(11 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) (Con)
1. How many young people have received support through the Get Britain Working programme to date.
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mr Mark Hoban)
Between January 2011 and November 2012, about 106,000 young people aged between 18 and 24 received support through Get Britain Working, including work experience and sector-based work academies. Many young people have also benefited from the help offered through volunteering, and work and enterprise clubs.
Chris Skidmore
Job clubs and job fairs play an important role in the Get Britain Working scheme. In Kingswood, as the local Member of Parliament, I have organised four job fairs so far, as well as running a weekly job club. Does my hon. Friend agree that we as MPs have a vital role to play in Get Britain Working by organising job fairs and job clubs and getting our constituents back to work?
Mr Hoban
My hon. Friend is well known for his support for getting young people into work, and I commend him on the job club and job fairs that he has run. As a result of the collective effort between employers, Members of Parliament, Jobcentre Plus and others, youth unemployment today is lower than it was in May 2010.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
Does the Minister not realise that however good some of these programmes are—and some of them are quite good—we are not doing enough? Nearly a million young people are unemployed. There must be more imagination. Could we not agree on a cross-party basis that we must not allow young people to fester in unemployment any longer?
Mr Hoban
No one should be complacent about the challenge that young people are facing, but I should point out to the hon. Gentleman that, if full-time students are excluded, 66,000 more young people have been in work over the last quarter. We are seeing more progress, but we must not be complacent, and we must not forget that the problem started some time ago.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
What progress is being made with sector-based work academies? Which sectors are being targeted, and in which parts of the country?
Mr Hoban
My hon. Friend is right to point out what an important part of our programme sector-based work academies represent. They provide a combination of work experience, training and a guaranteed job interview. Jobcentre Plus will work closely with employers throughout the country to organise the right type of sector-based work academies, but I encourage Members to work with jobcentres to identify good opportunities in that regard.
Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)
A constituent of mine, aged 20, has spent a year and a quarter on the Work programme, and has had six meetings with three different advisers during that time. He still has no job, and has had no job offers. He eventually found a Barnardo’s course, but was told that he would not be allowed to go on it because he was on the Work programme. Is the programme not failing such young people?
Mr Hoban
I think the hon. Lady should raise issues about training in Scotland with the Scottish Government, who are responsible for it. They will not allow people on the Work programme to go on Scottish Government-funded courses, and I suspect that that is where the problem lies.
Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)
2. What steps he is taking to tackle the increased use of pension liberation schemes.
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)
We take the issue of so-called pension liberation very seriously. The Pensions Regulator is currently investigating 21 cases, and scheme assets worth over £50 million have been protected as a result of regulatory action.
Grahame M. Morris
Many pension liberation schemes are skimming off thousands of pounds in charges and commissions, and leaving customers exposed to punitive tax penalties. In the wake of mis-selling scandals such as that involving payment protection insurance, what action is the Minister taking to ensure that future pensioners are protected?
Steve Webb
The hon. Gentleman is right. When people transfer money from a pension, they must fill in transfer forms. We have established a “scorpion sting in the tail” information campaign, producing very eye-catching literature which people wishing to transfer their money receive before signing on the dotted line. It is a “buyer beware” measure, and is one of a suite of measures that we are taking to crack down on such fraud.
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)
Many participants in pension liberation schemes pay extremely high interest rates on any loans that are taken out, and residual funds are invested at the discretion of the trustees, which can lead to insecure or poor investment decisions. Does my hon. Friend agree that that is in no one’s long-term financial interests?
Steve Webb
My hon. Friend is right. We are warning people to be extremely wary. In general, they should not get their money out before they reach the age of 55, except in the event of, for instance, terminal illness. Trustees need to be wary, and participants need to be wary. Those who spot fraud should report it, and we will continue to crack down on it.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
19. Some £400 million has been liberated illegally from pension funds, and all that the rather incurious Minister is saying is that he has produced some rather catchy literature. Is that sufficient?
