 billion on working age | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
benefits to support those in need. I visited my food bank in rugby and I | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
saw advisers not only meeting people's individual needs but also | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
making a big effort to understand the circumstances of the people who | :01:57. | :01:58. | |
were there and provide help and support and give direction. Isn't it | :01:59. | :02:06. | |
entirely right that I should happen? He is absolutely right. I have been | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
a trustee of a food bag and I know about how they work on the ground | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
and food banks already effective are those who are partnering with other | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
organisations like citizens advice, Christians against poverty they | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
provide support and advice to tackle the underlying causes of why someone | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
might be at the point of crisis and dependency. The latest Russell trust | :02:25. | :02:32. | |
data shows a 2% rise in the last year in the banks. Is that growth at | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
the Minister is proud of? One thing I am proud of and let me take this | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
issue seriously is we are spending more than ?80 billion on working age | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
benefits. That's the mark of a decent compassionate society. The | :02:49. | :02:50. | |
same time we're working hard to the benefit system as I sit to help | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
those who have most disadvantaged and greatest distance from the | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
labour market. Give them a better chance of leading fulfilling lives. | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
May I welcome my right honourable friend to DWP questions. I believe | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
this is as first-time and I'm sure he'll make a huge impact. He did | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
when I worked with him. Can I ask him does the require... What'll they | :03:15. | :03:21. | |
shouting about? Can I ask him, does he recall that when the Labour | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
government were in power the existence of food banks was more or | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
less covered up and it's been since the coalition and now this biggest | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
rage and does come along that we have advertised and helped food | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
banks for existing and helping those people most in need? It's an | :03:39. | :03:45. | |
important point being made. I'm not interesting in play the politics of | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
this. The encouragement and into job centres around the UK is to explore | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
fully how they work in partnership with local community initiatives so | :03:56. | :03:57. | |
that together the third sector working with work coaches can | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
provide the maximum support and advise. In publishing last month, | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
the figures showing record food bank demand over the last year the trust | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
will trust said that in some areas food banks are reporting increased | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
referrals to the delays and arrays in Universal Credit payments. What | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
steps is he taking to make sure that the introduction of Universal Credit | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
doesn't drive food bank demand even higher? That's one of the reasons | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
why were taking such a careful uncontrolled timetables are rolling | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
out Universal Credit and much more interested in it being rolled out | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
safety and securely and avoiding the kinds of problems we had under the | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
last Labour government with tax credits blasting out and people | :04:45. | :04:47. | |
receiving overpayments and being required to pay back thousands of | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
pounds to... That what happened. What's the average length of time | :04:55. | :04:57. | |
that they benefit recipient is making use of a food bank and are we | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
asking these individuals who successfully away from food banks | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
what advice they would like to have had when they attended? That's a | :05:06. | :05:12. | |
very good suggestion from my honourable friend. Peer support and | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
peer advice is an effective thing that can be provided for those | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
people making the transition from worklessness into work and using | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
some of the experiences and insights are people who have had to rely on | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
food banks analyse is important. Number two. The government set out | :05:31. | :05:37. | |
our assessment of the impact of the welfare policies in the welfare | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
reform and work act on the 20th of July 20 15. Similar assistance for | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
previous changes. People with disabilities and health conditions | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
or be higher in real terms in 2020 than in 2012. Once Universal Credit | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
have been fully implemented, so that disabled people will be entitled to | :05:58. | :06:04. | |
250 pounds less a week with the current system. As the Minister | :06:05. | :06:17. | |
concerned about young carers? I thank him for is question. I didn't | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
pick up all the points but they are a number of exemptions in place. We | :06:21. | :06:27. | |
will continue to review the best way to help young people and this will | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
be a better benefit for them. Can he give me an update on the progress of | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
the joint work and health unit which is a very sensible way to join up | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
parts of the public sector? This is a significant part of our ongoing | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
work to bring the two main departments together to create | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
additional opportunities and it will be bringing forward is further | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
details soon. The fact is that analysis by the House of Commons | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
library shows that ?1.2 billion worth of support to disabled people | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
is set to be cut in this Parliament. Is this what the Secretary of State | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
means about having a new conversation with the sable people? | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
I challenge back the honourable member on this. In my area spending | :07:16. | :07:23. | |
will be ?16.6 billion competitor 7p on Velasco meant and overall we | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
spend nearly 50 billion pounds a year for the benefit for disabled | :07:27. | :07:34. | |
people and that is rising till 2020. Thank you. I recently met Nick | :07:35. | :07:42. | |
Gregory and his team at the Grimsby job centre which serves my | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
constituency. They are doing excellent work in getting disabled | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
and those with learning difficulties back into work. Can the Minister | :07:51. | :07:53. | |
enlightened as to what further initiatives are planned? I thank him | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
for the question and it's great to hear of the fantastic work in the | :07:59. | :08:01. | |
constituency. I will like to meeting to discuss that further but we | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
continue the staff across the job centre network, increasing the | :08:07. | :08:09. | |
number of disability and improvement in our work programme. The | :08:10. | :08:17. | |
Children's Society and citizens advice report that families of | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
around 100,000 disabled children who currently receive support through | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
