Contributions
1,402 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDPension CreditI congratulate my hon. Friend on the work that he has been doing in his constituency on this matter. I can inform him that for the week commencing 12 December, for example, there…06 Mar 2023HANSARDIndustrial Relations: Department for Work and PensionsThe hon. Lady raises an important point. We will continue to have constructive and positive discussions with the PCS and other unions. She raised the national living wage; she…06 Mar 2023HANSARDPension CreditI very much welcome the hon. Gentleman’s question and the non-partisan way in which he presented it. He is absolutely right; there must be no let-up in this matter. Two thirds of…06 Mar 2023HANSARDPensioner Poverty: State Pension AgeMy review of the state pension age is under way. The review will consider a wide range of evidence, including two independent reports, to assess whether the rules on pensionable…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Working-age PeopleI thank my hon. Friend for raising this important matter, which of course is well known to the Chancellor and Treasury colleagues. We have a variety of discussions with the…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Working-age PeopleThe Prime Minister has asked me to review the matter of economic inactivity, and the results of that review will be shared with the House shortly.06 Mar 2023HANSARDPensioner Poverty: State Pension AgeI have great respect for my right hon. Friend, but I am afraid that although he tempts me to answer that question, I cannot prejudge the decisions that I will take in the review.06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Working-age PeopleI can reassure my hon. Friend that we are most certainly looking carefully at that particular cohort of people who have prematurely retired—if I may use that term—and are over the…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Working-age PeopleAs to whether the OBR is or is not scoring the various measures that are being presented to it by the Treasury, I am intrigued as to how the right hon. Gentleman seems to know…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Working-age PeopleEven one person in the circumstances that the hon. Gentleman refers to is one too many. We are going to come forward very shortly with further measures on how we address those…06 Mar 2023HANSARDPension CreditI am very surprised to hear the hon. Gentleman pose that question, first, because of his party’s record on this matter when they were in government; and secondly, because of the…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Working-age PeopleI very much welcome the hon. Lady’s question—I certainly enjoyed my time working with her on the Treasury Committee, where she raised these matters with great passion. She is…06 Mar 2023HANSARDPensioner Poverty: State Pension AgeThe two reports to which I have just referred are independent—from the Government Actuary’s Department, on matters such as life expectancy; and from Baroness Neville-Rolfe, on the…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Towns and CitiesIt is important that we take into account the issues of poverty and regional variations to which the hon. Gentleman refers. They lie right at the heart of all the decisions we…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Towns and CitiesThe Office for National Statistics regularly publishes statistics relating to estimates of local inactivity. I have been leading work across Government with a further piece on…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Working-age PeopleI am surprised, in a way, that the hon. Gentleman raises the issue of poverty, because what we have seen, certainly since 2010 and under this Government, has been absolute levels…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Towns and CitiesThat is at the heart of our manifesto, Madam Deputy Speaker— [Interruption.] Sorry, Mr Speaker! Where did I get that from? It is a sign of the times. Right at the heart of our…06 Mar 2023HANSARDIndustrial Relations: Department for Work and PensionsConstructive discussions take place with the Public and Commercial Services Union, FDA and Prospect unions on a range of topics, as is set out in our employee relations handbook.…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Towns and CitiesMy hon. Friend raises a significant and important point. There are areas, particularly around the Work and Health programme, where we have done exactly that. We are engaged in…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEconomic Inactivity: Working-age PeopleI am afraid that I am just going to have to repeat what I have said, which is that the right hon. Gentleman will have to be patient. I am confident that we will have some things…06 Mar 2023