Steve Webb
If that were all we had done, no of course it would not be. Many of the Government’s anti-fraud authorities, including, among others, the Serious Fraud Office, are working with us. One of the challenges is that the money is sometimes transferred overseas, where we have less jurisdiction. However, what we need is trustees not to be transferring money—authorising the transfer of money—out into suspicious pension funds. So trustees have a part to play, as do scheme members.
Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)
3. What recent assessment he has made of the effects of the Government’s proposal for a single-tier pension on women born between 6 April 1952 and 6 July 1953.
Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)
6. What recent assessment he has made of the effects of the Government’s proposal for a single-tier pension on women born between 6 April 1952 and 6 July 1953.
Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)
7. What recent assessment he has made of the effects of the Government’s proposal for a single-tier pension on women born between 6 April 1952 and 6 July 1953.
Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)
16. What recent assessment he has made of the effects of the Government’s proposal for a single-tier pension on women born between 6 April 1952 and 6 July 1953.
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)
With permission, I will answer this along with Questions 7, 8 and 16.
We have today published a document analysing the pension outcomes of this group of women. Overwhelmingly, women in this group—who reach state pension age up to three years before a man born the same day—would get more pension benefits over their lives than a man with the same national insurance record.
Mr Speaker
The Minister is a man of formidable intellect and therefore I hesitate ordinarily to disagree with him, but I think that the grouping is with Questions 6, 7 and 16. I hope he does not mind.
Ian Murray
The Minister may have a formidable intellect but I am going to disagree with him. As he will know, half a million women born between 1952 and 1953, many of whom will have celebrated mother’s day yesterday, will lose out on this single-tier pension. Will he apologise to the 700 women in my constituency who are affected and have written to me? Will he do something before they lose out?
Steve Webb
I take your correction on the question numbers, Mr Speaker.
I think that the hon. Gentleman should apologise to the 700 women in his constituency, as he seems to be asking us to treat them the same as a man born on the same day—that appears to be the essence of his problem. If we did that, those women would have to wait up to three years longer for their pension, and they would not thank him for that.
Catherine McKinnell
Some 1,700 women in Newcastle will miss out on the single-tier pension, yet men born in the same period will qualify. Claiming that those women are better off because they are allowed to retire earlier is simply not good enough. If they are retired for 20 years, they could lose up to £38,000, which is well over twice what they would receive through benefiting from retiring earlier. What message does this send out to the hard-working women of Newcastle, many of whom celebrated not only mother’s day yesterday, but international women’s day on Friday?
Steve Webb
The message it sends out is that their MP did not listen a moment ago. We have published research today that shows that 85% of these women will do better over their entire retirement—both the first few years and their entire retirement.
Steve Webb
Unless the hon. Lady has read the research, I do not know why she should be shaking her head. It says that 85% will do better by being treated as women than they would by being treated the same as men.
Kate Green
You and I, Mr Speaker, have just had the great pleasure of welcoming a rather beautiful portrait of Emmeline Pankhurst to Parliament, and I hope that all colleagues will want to go to admire it in the Upper Waiting Hall. It is important that we remind ourselves that women’s political interests can sometimes be different from men’s, and I am grateful to have the chance to ask the Minister about his pension proposals and their implications for women today. Many women will struggle to achieve 35 years of full employment and full contributions, partly because of caring responsibilities and also because of labour market discrimination. What steps does he intend to take to address that disadvantage?
Steve Webb
As the hon. Lady says, we have a system of not only paid contributions, but credits. Although 35 years will be needed for the full £144, even a woman with 30 years will get thirty thirty-fifths of £144, which is more than the current basic pension of £107. So, many women will benefit from the new rules.
Heidi Alexander
The Minister says that 85% of women will benefit under the proposals that he has announced today, but what about the 15% who do not?