DLA are set to see that halved under Universal Credit. That will have an | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
impact on the quality of life and the longer term life chances. With a | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
new just later the helm, ministers have a jazz to step back from the | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
Universal Credit to battle. Will they look again at the impact on | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
disabled children and fairer alternatives? I would challenge her | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
on that. Universal Credit analysis that you have to take into account | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
the introduction of the national living wage, extending childcare | :08:51. | :08:53. | |
support for working parents and decreases the personal tax | :08:54. | :08:56. | |
allowance. It's more generous for Charles care provisions and support | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
those who are working for just a few hours and as we seek premises at | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
that before the hip benefit system which many people benefit from is | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
more generous is than the old one. The research repeatable | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
organisations doesn't simply bear that out. The reality is that | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
disabled children are not the only people that will be losing out under | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
the Universal Credit. A report by the resolution foundation last week | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
found that under Universal Credit half a million working families will | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
be significantly worse off even with tax allowances and an increasing the | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
minimum wage. The sable people and children and come working families, | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
are they really do people the Tories want to target to pay for a sturdy | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
cut and tax cuts for the rich? We are doing more to sport working | :09:47. | :09:49. | |
households. The proportion of people in relative poverty living in a | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
family whose disabled has fallen since 2010 with our benefit cap and | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
freeze announcements. A number of exemptions including those on lots | :09:58. | :10:05. | |
of benefits, we will also be carers allowance and guardians allowance. | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
Does the Minister agree with me that disability confident events can be | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
crucial in this regard? I'm holding my own event in Gorleston to which | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
the Minister would be more than welcome to attend and with the join | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
me in encouraging all members from both sides of the house to get | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
involved? I thank him for that and we had 22 MPs so far who've helped | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
on disability confident events including a joint one between the | :10:33. | :10:35. | |
conservative and Labour MP, there's a future coalition for you. This 515 | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
employers who have registered their interest in it. Up 169 is 23rd of | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
March and over 100 registrations a month. This is all about creating | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
opportunities for disabled people looking for work. What assessment | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
has been carried out by the Minister into the 30%... ?30 per week at the | :10:56. | :11:02. | |
Astor and the impact that will have our measures of deprivation amongst | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
disabled people? As that was announced there was analysis | :11:10. | :11:12. | |
published as part of a cumulative distribution analysis including the | :11:13. | :11:15. | |
impacts of welfare spending, health spending, and its investment but | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
let's not forget only 1% of those on the SA were coming off that benefit | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
and that the case of our government, the coalition, the former Labour | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
government, we've all try to make changes but fundamental reform is | :11:29. | :11:30. | |
needed and that is what this covenant will deliver. | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
With permission I will take questions three, 16 and 18 together. | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
This government continues to run the programme of automatic enrolment to | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
all eligible workers into workplace pensions. Of those eligible workers, | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
approximately half are under 40 and the largest increases in pension | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
membership in 2015 was amongst those aged 22 to 29. Can I welcome that. | :11:57. | :12:05. | |
Would the Minister consider whether now we have announced the lifetime | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
ice, that perhaps we should allow younger people to be able to | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
enrolled in a lifetime ice rather than a pension so they could have a | :12:15. | :12:23. | |
chance to save for House. May I say to my honourable friend that the | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
lifetime ice that is something designed to supplement a pension, | :12:30. | :12:36. | |
but is not a pension as such. The new state pension brings clarity for | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
workers, with that knowledge, does he not agree he will have a positive | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
impact on the amount they choose to save into a Private pension during | :12:47. | :12:55. | |
their lifetime? I most utterly agree with my honourable friend. The | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
previous state pension system would extremely complex, it was difficult | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
for people to know how much they would get before they reached state | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
pension age. The new state pension provides clarity from an early age | :13:08. | :13:10. | |
from what they could expect. In future, people will know they will | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
be able to expect over ?8,000 a year from the state. Providing a solid | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
foundation upon which they can plan their own retirement savings. Having | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
spent time with charities and high Street banks, I have been surprised | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
by the low level of financial literacy they report even amongst | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
people with secondary and tertiary education. What steps is the | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
government going to take to ensure young people receive the high | :13:36. | :13:38. | |
quality information and guidance they need, particularly about | :13:39. | :13:41. | |
pension planning which is something that often feels very long way off | :13:42. | :13:49. | |
to younger people. He will be aware that in October last year the | :13:50. | :13:56. | |
department and the... The pensions regulator jointly launched a fresh | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
communications campaign entitled Don't Ignore The Workplace Pension | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
to build on the success of the previous campaign. They campaign | :14:06. | :14:14. | |
included advertising. This is helped raise awareness and guide people | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
towards further information. It was pleasing to the ministers say that | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
predictability and clarity are very important in pensions. Will he not | :14:25. | :14:32. | |
apply those same principles to the 2.6 million women? We have applied | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
clarity and that is what I have been saying on many occasions and during | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
because of many debates. The younger generation are more likely to be | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
self-employed, 15% of the workforce are now some employed and yet only | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
one third are providing savings into a pension pot. Will he look at the | :14:55. | :14:57. | |
