Contributions
959 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Social SecurityLet me start by thanking all hon. Members for their contributions. Very many issues have been raised. As much as I much hold back the temptation to hold a second DWP oral…10 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutI thank my right hon. Friend for his question, and for all the work that he did in our Department. He is absolutely right: universal credit is a modern, flexible, personalised…04 Feb 2020HANSARD Local Housing Allowance: Homeless Young PeopleI thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. As a Department, we set no timeframe or parameters for how long discretionary housing payments are available. We leave that up to…04 Feb 2020HANSARD Local Housing Allowance: Homeless Young PeopleOf course.04 Feb 2020HANSARD Local Housing Allowance: Homeless Young PeopleThere is no question that the Government are committed to increasing the supply of social housing. Through the affordable homes programme to March 2022, we will deliver 250,000…04 Feb 2020HANSARD Local Housing Allowance: Homeless Young PeopleThe hon. Lady is partly right; the solution is not just about local housing allowance. We can continue to pump money into housing benefit, which unfortunately in many parts of the…04 Feb 2020HANSARD Local Housing Allowance: Homeless Young PeopleIt is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone, and I thank the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) for securing this important debate. Since my…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutIt is probably best that I do not comment on this. We had intended to come to this House this week to announce this. Unfortunately, we got this done yesterday via a letter to the…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutWe have more than 630 jobcentres up and down our country, so there will be a jobcentre within reach of the hon. Gentleman. He raises a number of points. We are always looking at…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutI thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. The important point here is that when we talk about the £500 million cost, we are talking about £500 million that will go into the…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutI believe I answered this question a little earlier today. I am looking at the issue, and I will invite the hon. Gentleman, along with other colleagues who have an interest in…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutLet us look at some facts: the number of people in work has increased by more than 3.8 million since 2010; the employment rate is 76.3%, which is a record high; the unemployment…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutI meet all sorts of organisations up and down the country, and they often raise some of the issues that the hon. Gentleman raises. Where there are issues with our system that I…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutI meet stakeholders in relation to the Department every single week, and I take the concerns and issues they raise very seriously because they are largely based on evidence. When…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutI thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. I would suggest very strongly that he should visit his local jobcentre, because he would have a better understanding. [Interruption.]04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutI thank the hon. Lady for her question but do not accept the anecdotal points that she makes. Governments and Ministers make and take decisions based on evidence. I am building…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutI have worked very closely with the hon. Gentleman on issues such as homelessness. He knows that I share his passion to ensure that our welfare system works, and supports the most…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutFirst, I do not recognise the statistics and figures that the hon. Gentleman raises. I feel that he has a permanent prejudice against universal credit in principle. If he would…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutI can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. Under universal credit, it will always pay to work and it will always pay to do more hours. That is the principle that we…04 Feb 2020HANSARDUniversal Credit: Delayed Roll-OutI thank the hon. Lady for her question. I could not disagree more, but I do agree with her that I do not want to see anybody feeling that they have no choice but to visit a food…04 Feb 2020