Steve Webb
It is gratifying that the main Opposition response to our proposals is that they want more people to benefit from them. The hon. Lady is right: there is a set of women—a small number of women—who would do better under the new system than the old, but overwhelmingly the vast majority will do better under the current system. She raises an issue about allowing people to choose whichever was the better, but it is not always certain—at the moment—what the better answer would be for their entire retirement. So we could not actually advise people in advance which category they would be in.
Jane Ellison (Battersea) (Con)
The Minister might be aware that during the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill there has been considerable confusion about how much some of these women would lose. There is considerable misunderstanding out there, so could he provide some clarity in this area?
Steve Webb
I am looking forward to two hours with the Select Committee this afternoon after this warm-up. My hon. Friend is absolutely right, in that some of the women in the group we are talking about will miss out on nearly £20,000 of pension if they were to be treated the same as a man born on the same day. I think that very few of them would think that a good deal.
Gordon Birtwistle (Burnley) (LD)
Does my hon. Friend agree that the reforms to the state pension will be advantageous to women in the future?
Steve Webb
Absolutely. The process of state pension reform was happening at a glacial pace and equality between men and women was many decades away. We have brought that equality forward and men and women on both sides of the House should welcome that fact.
Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)
We look forward to seeing the Minister later. Does he agree that one of the problems is that people just do not understand what the change will mean for them? What plans do the Government have to write to everybody to tell them what pension they would have received under the old system and what they will receive under the new one?
Steve Webb
My hon. Friend is right to say that information will be crucial. One thing we have been doing with the changes to the state pension age, for example, is writing to the individuals affected so that they know exactly what position they are in. All too often in the past, laws have been passed, no one has been told and it has taken many years for people to find out about it. An information campaign will be central to taking forward these excellent proposals.
Gregg McClymont (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (Lab)
The Minister has so far provided cold comfort for the 429,000 women who will not benefit from the new state pension when men of precisely the same age will. May I ask the Minister about a specific group of 80,000 women who are represented in Parliament today? Under the Pensions Act 2011, which this Government passed, their retirement age increased with little notice. Now they will miss out on the Government’s proposed new pension with an average loss to the tune of £9 per week. Is it fair to penalise these women twice in two years?
Steve Webb
To be clear about the particular group to which the hon. Gentleman refers, their pension ages increased by a maximum of six months under the 2011 Act. The vast majority of those 80,000 would be worse off if we treated them the same as men, which is what he seems to be calling for. I was not clear what else he was calling for, but treating them the same as men would leave them worse off than they are now.
Mr Adam Holloway (Gravesham) (Con)
4. What assessment he has made of the availability of one-bedroom homes for single-person households to downsize to following the housing benefit changes due to take effect in April 2013.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)
There are about 400,000 working age households on housing benefit in under-occupied social housing in Great Britain who require just one bedroom according to the size criteria. There are more than 1.1 million one-bedroom properties in the social rented sector in England and 730,000 one-bedroom properties in the private rented sector. The availability of housing varies from area to area and is constantly changing. During 2011-12, there were about 112,000 new lettings of one-bedroom properties in England in the social rented sector alone.
Mr Holloway
Will there be an improvement in the position of disabled children in Gravesham under the spare room subsidy?
Mr Duncan Smith
My hon. Friend makes an important point. As the law stands, when a local authority agrees that a family needs an extra bedroom because their child’s disability means that they are unable to share, the family can be entitled to the spare room subsidy in respect of that extra bedroom. As with housing benefit claims, the determination of whether their disability requires them to have an extra bedroom is a matter for the local authority to decide with the help of DWP guidance and medical evidence. This week we will issue final guidance to local authorities on a number of areas, including this one, that will confirm the position that the judgment in Burnip, Trengove and Gorry applies to both the social rented sector and the private rented sector.
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)
One effect of the Secretary of State’s policy is that foster carers who have a spare bedroom and are waiting for a child to be placed must move to a smaller property without the space for them to foster. Is that what he intended?
Mr Duncan Smith
As the hon. Gentleman will know, we have made discretionary payments of £5 million available for foster carers to ensure that that does not happen. The effect for foster carers, as we move forward, will be that they will not have to change the number of rooms or their property as they will be able to remain there and to foster. That is what the policy will be.
Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)
My right hon. Friend and the Prime Minister have acknowledged that some of the spare rooms are not spare by acknowledging the need for discretionary housing payments. May I urge my right hon. Friend to reconsider whether some of those categories could and should be covered by genuine full exemptions?
Mr Duncan Smith
As I have just explained, one of those categories—severely disabled children—is covered and the guidance coming out tomorrow will make it very clear that we will apply that judicial judgment across the board to children with severe disabilities who need that extra room as they are unable to share. I shall keep everything under review and I guarantee to my hon. Friend that we will ensure that the intent of the change is bound up in how it takes effect in so far as the spare rooms will be kept for those who need them. Honestly, however, when so many houses have spare rooms and when so many people are in queues to get housing, it would seem wrong to go on subsidising everybody to stay the same.
Dame Anne Begg (Aberdeen South) (Lab)
Is it fair to penalise someone who had wanted a one-bedroom property, had asked their local authority for a one-bedroom property, but instead was given a two or three-bedroom property because there simply were no one-bedroom properties available?
Mr Duncan Smith
The purpose of the policy is to readjust the disparity that exists and that lay there under the previous Government. Local housing allowance for social tenants in the private rented sector does not and did not allow people to have spare rooms. In the social sector there are a large number of houses that people occupy without occupying all the rooms, so the purpose is to get that smoothed out. A number of councils have people waiting for housing, people in overcrowding, while others are subsidised to have spare rooms in housing that they do not need.
Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)
Will my right hon. Friend confirm that there will be discretionary payments available to councils to meet particular needs? Does he agree that it is despicable for Opposition Members to be scaremongering unnecessarily and scaring people who are in a vulnerable position already?
Mr Duncan Smith
The Opposition know what they have been about over the past few weeks. They have deliberately set about trying to confuse people with their ridiculous title. They have tried to confuse people that they will all come under this change, when only those on housing benefit will be affected, and they also seemed to indicate to many others, such as pensioners, that they were not exempt. They are exempt.
Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)
Is it not the case that there just are not enough homes for people hit by the bedroom tax? The Government promised, and the Secretary of State said a moment ago, that pensioners would not be affected, but those on universal credit will be. Soldiers’ families will not get full housing benefit, but someone who is sent to prison could keep every penny. The Government are hitting pensioners but safeguarding prisoners, so how can it be right that if someone has worked hard all their life and loses their job, or if someone is serving their country or is disabled or a pensioner, they could lose out?
Mr Duncan Smith
I do wish the hon. Gentleman would get his facts right. Convicted prisoners are not exempt, so he is wrong. With respect, he does not know the difference between someone on remand and someone convicted—[Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
Order. The hon. Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin) is noisier in heckling the Secretary of State than he was in heckling me at Essex university 30 years ago. He needs to calm down.
Mr Duncan Smith
With respect, Mr Speaker, the hon. Gentleman’s noise covers a complete lack of intelligence. That is what I would say. Let me bring something forward—[Interruption.] No, monkeys can jump around, but the noise they make is not necessarily relevant. Let me tell the hon. Gentleman about his own area. In Dudley, which I think he might know, the National Housing Federation estimates that there are 2,000 households under-occupying—in other words, with spare rooms. It also estimates that there are 1,500 families in overcrowded accommodation. In other words, if property is properly managed, we might get those who are overcrowded into decent-size accommodation. When will the Opposition moan about that?
Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)
5. What recent assessment he has made of the likely effects of the under-occupancy penalty on households that include a disabled person.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Esther McVey)
Let us be clear. The spare room subsidiary is not a penalty and it is not a tax. It is the result of, and a solution to, the inequality of treatment between those in the private rented and the social rented sector. The fact that housing benefit doubled in the past 10 years and the sheer imbalance in the system that we inherited resulted in 1.8 million people on waiting lists, 250,000 in overcrowded houses, and 1 million spare rooms in the system, when 180,000 claimants who are claiming disability living allowance, or whose partners are doing so, have spare rooms.