recommendations from the federation to small business that are calling | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
for incentives and support. Employed pension provision? The honourable | :15:02. | :15:09. | |
gentleman raises a good point. We will certainly look at anything that | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
is put forward but I must emphasise that this government is very keen to | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
ensure people, whether they are working or whether they are | :15:18. | :15:20. | |
self-employed, that they all try to think for the future and make for a | :15:21. | :15:23. | |
better future in terms of their pension. Pension savings have been | :15:24. | :15:30. | |
undermined by the new lifetime ISA, a new game at -- new gimmick | :15:31. | :15:40. | |
undermined pension saving. No employee will be better off by | :15:41. | :15:46. | |
saving into a ISA than they would into workplace pension savings. It | :15:47. | :15:49. | |
has been forecast that someone saving 4% of their income at 35,000, | :15:50. | :16:00. | |
would be ?23,000 of. Would he tell the Chancellor to stop these | :16:01. | :16:13. | |
gimmicks, stop this nonsense. I think the length needs to be | :16:14. | :16:21. | |
shorter! I am sorry the honourable member takes the hostile flu without | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
doing any research. May I just point out that with the auto enrolment | :16:26. | :16:33. | |
scheme, by 2020 there will be between 14 and ?16 billion more in | :16:34. | :16:35. | |
pension savings than a has-been before. Question four. Since 2010, | :16:36. | :16:45. | |
long-term youth unemployment has harvest. -- halved. This government | :16:46. | :16:56. | |
is determined to support young people so they are either earning or | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
learning when they leave school. Since March 22 that by 2010,... Does | :17:01. | :17:14. | |
the honourable friend agree that ... He highlights the important role | :17:15. | :17:31. | |
that training providers give because they are the ones providing | :17:32. | :17:34. | |
opportunities for young people to get their foot on the employment | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
ladder and so they can gain experience and skills that employers | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
are looking for. Minus it to him and other employers is that I hope the | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
work in partnership with us will encourage this activity. A young | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
autistic constituent of mine was asked by his DWP work adviser what | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
he enjoyed doing. He replied that he enjoyed being a DJ as a hobby. His | :17:57. | :18:02. | |
reward was to have a demand for repayment of ?7,000 in benefits, | :18:03. | :18:09. | |
accusing him of working while he did the DJ in as a hobby. Is that the | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
type of understanding approach for autistic people that this minister | :18:16. | :18:18. | |
likes to see from people working from the DWP? Let me say to the | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
honourable gentleman, I would be very happy to look at this | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
particularly case. I would also make the point that work coaches do a | :18:30. | :18:37. | |
tremendous amount of important work. I had to stand here is highlighting | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
a particular case and as I said, I would be happy to look at the | :18:42. | :18:48. | |
details. I would also be happy to provide some advice and guidance. I | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
was just curious to know on the subject of long-term youth | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
unemployment, what are work coaches doing to help some of the softer | :19:00. | :19:08. | |
skills? Work coaches have a range of tools at their disposal but they | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
work with the individual to look at what kind of skills they may not | :19:14. | :19:21. | |
have, we have extra adviser time to improve job search skills for | :19:22. | :19:27. | |
example, author getting onto apprenticeship schemes. To do that, | :19:28. | :19:36. | |
that means working with providers. The Prime Minister and toddler | :19:37. | :19:44. | |
regular tell us the EU is good for job prosperity. What would the youth | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
unemployment rates be in the rest of the EU and can the government find | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
any learning from those other EU countries? And he will be aware, as | :19:54. | :20:01. | |
will all manners of the House, that the ongoing economic turmoil in the | :20:02. | :20:07. | |
Eurozone is really where the European is right now. That serves | :20:08. | :20:12. | |
as a warning in terms of the employment challenges that they | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
face. I am delighted to say to the House that the UK is a bright spot | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
when it comes to employment and that is thanks to the long-term economic | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
plan of this government. A very well-informed answer, I am bound to | :20:27. | :20:33. | |
say! Does my right honourable friend agree with me that one way in which | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
manners of the House can help young people find work is through posting | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
jobs and apprenticeships fares and does she look forward to the | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
first-ever jobs and apprenticeship fares in my constituency? Let me | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
start by commending my honourable friend for hosting the jobs and | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
apprenticeship there. She is absolutely right and many colleagues | :20:57. | :20:59. | |
across the House been doing the same. They provide a gateway for | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
young people looking for work and I think we would all encourage that, | :21:04. | :21:06. | |
and I would encourage all honourable members to do exactly the same and | :21:07. | :21:09. | |
bring your employee and is together in your constituency to give young | :21:10. | :21:12. | |
people the opportunities they are looking for. Number five. The number | :21:13. | :21:19. | |
of workless households had reached the lowest level since since records | :21:20. | :21:26. | |
began. This demonstrates that not only is our approach to the economy | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
work but crucially, more families are benefiting from security and | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
dignity that work brings. Does he agree with me that too many people | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
are suffering from drug and alcohol abuse and that is preventing them | :21:41. | :21:43. | |
from getting back into work? Does he agree that supporting those people | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
to get drug and alcohol free is essential and will he come and visit | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
the addiction Centre in my constituency to see how we can | :21:54. | :21:56. | |
transform lives, get people free of addiction and get them back into | :21:57. | :22:06. | |
work? Is probably aware I visited the centre in Newcastle underlined | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
two weeks ago and saw a group of addicts and recovery making that | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
difficult journey back into work and the role of voluntary work, work | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
placements, with the end goal of achieving a paid job at the end of | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
it, that is what motivates many of them. For them, the dream is to get | :22:22. | :22:27. | |
into paid work and these centres are absolutely crucial. With the | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
Secretary of State except that even in areas where there is lower areas | :22:33. | :22:35. | |
of unemployment and they have been recently, there are still areas with | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
persistent high levels of unemployment. Would he agree to work | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
with Labour's newly elected Welsh Assembly to look at award in my | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
constituency with high levels of unemployment work policies have | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
helped reduce that and that was rewarded with a good outcome last | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
Thursday. I have a good track record of working with the Welsh | :23:03. | :23:05. | |
government, regardless of who is in power. Regarding the important point | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
about entrenched poverty, it is right we look at this. We will be | :23:12. | :23:18. | |
