Contributions
233 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsI am committed to making sure that we reduce poverty and focus particularly on child poverty. We must also remember that the issue is not entirely about welfare benefits; it is…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsMr Speaker, with your permission I would like to make a statement on the poverty statistics published today. These statistics cover a range of poverty indicators. In a year when…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsIt is because we care so much about the changes in poverty that I have come here to make a statement about today’s statistics and to answer questions. It is because of the…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsI would invite my right hon. Friend to come to my Department and find out a bit more about how universal credit works and how the taper rate has changed the benefits system—how…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsI thank the hon. Gentleman for his partially constructive comments. We are looking at the Social Metrics Commission’s assessment of poverty. It is an interesting approach, because…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. Households with nobody in work are much more likely to be in poverty, and they are a bad role model for everybody else. It is important to…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsThe right hon. Gentleman is more aware than many people that the Chancellor has put a lot more money into the welfare system. When it is fully rolled out, the system will be £2…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsI want more people to be able to have the security of full-time jobs and better-paid jobs. That is why I said earlier that we would be working on what else we can do about in-work…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsThe hon. Lady has raised this with me many times, and I repeat to her that I do think the system is right. She also has to think about the people on low wages, who pay taxes, who…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsI am sorry, but I am going to disappoint the hon. Gentleman. I think we have the right welfare system. It protects the most vulnerable, provides the safety net we need and helps…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsSince entering government in 2010, we have removed 400,000 people from absolute poverty. I have acknowledged—this is why I am here today—that today’s statistics are disappointing.…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsI remind the hon. Lady that, under Labour, unemployment rose every time. Under this Government, we are ensuring that there are jobs available, with more people in work than ever…28 Mar 2019HANSARDHouseholds Below Average Income StatisticsThat is such a good point from my hon. Friend. He is right that we need to constantly address poor-quality accommodation, as well as making sure that that accommodation is…28 Mar 2019HANSARDUniversal Credit: DebtNo one has to wait five weeks for the first part of their benefit because, as the hon. Lady is aware, they can get an advance of up to 100%, and 60% of people do that. We have…18 Mar 2019HANSARDCollective Defined Contribution Pension SchemesToday the Government publish our response to our consultation, Delivering Collective Defined Contribution Schemes. The UK has a world-class occupational pension system. But there…18 Mar 2019HANSARDTopical QuestionsIt sounds to me like the hon. Lady’s constituent should have had a home visit, but I hope that the hon. Lady will have received the email I sent out inviting Members of Parliament…18 Mar 2019HANSARDTopical QuestionsI am aware of the good work that my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth was doing with the hon. Lady; I am aware of the campaign and how important it is, and I will be…18 Mar 2019HANSARDTopical QuestionsI have just answered that question, in terms of making sure that we do better and that the mandatory reconsiderations will have additional support to ensure that a greater…18 Mar 2019HANSARDTopical QuestionsThat, of course, applies to 4% of the overall decisions that are made. However, I acknowledge that we need to do better, for the hon. Gentleman’s constituents and those of the…18 Mar 2019HANSARDTopical QuestionsAs the right hon. Gentleman knows, we are introducing measures to help people gain early access to money so that that eventuality does not occur. They can receive benefit advances…18 Mar 2019