Cathy Jamieson
I thank the Minister for that answer, although I do not think it addresses the question. Disabled people in my constituency are coming to see me terrified about the implications of having to find additional money every week, so what can the Minister say about the disabled people who are contacting the local authority in my area to be told that they may not get a discretionary payment and that, even if they do, it may not last for the full year? Does she have any words of comfort for them?
Esther McVey
The hon. Lady, like all of us, has a duty to allay those fears, and it is something that we can all do. We know that so many specific instances could not be regulated clearly in law, hence we have trebled the discretionary payment to take into account all these factors. We know that pensioners are exempt and that we are helping, obviously, severely disabled children, and we have made clear all those who are being assisted. It is our duty to make sure that facts are clearly spelled out, and those who are most in need will be supported.
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
I know from my own constituency case load that Wiltshire council is often persuaded that families with disabled children can require an additional room in order to meet their needs. Will the Minister clarify the earlier answer to the hon. Member for Gravesham (Mr Holloway)? Is it the Government’s position that these families will be reliant on discretionary payments, or is it indeed the case that they will not see their housing benefit cut?
Esther McVey
If the disabled child cannot share and there is impact on another child, if they need that room, that room will be provided for, as the Secretary of State has said and in accordance with the local authorities.
Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP)
I thank the Secretary of State and the Minister for their answers today. This policy will affect all parts of the United Kingdom irrespective of the devolved settlement in Northern Ireland. On the assessment and the figures that have been presented today, is the Minister able to say something about how many people will be affected in Northern Ireland, given that there is a complete lack of single bedroom homes, both in the private and public sectors, in Northern Ireland?
Esther McVey
I will be very happy to write to the hon. Gentleman with the exact numbers for Northern Ireland. I can say, from the money that has been made available through the discretionary payments, that we will be supporting those most in need, as we have said so clearly throughout today.
Mrs Anne McGuire (Stirling) (Lab)
Given that the Prime Minister continues to state that families with disabled children or with family members as carers will somehow be exempt from the bedroom tax—and before the Minister reaches for her brief and tells me once more about the discretionary fund, she needs to realise that it is time limited and there is not enough in the fund—will the Minister advise the House whether the Prime Minister is pulling the wool over the public’s eyes, or has she abrogated her responsibilities as the Minister with responsibility for disabled people and not told them the exact impact of his Government’s policies?
Esther McVey
In line with the judgment, the Prime Minister was correct. We have clarified today that they will have the room and they will not need to move.
Ann Coffey (Stockport) (Lab)
8. What recent representations he has received on the sharing of data on missing children in the Troubled Families programme.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)
My Department plays a vital role in the cross-Government programme to turn around the lives of our most troubled families, a matter on which the hon. Lady has a long track record. Although I have not received any representations on sharing data on missing children, as we do not deal with them particularly, we are committed to building a clearer picture across Government of how many children are missing from care and where they go. We will begin piloting new arrangements shortly.
Ann Coffey
I thank the Secretary of State for that answer. As he will be aware, children going missing is a key indicator of being at risk of child sexual exploitation, and he will also know that information on children going missing from troubled families is under-reported. Will he ensure, together with his colleagues in other Departments, that data on missing and absent children is collected and shared properly, so that children from troubled families at risk of coming to harm can be identified, helped as early as possible, and not end up in the care system?
Mr Duncan Smith
Yes. I congratulate the hon. Lady on focusing on this across all the Departments, as I am aware that she has asked this question to a number of Departments. She is absolutely right. We do need to co-ordinate much better between Departments. As she knows, this is an historical issue for different Governments. The Department for Education chairs the data working group, which includes the Home Office, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, and the Children’s Society. I understand that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is also involved. That should help to improve the collection and publication of data. The pilot will begin shortly to see that we sort this out. She is right that we must do more to improve data as part of the missing children strategy and make sure that we get it right.
Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)
9. If he will bring forward proposals to restrict eligibility for housing benefit for people aged under 25.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)
In June last year the Prime Minister commenced a debate on the cost to the taxpayer of meeting the £2 billion bill for automatic entitlement to housing benefit for people aged under 25. Although that is not current Government policy, I have had a number of representations on the issue—not from the Opposition, but from others.
Mr Bone
If the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State are in favour, I cannot understand why that is not Government policy. With so many under-25s who are hard-working having to stay at home with their parents, why are the Government spending £1.8 billion a year housing under-25s who are on benefits? I cannot see how that is fair.
Mr Duncan Smith
My hon. Friend is right that the bill for under-25s in receipt of housing benefit is in the order of £2 billion a year. Some 370,000 under-25s claim housing benefit, and 42% of them are without children. However, the reality is that when we looked at that in the round prior to the spending review, it was agreed that it was not a priority area for the coalition. No doubt he will continue to campaign for it to be a priority area, and I am very happy to discuss the matter with him.
Mr David Lammy (Tottenham) (Lab)
The Secretary of State has decided to move forward with his benefit cap in four pilot areas in London. How much has he decided to compensate Haringey council for making it a guinea pig in that way?
Mr Duncan Smith
I do not believe that there is any need to compensate anybody. We have already told all those councils that they are not guinea pigs; they are actually getting very close support and advice. I think that it will be a tremendous success story. What they are doing is learning, along with us, about any issues that might arise, and we have already said very clearly that we will support them through any extra costs and expenses. The right hon. Gentleman’s party has to recognise that the reality is that the cap is right. The public support it because they are tired of seeing people getting more on benefits than those who are in work, so setting the cap is right. He needs to ask why his party keeps voting against it.
Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)
I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues are delighted that that proposal did not become Government policy and will happily keep making representations on it. Although it would be wonderful if all under-25s had a loving and stable family to live with, does the Secretary of State accept that that is simply not the case? Will he meet the YMCA to understand the realities facing many under-25s and continue to provide them with the support they need to have somewhere to live?
Mr Duncan Smith
Yes, I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend and any group of people, such as the YMCA, he wishes to bring to me. I simply say this: we have a significant problem, because we inherited a welfare budget approaching £200 billion that had risen out of control under the previous Government. He is fully aware that we have to reform it both to get people back to work and to ensure that we get the cost under control. Those are all areas we have looked at, but in those discussions we decided that, in the round, it was not a priority.
Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)
On Friday morning I met a 19-year-old autistic young women whose family home, which is rented from the council, with housing benefit, has been adapted at public expense, but now they are very worried because they are deemed to have one bedroom too many. Surely the bedroom tax should not apply when a council house has been specifically adapted for the occupants at public expense.
Mr Duncan Smith
The right hon. Gentleman knows very well that that is the point of discretionary housing payments—[Interruption.] Opposition Members can groan, but we have put more money into discretionary payments to sort these things out than they ever did when they brought these in. The reality is that there is money for them to do just that. I remind him that the National Housing Federation has estimated that in his area of Newham some 3,000 people are under-occupying and some 5,000 are overcrowded. Perhaps he would like to take his own side to task for never doing a thing for those struggling in overcrowded accommodation.
Mr Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow) (Lab)
10. What steps he is taking to tackle long-term unemployment.
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mr Mark Hoban)
Long-term unemployment fell by 15,000 last month. Our main initiative to help get people who are long-term unemployed into work is the Work programme. In the period to September 2012, 200,000 people found work as a consequence of the Work programme.
Mr Hepburn
Long-term unemployment in my constituency went up by 67% last year. Does that not tell us exactly what the Tories are like in this country today? Will the Minister stand up, put his hands up and admit that the policies of the millionaires in government are totally failing the ordinary people of this country?