shortly launching a life chances strategy addressing complex | :23:19. | :23:21. | |
underlying factors that lead to persistent pockets of entrenched | :23:22. | :23:24. | |
poverty in the kind of what he describes. Question number six. | :23:25. | :23:33. | |
There are now 9.6 million workers at 50 and over in the UK, and increases | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
of 1.3 million in the last five years. The government is doing a lot | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
to support older workers including the removal of the default | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
retirement age and in people's choice as to when they retire. The | :23:45. | :23:50. | |
fact the Leader of the Opposition and myself both have a vested | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
interest in the future of older workers, will my right honourable | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
friend join me in welcoming the fact that those who are unemployed has | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
fallen by 37% in Southend and would she ensure we continue with policies | :24:05. | :24:10. | |
to secure that downward trend? I thank my honourable friend for his | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
comments. He is absolutely right and I know in his own constituency we | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
are seeing unemployment rates plummet very substantially. Of | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
course, this is about how we are focusing and committing to | :24:26. | :24:28. | |
delivering first-class support for all age groups. Statistics published | :24:29. | :24:38. | |
last month so that more than six and a thousand people in their 50s and | :24:39. | :24:45. | |
60s are supported into work by the tax credit system. Cani Minister | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
tell the House how many of those 600,000 will be eligible to receive | :24:50. | :24:52. | |
in work support and Universal Credit? The honourable gentleman | :24:53. | :25:02. | |
will know, as we have discussed, that Universal Credit is a simple | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
benefit that provides much more targeted support to support people | :25:07. | :25:09. | |
into work but also securing long-term job outcomes as well. When | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
it comes to older workers, as I have just said to be House, we are | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
committed to delivering the first-class support for people of | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
all ages in addition to older workers as well to make sure that we | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
work closely with them to secure employment for the long run. On the | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
basis of that answer, it would seem the Minister has a good those grasp | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
of numbers as the schools minister has of words! Let me assist, perhaps | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
as she read the resolution foundation reported would help. The | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
answer is that one third of working families on tax credits would be | :25:47. | :25:50. | |
eligible for any support under Universal Credit, 200,000. Another | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
200,000 will lose ?2000 a year. Cani Minister tell the House why it is | :25:57. | :26:02. | |
that this government is so intent on attacking older people in work? -- | :26:03. | :26:09. | |
can the Minister. The honourable gentleman is talking about older | :26:10. | :26:12. | |
workers and working families. We need to look at Universal Credit | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
within the context of the supported provides. He'll so mention is a | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
resolution foundation report which failed to take on board various | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
factors such as childcare support for working families and the ongoing | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
support that Universal Credit and our work coaches provided to working | :26:30. | :26:30. | |
families. The development of the work and | :26:31. | :26:42. | |
health programme design is well underway including engagement with a | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
wide range of stakeholders, the department has commenced the | :26:47. | :26:49. | |
commercial process of the information notice for potential | :26:50. | :26:54. | |
providers on the 20th of April. A constituent mimes volunteering last | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
year at Green futures and that is directed related to his degree | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
subject while it is applied for work. The job centre put him on the | :27:03. | :27:05. | |
community work placement scheme saying that a voluntary placement | :27:06. | :27:08. | |
would be better than them friends through them. This private company | :27:09. | :27:16. | |
paid by the job centre arranged a unpaid arrangement that he was | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
already working for. Does the Minister agree that this incompetent | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
should not be repeated under the new scheme? I'll be happy to look into | :27:27. | :27:29. | |
that example. I think she highlights some clear practices that need to | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
change going forward. I should say when it comes to the working health | :27:36. | :27:39. | |
programme of course that'll be designed to support claimants with | :27:40. | :27:42. | |
health issues who have been unemployed what at least two years | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
but I will be happy to look at the case she raises. My friend knows | :27:47. | :27:53. | |
that one of the key challenges in supporting autistic people into work | :27:54. | :27:55. | |
is ensuring that we can identify what works and there is very little | :27:56. | :28:01. | |
data and work outcomes for autistic adults. Eugene shortly that the new | :28:02. | :28:07. | |
working health programme records whether someone on the programme is | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
on the autism spectrum so that we can actually track whether or not | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
this programme has been successful for this very important group? She | :28:16. | :28:23. | |
raises some very important points. I would like to assure her that in | :28:24. | :28:27. | |
designing the provision we are working both at the local level in | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
terms of harnessing expertise but also engaging in a wide range of | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
stakeholders as well and by doing that we will take on important | :28:37. | :28:39. | |
lessons from the work part programme in the past but at the same time at | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
how can achieve those sustained long-term outcomes. Number eight. | :28:44. | :28:53. | |
With permission I'll and search this with question 20. Last month we | :28:54. | :28:55. | |
deduce the new simpler state pension as part of wider package of pension | :28:56. | :29:01. | |
reforms. The coronation of the state pension with automatic enrolment, | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
the triple lock, giving people power of their pension pot will ensure | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
that pensioners male and female would have greater protection and | :29:10. | :29:15. | |
security and choice in retirement. Protection is all very well but | :29:16. | :29:19. | |
introducing the new state pension in 2016 means that 350,000 women born | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
between 1951 and 1953 will retire on the old system just before the | :29:26. | :29:28. | |
proposals come into force whereas a man born in same day will retire | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
slightly later but receive a pension under the new arrangements. Will the | :29:34. | :29:40. | |
Minister heed calls to end these inequalities gotcha Mark I would say | :29:41. | :29:47. | |
that we debated and voted on these changes last Parliament, we debated | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
them at enormous length. A decision was taken by the last Parliament and | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
is part of that a concession above ?1.1 billion is introduced to limit | :29:56. | :29:59. | |
the impact of the rising state pension age and those women most | :30:00. | :30:02. | |
affected and let's be clear, there is no party in this chamber who has | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
a clear and inherent proposal for unwinding those changes made his | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
1995 and equalising the state pension age. I have no plans to | :30:12. | :30:19. | |
bring forward a further concession. I listen very carefully to what the | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
