Contributions
1,152 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age: PHSO ReportMy Lords, I am shocked to find that the noble Lord is 80, but I commend him on his recent milestone. It is rarity that anyone in the House offers a way to save money, so I will…28 Oct 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age: PHSO ReportMy Lords, just to be clear, I am not making any assumptions about anything. In a sense, this is about when people were born. For example, we know that around 3.5 million…28 Oct 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age: PHSO ReportMy Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for raising that last point. To be absolutely clear, because there has been no response to the report, there is no compensation scheme.…28 Oct 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age: PHSO ReportMy Lords, if I could persuade—with some trepidation—the noble and learned Baroness to share the details with me, I would be very happy to look into that.28 Oct 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age: PHSO ReportMy Lords, the department is carefully considering the findings of the report. Since 1995, successive Governments have used a range of methods to communicate changes to the state…28 Oct 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age: PHSO ReportI am grateful to the noble Baroness for raising a really important point. The gender pensions gap starts with the gender pay gap. Therefore, the first thing the Government need to…28 Oct 2024HANSARDChild Poverty: Benefit CapI am very grateful to my noble friend for the absolution and for the thought that I am among friends. Nerds are my people. She makes an important point. We have a lot of evidence,…22 Oct 2024HANSARDChild Poverty: Benefit CapI am so grateful to the noble Lord for raising that. One of the things we are determined to do is to revisit the way in which my department supports people into work. We need our…22 Oct 2024HANSARDChild Poverty: Benefit CapMy noble friend makes a very important point. I am very conscious that teachers are on the front line of this and that they see the day-to-day effects of the significant rise in…22 Oct 2024HANSARDChild Poverty: Benefit CapI thank the noble Baroness for that question. I know that the Welsh Government take these matters very seriously. To make it clear, from the UK position the task force will work…22 Oct 2024HANSARDChild Poverty: Benefit CapMy Lords, as I said, the child poverty task force has already started urgent work to address this, and it will publish a child poverty strategy in the spring. Given that the…22 Oct 2024HANSARDChild Poverty: Benefit CapMy Lords, the Secretary of State is currently in the process of reviewing the levels of social security benefits that are uprated annually, and a statement will be made in due…22 Oct 2024HANSARDChild Poverty: Benefit CapChild poverty is a multifaceted issue and the benefit cap is just one factor that can influence the level of financial support available to children and families. Comprehensive…22 Oct 2024HANSARDChild Poverty: Benefit CapAbsolutely, my Lords. It is not only an area of my responsibility in the department but one of long-standing concern. A significant amount of money changes hands already but we…22 Oct 2024HANSARDChild Poverty: Benefit CapThe noble Lord and I are as one mind on this. Child poverty is too high across the UK. It went up significantly under the last Administration. We are determined to bring it down,…22 Oct 2024HANSARDChild Poverty: Benefit CapThere is always something that you wish you had put in your pack when you stand up. Today it is that. I will write to the noble Lord.22 Oct 2024HANSARDChild Poverty: Benefit CapMy Lords, I will be nerdy for a moment. We inherited two different policies. One is the two-child limit, which limits the benefits paid to any family to the first two children,…22 Oct 2024HANSARDPensions Regulator Defined Benefit Funding Code of Practice 2024My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Davies for securing and opening this debate and all noble Lords for their thoughtful and constructive contributions. I say to my opposite…21 Oct 2024HANSARDSocial Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024My Lords, that seems a good place to start. I start by thanking all noble Lords who have contributed to tonight’s debate. We have covered a lot of ground and there have been many…11 Sept 2024HANSARDAutism Employment: Buckland ReviewMy Lords, I confess that I do not have the details about what is being done about work experience, but we are developing the availability of supported employment, including for…10 Sept 2024