Mr Hoban
I would have thought that the hon. Gentleman would want to celebrate the fact that an additional 21,000 people in the north-east are in work compared with a year ago. Yes, there are deep-seated challenges in the north-east, but I am confident that progress is being made in rebalancing the economy, and that is down to the strength of the private sector.
Mr Nick Gibb (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) (Con)
May I ask my hon. Friend what happens when someone who is long-term unemployed rings Worthing benefits centre given its failure to return calls within even the three-hour performance target and its failure to meet the target of processing 85% of employment and support allowance payments within the target of 16 days? What action is being taken to remedy the position, and when does he anticipate that the centre will be meeting all its performance targets?
Mr Hoban
My hon. Friend is right to highlight the issues at Worthing benefits centre. As a consequence of a very high level of applications for ESA, there is some pressure on performance at the centre. Work is being done to help tackle the backlog and to get back to the 85% level. Managers from the Department are happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the situation.
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)
11. What assessment he has made of recent trends in unemployment.
James Wharton (Stockton South) (Con)
13. What assessment he has made of recent trends in unemployment.
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mr Mark Hoban)
Unemployment has been falling in each of the last 11 months; on the International Labour Organisation measure it is down by 156,000. The unemployment rate is now lower than it was in 2010. This is testament to the strength of the private sector, which has created 1 million net new jobs since May 2010.
Robert Halfon
My hon. Friend will be aware that Tesco has announced the closure of a huge depot in Harlow, with the possible loss of 800 jobs. Will he work constructively with the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, which is trying to ensure that the workers who are offered jobs in other plants get the same pay and conditions?
James Wharton
In Stockton South youth unemployment has fallen from 11.3% to 9.6% January to January. This is a welcome trend, but I would like it to go further. What are the Government doing to ensure that it can continue over the coming year?
Mr Hoban
I am delighted to welcome the news of what is happening in Stockton South. That is in contrast to what has happened in Jarrow, but it demonstrates the resilience of the economy in the north-east. The fact that 40,000 extra private sector jobs have been created in the north-east over the past couple of years demonstrates that while there are difficult challenges, the economy is rebalancing, and that should be to the benefit of everyone there.
Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)
Will the Minister kindly tell the House how many young people are unemployed?
Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)
The Minister mentioned the so-called 1 million new jobs. With reference to the labour force survey, will he tell me how many of those so-called new jobs arise from reclassification and how many represent people who are under-employed?
Mr Hoban
If the hon. Lady looks at the labour force survey, she will see that the figure is 1 million net new jobs. She talks about people being under-employed. I hope that she is not being condescending to those of her constituents and mine who are working part-time and want to work part-time.
John Stevenson (Carlisle) (Con)
20. Does the Minister agree that the economic success and, indeed, the social success of places like Carlisle depend on the creation of private sector jobs? Will he confirm that to help to achieve this he will ensure that it is always better financially to be in employment than on benefits?
Mr Hoban
That is absolutely at the heart of the roll-out of universal credit, which will mean that people know that they are better off in work, and better off working more hours and earning more than working fewer hours and earning less. That incentive to get paid work is at the heart of our welfare reforms.
Katy Clark (North Ayrshire and Arran) (Lab)
12. If he will reconsider the decision not to include residential properties owned by local authorities for temporary accommodation in the definition of temporary accommodation contained in the Housing Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2012.
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)
From 8 April, people living in temporary accommodation will, in most cases, be unaffected by the removal of the spare room subsidy in the social rented sector. However, where a local authority’s own temporary accommodation is used, the spare room subsidy will be removed if the tenant is placed in accommodation that is larger than they need.
Katy Clark
In North Ayrshire the council owns 63% of the accommodation used as temporary accommodation, and the bedroom tax will apply to approximately two thirds of those properties. Will the Minister look again at the definition of temporary accommodation, given that this policy will simply mean that local authorities end up spending a lot more on less suitable accommodation from the private sector?