Minister said at state pension equal as a has left 500,000 women born | :30:24. | :30:30. | |
between 1953 and 1955 much worse off with some facing a financial loss of | :30:31. | :30:36. | |
up to ?30,000. When will this government take responsibility for | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
the severe financial impact on these women and in the interest of justice | :30:41. | :30:44. | |
do the decent thing, relent and put in place transitional arrangements? | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
The last Parliament we were very clear about the reasons why these | :30:50. | :30:54. | |
changes were taking place will stop it was to address the long-term | :30:55. | :30:57. | |
serious fiscal impact of increasing life expectancy and nations all | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
round the world are having to take exactly the same kind of decisions. | :31:03. | :31:06. | |
Let's be clear, unwinding those sessions would involve people of | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
working age, younger people, having to bear an even greater share of the | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
burden of getting this country back living within its means so we do | :31:16. | :31:18. | |
take a broader perspective here than she and the SNP are. Two weeks ago, | :31:19. | :31:27. | |
the Lake of front bench held constructive talks with the coal | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
founders. We'll work together to find a fair solution to the | :31:32. | :31:34. | |
injustice they and hundreds of thousands of have faced from the | :31:35. | :31:37. | |
government state pension reforms which might honourable friend the | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
site shadows sector of state previously. He too has said he will | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
meet with them however he has also said there are no plans to change | :31:49. | :31:53. | |
policy. Why is the Secretary of State going into that meeting with a | :31:54. | :31:58. | |
closed mind and by doing so isn't he just repeating the mistakes of his | :31:59. | :32:04. | |
predecessor? I would say to the honourable lady and members of the | :32:05. | :32:08. | |
opposition that there is a question here of responsible opposition. If | :32:09. | :32:14. | |
you know clear plan, costed, which the Labour policies were not, then | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
they are simply playing along those women, pretending that they only | :32:20. | :32:22. | |
position to unwind those changes when they said there and they know | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
full well they have no serious proposal for doing that. Number | :32:27. | :32:35. | |
nine. The department said where the climate and the professions, skills | :32:36. | :32:40. | |
of the health providers that can be used to carry out assessments. We | :32:41. | :32:45. | |
expect the high standards from the contractors and that measure their | :32:46. | :32:47. | |
performance in several targets including quarterly and customer | :32:48. | :32:54. | |
experience. In Neath they have recorded huge inaccuracies between | :32:55. | :32:56. | |
the information they provide against personal independence payments | :32:57. | :33:02. | |
descriptors. The conclusion drawn by capita staff which causes great | :33:03. | :33:05. | |
stress for people already in difficult circumstances. Can the | :33:06. | :33:09. | |
ministers stay what is the bombers is doing to make sure that cap the | :33:10. | :33:15. | |
staff are trained to make the broker time and care so they are as | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
accurate and fair as possible. All health professionals must be | :33:21. | :33:23. | |
registered practitioners, met the requirements of trailing competence | :33:24. | :33:25. | |
and use their expertise and disability provide advice on | :33:26. | :33:28. | |
people's levels of functional ability and impact on day-to-day | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
lives and there are a team of experts to provide support and we | :33:33. | :33:36. | |
were greatly with a wide range of stakeholders to advise and further | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
improvements. The Minister will be aware of the recent Public Accounts | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
Committee report on the process of contracting out disability | :33:47. | :33:48. | |
assessment. Would he agree with the recommendation that suggests | :33:49. | :33:52. | |
publishing regular performance data, it would make sure it was conducted | :33:53. | :33:59. | |
personally? That committee did some valuable work in that area and that | :34:00. | :34:03. | |
was part of wide we have the extensive review and the performance | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
and management within it and that was carried out by Doctor Paul Gray. | :34:09. | :34:15. | |
The Minister 's response to my honourable friend and letters | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
following the shocking revelations of last month as batches programme | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
and the personal independence payments was complacent to say the | :34:26. | :34:30. | |
least. I asked the minister once again given the evidence not just | :34:31. | :34:34. | |
from the dispatches programme but already mentioned from the Public | :34:35. | :34:39. | |
Accounts Committee in March, also from the National Audit Office in | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
January, all raising concerns about the quality of assessments. Well | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
Knowl View be investigating this including reviewing the contract? I | :34:49. | :34:57. | |
gave a crystal clear conferences response and I'm sorry she was | :34:58. | :35:00. | |
somewhat distracted. It is crystal clear that the individual in that | :35:01. | :35:04. | |
film who acted disgracefully has rightly been removed and we are | :35:05. | :35:08. | |
having weekly reviews of the progress in terms of training, | :35:09. | :35:11. | |
policies and we have a zero tolerance of this behaviour. Number | :35:12. | :35:13. | |
ten. Working with autism alliance UK we | :35:14. | :35:28. | |
are training a network of over 1000 autism leads in jobs on the plus and | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
developing an autism passport to record condition details and | :35:33. | :35:35. | |
reasonable adjustments. In addition access the work has a hidden | :35:36. | :35:38. | |
impairment specialist team to better support people including those on | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
the autistic spectrum. With the Minister wake up and shake up his | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
apartment because autistic people have a great deal of talent that | :35:48. | :35:53. | |
goes wasted in this country? Only 15% of children and the autism scale | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
end up working at a full-time job. Isn't it about time we took this | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
seriously? I am and men of the newly formed autism commission, we will | :36:05. | :36:07. | |
help you on a cross-party basis. That wake up to the potential that | :36:08. | :36:15. | |
is unexploited. I thank him. He has a formidable track record doing work | :36:16. | :36:18. | |
in this area. We have the think autism strategy, with working with | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
the leading organisations and only two weeks ago I attended a very | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
constructive table with the autistic Society with a real focus on getting | :36:28. | :36:30. | |
more employers offer opportunities to take advantage of the huge wealth | :36:31. | :36:34. | |
of talent that these individuals offer. Does the Minister think that | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
the closure of employee factories three years ago helped with autism | :36:40. | :36:46. | |
and other disabilities to find work? The independent review stated that | :36:47. | :36:51. | |
that was a move that need to be done and our specialist employment | :36:52. | :36:54. | |
training programme we'll be offering twice as many job outcomes which is | :36:55. | :36:57. | |
what we need to do as part of our commitment to halve the disability | :36:58. | :37:00. | |
employment gap. Following the success of national autism awareness | :37:01. | :37:07. | |
week, month, it was welcome to see that the government have announced a | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
task force to explore access to apprenticeships for those with | :37:12. | :37:14. | |
learning disabilities. Ill be led by the honourable member for Blackpool | :37:15. | :37:20. | |
North. I will be aware that it isn't a formal consultation period but the | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
British Association for supported employment had been asked to provide | :37:25. | :37:27. | |
evidence to the dust force. Does the Minister agree with me that as many | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
people and organisations as possible should feed into the work of this | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
task force to ensure that everyone has access to a life changing | :37:35. | :37:43. | |
apprenticeship? I'm keen to listen for any experiences from different | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
organisations as possible. This is important for myself and I'm happy | :37:48. | :37:53. | |
to meet her if she would like to. Question 11. With permission I will | :37:54. | :38:02. | |
answer questions 11, 12 Tom and 19, 21 and 22 together. Women affected | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
by changes made in 2011 face a maximum increase in state pension | :38:09. | :38:11. | |
age of 18 months rather than two years. As a result of a government | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
concession. They will retire and the new state pension which will be more | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
generous for many than the previous system. No further transitional | :38:20. | :38:28. | |
arrangements are planned. Can I ask the secretary of state whether he | :38:29. | :38:30. | |
will look again at these transitional arrangements and also | :38:31. | :38:35. | |
have a look and see whether or not the cost of this could be offset by | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
some adjustment in the budget? I say to him that the secure state has | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
made it clear earlier on in his questions that he has no intention | :38:46. | :38:52. | |
of revisiting this issue. Why is the Minister not use the opportunity of | :38:53. | :38:55. | |
a majority Conservative governments to put right the wrongs of the last | :38:56. | :39:01. | |
government impacting some 4290 women in my constituency by introducing | :39:02. | :39:07. | |
proper transitional arrangements or is this just compassionate | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
conservatism in action? I would say to the lady that Gerry and the | :39:13. | :39:17. | |
debates that took place in 2011 Gerry second reading these Secretary | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
of State for pensions said that they would go away and consider and | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
reflect. They did that. At report stage they made a concession worth | :39:29. | :39:32. | |
?1.1 billion and they reduced the time frame from two years to 18 | :39:33. | :39:35. | |
months. Transitional arraignments were put in place, they were under | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
substantial cost notwithstanding the very tough economic climate of the | :39:41. | :39:48. | |
time. Recent years in this house the Minister for business said that | :39:49. | :39:52. | |
people were working for at the 30 years and paying in the pension fund | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
with the expectation they'd have money to live on at a period in | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
their life. The lady went on to state that there is an increasingly | :40:03. | :40:06. | |
good case to make for the right thing to be done by people. Given | :40:07. | :40:13. | |
the sudden change in the age of retirement for women, can I ask how | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
the government can justify these this rank hypocrisy from one | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
minister to another? Will he bring fairness for those women in his new | :40:23. | :40:28. | |
role? He has an opportunity to show that he will consider things fairly | :40:29. | :40:33. | |
and support the Minister for business. I think the honourable | :40:34. | :40:37. | |
lady from the context of question was delivering the charge of | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
inconsistency between ministers. She went accusing Minister behaving to | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
another. If the reference work the government as a collective, that | :40:48. | :40:51. | |
will be another way... Render it orderly. I am grateful to the member | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
for Bolsover for proffering advice from a sedentary position. With | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
permission I will take the reference to from one minister to another | :41:03. | :41:06. | |
slightly broadly and remind the on-board lady that's when the | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
pensions act of 1995 was passed. After that there was 13 years of | :41:12. | :41:14. | |
Labour governments during which there was a succession of sector of | :41:15. | :41:18. | |
state for work and pensions as well as pension ministers and they did | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
absolutely nothing to try to change the system that she and her | :41:24. | :41:26. | |
colleagues are now seeking to change. | :41:27. | :41:32. | |
While ministers do nothing, my constituents and other people are | :41:33. | :41:42. | |
suffering. One of my constituents said, I feel anxious and stressed | :41:43. | :41:44. | |
how I will manage without an income in what has been for my generation, | :41:45. | :41:50. | |
the expected retirement age. It is six months since we had our first | :41:51. | :41:56. | |
debate on this. Will the Minister and Secretary of State commit that | :41:57. | :41:58. | |
civil servants will assist with costing the various options for | :41:59. | :42:01. | |
transitional and arrangements that have been put forward? May I just | :42:02. | :42:10. | |
say that while she is asking for costing, a cost was incurred during | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
the debate of 2011 and that cost was ?1.1 billion. There is no intention | :42:17. | :42:24. | |
of revisiting this issue again. Does the Minister accept there were | :42:25. | :42:31. | |
significant failures in his department to communicate the change | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
in pension age and does he think it is despicable that someone in only | :42:37. | :42:39. | |
found out about the changes months before they were to retire? A survey | :42:40. | :42:45. | |
done by the Department for Work and Pensions, a small percentage of | :42:46. | :42:52. | |
women thought the pension age was still 60. May I also say, in terms | :42:53. | :42:58. | |
of notification, in 1995, people could ask for an estimate as to when | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
they were likely to retire and in 2011, over 5 million people received | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
notification, received a letter to the address that HM RC had informing | :43:10. | :43:15. | |
them of the changes. With an all-party group on the WASPI | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
campaign being set up later this week, will be Secretary of State | :43:20. | :43:22. | |
confirm he is willing to meet a cross-party group of MPs and some | :43:23. | :43:26. | |
members of the WASPI campaign to discuss this further and open up | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
some good can in occasion? I know my right honourable friend the | :43:33. | :43:34. | |
Secretary of State is more than happy to meet the all-party group. | :43:35. | :43:38. | |
As far as meeting the man of the campaign, I know he has met some in | :43:39. | :43:43. | |
his constituency. -- meeting members. Number 13. Last year access | :43:44. | :43:54. | |
to work supported record numbers of young disabled people into work. DWP | :43:55. | :44:01. | |
have supported the shadowing of job opportunities for young disabled | :44:02. | :44:10. | |
people. Cani Minister update the House on what action has been taken | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
to help these people into work, specifically through | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
apprenticeships. Following my visit to foxes in Bridgewater where they | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
have a staggering 45% of their young people getting into stable | :44:25. | :44:29. | |
employment, I recognise a vocational pathway is important for young | :44:30. | :44:33. | |
disabled people, and therefore myself any Minister for skills will | :44:34. | :44:43. | |
work with the member to launch an initiative to help young disabled | :44:44. | :44:51. | |
people into work. We will also look for opportunities and | :44:52. | :44:55. | |
apprenticeships for people with autism. | :44:56. | :45:06. | |
My constituents has had her motor ability car taken off her, will be | :45:07. | :45:12. | |
Minister be willing to meet her to discuss this issue that affects her | :45:13. | :45:24. | |
and other people across the country? Those that aren't successful during | :45:25. | :45:29. | |
appeal are able to keep the car for a further seven weeks and have ?2000 | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
in cash to buy a similar car or Mapleton it of arrangements. The | :45:36. | :45:47. | |
universe credit is transforming lives. Anyone been moved to | :45:48. | :45:51. | |
Universal Credit will receive transitional protection so they are | :45:52. | :45:56. | |
not cash losers. A single parent working full-time on universal | :45:57. | :46:03. | |
credit will be up to ?3000 works off than someone on tax credits. How | :46:04. | :46:07. | |
many single parents working full time doing the right thing does the | :46:08. | :46:15. | |
Secretary of State feel these will affect? People who are being moved | :46:16. | :46:24. | |
from a tax credit to Universal Credit will have transitional | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
protections in place. He is making the mistake that so many of his | :46:29. | :46:31. | |
colleagues have made in trying to compare full sleeve the situation | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
that existed previously under tax credits, when there was no national | :46:36. | :46:41. | |
living wage, there was no level of childcare support, there was be | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
higher rate of personal allowance. We are transforming the landscape of | :46:46. | :46:49. | |
support for people on lower incomes. We are running late but we will find | :46:50. | :46:57. | |
time for one more. Number 17. The department has a range of quality | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
measures to drive improvements in accuracy of decision-making and we | :47:03. | :47:04. | |
are committed to getting our decisions right and there will | :47:05. | :47:07. | |
always be more opportunities to learn where decisions have been | :47:08. | :47:10. | |
overturned on appeal and wheat feedback on every single case. | :47:11. | :47:20. | |
Latest figures show that 75% of PIP appeal is heard by courts and | :47:21. | :47:23. | |
tribunals service were decided in favour of the appellant in Coventry. | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
These figures clearly demonstrate the flawed and Coney and nature of | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
the original refusal decision made by DWP. Cani Minister assure that | :47:33. | :47:40. | |
improvements will be made to the decision-making process to increase | :47:41. | :47:43. | |
accuracy and prevent more vulnerable people to be forced to go to the | :47:44. | :47:49. | |
appeals process needlessly? Two points I would make, firstly, the | :47:50. | :47:56. | |
Department has a range of quality measures to drive improvements in | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
the accuracy of decision-making. I understand from I honourable friend, | :48:02. | :48:09. | |
only 2% of PIP claims are changed. That is on the basis of new evidence | :48:10. | :48:19. | |
being submitted. Topical questions. As part of our reforms, we are | :48:20. | :48:27. | |
improving help on offer for people to keep track of their previous | :48:28. | :48:33. | |
workplace pension pots. Our new online pensions tracing service goes | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
live is today. This will make it simpler and quicker to reunite | :48:38. | :48:40. | |
people with information about their pension pots in a matter of seconds | :48:41. | :48:48. | |
rather than days. I welcome that, but what more can he do, can we do, | :48:49. | :48:56. | |
to enable people how much they are likely to receive from the pension | :48:57. | :49:02. | |
pots when they find them? That is exactly the reason why so many of | :49:03. | :49:06. | |
our reforms are designed to make things simple and less confusing for | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
people. Everyone has been able to get a personalised state pension | :49:12. | :49:15. | |
statement based on the new rules and there is a mail online service which | :49:16. | :49:19. | |
offers a quick and accessible way for people to access information | :49:20. | :49:27. | |
about their state pension. I welcome the Secretary of State for his first | :49:28. | :49:34. | |
DWP questions. He has started by trying hard to strike a different | :49:35. | :49:42. | |
tone to his predecessor. Can I ask him, what does he think the human | :49:43. | :49:48. | |
impact will be of his plans to cut ?1.2 billion away from disabled | :49:49. | :49:51. | |
people throughout this next Parliament? What does he think the | :49:52. | :49:57. | |
impact is for the 500,000 people who are set to lose ?1500 a year in ESA. | :49:58. | :50:06. | |
I thank the honourable gentleman for the kind words he started with. Your | :50:07. | :50:10. | |
beastly wasn't listening to the earlier questions on this subject | :50:11. | :50:13. | |
because throughout this Parliament, we will be spending more than at the | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
beginning of the Parliament on supporting disabled people, around | :50:19. | :50:21. | |
?50 billion supporting disabled people. Far more than has ever been | :50:22. | :50:27. | |
spent under the previous Labour government. The Secretary of State | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
seems to have forgotten it is -- in his first speech he said behind | :50:33. | :50:36. | |
those statistics are human beings and disabled people will be | :50:37. | :50:40. | |
disappointed that want more today, he hid behind statistics. They will | :50:41. | :50:44. | |
be disappointed he won't reverse the ESA cuts, others will be | :50:45. | :50:52. | |
disappointed by his refusal to address the concerns of women born | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
in the 1950s. Could the Secretary of State tell us in what way is he | :50:58. | :51:05. | |
different to his predecessor? I would say to the honourable | :51:06. | :51:08. | |
gentleman that we are a government that has helped deliver the changes | :51:09. | :51:15. | |
that have seen a huge fall in workless households, nearly half a | :51:16. | :51:18. | |
million more children growing up in a home seeing a mum or dad going out | :51:19. | :51:22. | |
to work. There is no reason to change policies which are changing | :51:23. | :51:25. | |
things will be better for those who have the least in our society. Last | :51:26. | :51:31. | |
week I had the honour of attending the National Young enterprise | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
challenge final were two students from my local school in my | :51:37. | :51:42. | |
constituency received an award for turning ?10 into a staggering profit | :51:43. | :51:50. | |
of ?3289. Does my honourable friend agreed that such initiatives could | :51:51. | :51:54. | |
help ensure young people acquire valuable skills for the future. I | :51:55. | :52:00. | |
wholeheartedly agree with my noble friend. I think he has highlighted | :52:01. | :52:07. | |
not only the entropy and not -- entrepreneurial spirit of those | :52:08. | :52:17. | |
young people and also brings it back to what we are doing in our own | :52:18. | :52:19. | |
government. Almost 14,000 people have lost | :52:20. | :52:30. | |
access to their motor ability vehicles causing people to lose jobs | :52:31. | :52:34. | |
and independence. Why is the Secretary of State punishing people | :52:35. | :52:40. | |
in this way? There are 22,000 more people accessing the moat ability | :52:41. | :52:43. | |
scheme since PIP was introduced and that is not something I recognise. | :52:44. | :52:49. | |
The business case for Universal Credit, identifies savings of ?80 | :52:50. | :52:54. | |
million a week after implementation. These come both from IT simply | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
vacation but also removal of barriers to getting back into work | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
quickly. Could the Secretary of State confirm there is a folk is not | :53:04. | :53:06. | |
just on delivering technology but also ensuring benefits will be | :53:07. | :53:15. | |
delivered when the time comes. I have made a number of changes to the | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
way the roll-out of Universal Credit is being overseen to stressing the | :53:21. | :53:24. | |
importance of having a careful and controlled roll-out. The one outcome | :53:25. | :53:27. | |
that matters but everyone is that everyone gets their benefits paid on | :53:28. | :53:31. | |
time and correctly and our approach is making sure that happens. The | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
resolution foundation has calculated Universal Credit could leave 2.5 | :53:38. | :53:43. | |
million families worse off by more than ?3000 a year. Does the Minister | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
agree with me that Universal Credit is abjectly failing to provide | :53:49. | :53:51. | |
incentives to work and lift families out of Lope as we were told was that | :53:52. | :54:07. | |
intention. -- low pay. As I said previously, go to your local job | :54:08. | :54:11. | |
centre plus, go and sit with the teams of work coaches who were | :54:12. | :54:15. | |
rolling out Universal Credit and you will see the enthusiasm and | :54:16. | :54:18. | |
motivation as they see Universal Credit transforming peoples lives | :54:19. | :54:23. | |
for the better. In anticipation of the government White Paper on | :54:24. | :54:26. | |
disability, will my honourable friend embrace Leonard Cheshire's | :54:27. | :54:32. | |
change 100 programme which allows disabled graduates to gain paid | :54:33. | :54:41. | |
employment with major employers? This is an example of some fantastic | :54:42. | :54:45. | |
initiatives. I worked closely with Leonard Cheshire. This is exactly | :54:46. | :54:49. | |
the type of programme that would hate our future plans to help | :54:50. | :54:55. | |
disabled people access work. -- that would help our future plans. I was | :54:56. | :55:07. | |
astounded to find out that the department only has to pay due | :55:08. | :55:11. | |
regard to the quality aspects of decisions and then it was up to them | :55:12. | :55:16. | |
whether or not they had to publish that analysis. Does the Secretary of | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
State not agree with me that in the spirit of transparency, equality | :55:22. | :55:25. | |
analyses must be published and made publicly available? We also have the | :55:26. | :55:32. | |
independent reviews which were the previous one was carried out by | :55:33. | :55:35. | |
Doctor Paul Gray and we will be looking to do a further one. Under | :55:36. | :55:41. | |
PIP 22% of claimants access the higher rate of benefit. A | :55:42. | :55:47. | |
constituent of mine has multiple sclerosis and for the past nine | :55:48. | :55:52. | |
years acting on advice from the council, she has used her DLA award | :55:53. | :55:56. | |
to pay the mortgage on the family's adapted bungalow. She has now been | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
informed that with PIP she will not be allowed to do this and she and | :56:02. | :56:04. | |
her family risk losing their home. This could have a devastating impact | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
on many families right around the country. Could the Secretary of | :56:11. | :56:13. | |
State look into the matter and ensure that this does not happen? | :56:14. | :56:22. | |
We have been regularly updating the guidance for local authorities to | :56:23. | :56:29. | |
help individuals like this. The Government intends to replace the | :56:30. | :56:32. | |
current statutory child poverty measures with new measures of life | :56:33. | :56:38. | |
chances. Researchers at the London school of economics have responded | :56:39. | :56:41. | |
to the Government consultation on child poverty measurement and found | :56:42. | :56:45. | |
99% of respondents believe the income and approbation should be | :56:46. | :56:48. | |
included. Does the Minister agree or disagree? Look, what we are focused | :56:49. | :56:56. | |
on more than any other previous Government is tackling the | :56:57. | :57:00. | |
underlying causes of poverty. And one of the colleagues talked about | :57:01. | :57:03. | |
entrenched poverty earlier. If we will tackle about, we need a | :57:04. | :57:08. | |
coherent, in life chances shattered that focuses on the underlying | :57:09. | :57:11. | |
causes and some of the measures and indicators that attract those. He is | :57:12. | :57:17. | |
not Minister be told, but there was a quick change of air. I thought I | :57:18. | :57:21. | |
was getting one minister and got another. Rugby was on the first | :57:22. | :57:27. | |
group of job centres to introduce Universal Credit for single people | :57:28. | :57:30. | |
and is now introducing it to families. Will the minister join me | :57:31. | :57:35. | |
in paying tribute to the staff there for their hard work and flexibility | :57:36. | :57:37. | |
in implementing this important strange. I thank my honourable | :57:38. | :57:44. | |
friend. He is correct, the staff there did a wonderful job and bars | :57:45. | :57:50. | |
have stuffed all of the country in rolling out Universal Credit and are | :57:51. | :57:57. | |
achieving important things. They are waiting to long. There are a couple | :57:58. | :58:02. | |
more Irish to accommodate at the least. The latest analysis shows | :58:03. | :58:11. | |
that the young people referred to in question three earlier in the | :58:12. | :58:18. | |
proceedings stand to lose between 13 and ?20,000 over the duration of | :58:19. | :58:22. | |
their retirement as a direct result of Government policy. Can the | :58:23. | :58:27. | |
minister explain how that contributes to intergenerational | :58:28. | :58:33. | |
fairness? The whole purpose of the system is to make sure people can | :58:34. | :58:37. | |
supplement the state pension and at the moment, what we have is 10 | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
million people eligible for auto enrolment and we expect that 9 | :58:43. | :58:45. | |
million of them will take up that offer and of those, they will end up | :58:46. | :58:51. | |
saving and in many cases saving more than they do at present. Is the | :58:52. | :58:57. | |
secretary at both state aware that he himself will be assessed and how | :58:58. | :59:01. | |
far is he willing to stand up to the Chancellor against cuts which hit | :59:02. | :59:07. | |
the most vulnerable? His predecessor was not willing to do so until the | :59:08. | :59:11. | |
last moment. Does he have more courage and guts than his | :59:12. | :59:17. | |
predecessor? I think the honourable gentleman is wrong Sir focus on | :59:18. | :59:22. | |
division between Treasury and DWP. When you have won its beams -- | :59:23. | :59:26. | |
spends between a cause and a third of taxpayers money, you need to make | :59:27. | :59:30. | |
sure your department is working to achieve things we want to as a | :59:31. | :59:31. | |
Government. She was forced to struggle at 25 | :59:32. | :59:46. | |
metres from the reception area to an assessment room for PIP. She was | :59:47. | :59:53. | |
classified as being able to walk more than 25 metres. Can he convince | :59:54. | :59:57. | |
her that was a fair and judged assessments? Two things, first of | :59:58. | :00:06. | |
all, any claim on to our difficulty attending an assessment can request | :00:07. | :00:09. | |
a face to face assessment in their own home. With regard to whether how | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
fast somebody can travel in an assessments, it has to not just be | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
about 20 meters, it's about can it be done safely, repeatedly, to | :00:19. | :00:21. | |
unacceptable standard and a reasonable time period. If the | :00:22. | :00:25. | |
claimant is unhappy, they can ask for a monetary consideration or | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
independent appeal. One of my constituents who worked 16 hours a | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
week as a carer for a disabled relative has discovered that because | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
of the living wage, she no longer qualifies for carers allowance, | :00:38. | :00:40. | |
leaving her with a substantial shortfall. Why is this Government is | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
forcing down thousands of others into this desperate situation? We as | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
the Government spent ?2.3 billion a year supporting the invaluable work | :00:51. | :00:53. | |
that carers do in this country. The issue of the National Living Wage | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
and the impact on that is something I will always be reviewed. 140,000 | :00:57. | :01:04. | |
pensioners who paid into occupational pension schemes | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
including a male constituency have been historically than an injustice | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
by the full amount they are entitled to. I wonder whether the new | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
Secretary of State will represent those pensioners and discuss their | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
concerns. I have met with the action group on previous occasions. We | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
continue to look at these issues and high-profile cases, looking for the | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
support of the pension protection fund. It costs the UK some ?8 | :01:33. | :01:40. | |
billion through physical inactivity. I had an excellent meeting with his | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
predecessor before he decided to leave the job. Could I also have a | :01:44. | :01:51. | |
meeting to discuss this with him? I would be very happy to meet. The | :01:52. | :01:58. | |
Secretary of State has reportedly set to read Jews the benefits come | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
out of ?6,000 per year. Who does he think will miss out most? Private | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
landlords, with out-of-control rents will just accept five and a month or | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
does he think children who who have no control over their lives to | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
suffer yet again? The changes to the benefit cab have already been | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
legislated and passed by this Parliament. I would urge her to look | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
at the earlier changes will benefit cab which have had positive outcomes | :02:27. | :02:28. | |
in terms of encouraging and supporting people into work. Order, | :02:29. | :02:37. | |
order. Will members wishing to take their seats please, to the table. -- | :02:38. | :02:44. | |
please come to the table. | :02:45. | :02:48. |