Steve Webb
We think that local authorities using their own stock to discharge their homelessness function should, wherever possible, house people in appropriately sized accommodation. If there are short-term problems in matching families to accommodation size, discretionary payments are available and can be used to support any shortfall a local authority may experience.
Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)
Half of all the temporary accommodation in Scotland is council-owned and the accommodation size reflects the existing housing stock and a varying range of needs in that sector. The discretionary housing budget in Scotland will not even cover the cost of keeping disabled people in specially adapted homes, so in no way will it cover the needs of people in temporary accommodation. Will the Government look again at this and reconsider what I can only assume is an unintended consequence or an oversight?
Steve Webb
The hon. Lady raises the important issue of the mismatch between the housing stock and families who need housing. That has gone unaddressed for decades and we now need to address it. We recognise that there may be particular issues in Scotland, partly with rurality and partly with the housing stock, and we are happy to continue having that conversation with hon. Members.
Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)
15. What arrangements his Department is making for benefit payments to people who are unable to receive them through a bank or building society account.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)
People who are unable to receive benefit payments through a bank or building society account are paid under the new simple payment. The service is easily accessible and is available free of charge and over the counter at more than 10,000 PayPoint outlets across the UK. The phased roll-out of simple payment began in October 2012 and we are closely monitoring the service to ensure that people can access their payments.
Mark Pawsey
I recently met a constituent of mine who wishes to receive his pension payment in cash but has had some difficulty in doing so since the transition from cheques to simple payment. What support is available for people such as my constituent?
Mr Duncan Smith
The contract is working very well across the board at the moment. About 99% of all claimants are getting their money as required at the right time, and 95% are within 1 mile of outlets, or within 5 miles in rural areas. It is, therefore, better than the previous system and it is also cheaper. The last cheque system cost £30 million and was defrauded to the cost of about £5 million; this costs about £7 million.
Immediate responsibility for the individual mentioned by my hon. Friend lies with PayPoint and the bank. They have a responsibility to ensure that cash is available at every location. We take them to task over that and they will have to make restitution.
Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)
17. What plans he has to support disabled entrepreneurs.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Esther McVey)
We offer a range of support to help disabled people get and stay in work, including Work Choice, the Work programme and Access to Work. In fact, we have extended Access to Work to make it available to disabled people setting up businesses though the new enterprise allowance.
Glyn Davies
Investment in disabled people’s user-led organisations has proved very helpful to disabled people, but does my hon. Friend accept that it is crucial for the coalition Government’s commitment to delivering fairness that we build on this policy?
Esther McVey
I share my hon. Friend’s views about disabled people’s user-led organisations, which is why we have put £3 million aside—£2.2 million has been spent so far—to support programmes that are being built by such organisations. I have been impressed with the innovative designs that have resulted from that, including, most recently, an app called Georgie, which was designed by a blind person and is now being manufactured and used across the country.
Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)
18. What plans he has to tackle the potential for digital exclusion under his plans for universal credit; and if he will make a statement.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)
It is important to recognise that 80% of existing benefit claimants already use the internet. For the minority who do not, we are helping them move online by, for example, working with digital champions, testing the new universal credit system with more than 6,200 real claimants to date, and developing a local support framework to ensure bespoke services. Even before universal credit is introduced, we are seeing the effect of this change.
Michael Fabricant
My right hon. Friend gives a good indication of the progress being made, but he will know that a number of people who are applying for universal credit and, indeed, other benefits will not have access to a computer, technical skills or even broadband. What sort of support is he giving them?
Mr Duncan Smith
We have put—and will continue to do so—large numbers of internet access devices in jobcentres, so people will automatically get help and support when they go in. We are talking and working with local authorities to ensure that people will be able to gain immediate access through libraries and all other local authority outlets. We are also working with individuals to make sure that those who have computers at home fully understand how to use the system. The truth is that this will be helpful. The Opposition seem to occasionally miss the fact that 92% of advertised vacancies require basic IT skills and that if people do not have the ability to go on a computer, they cannot apply for the job.
Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)
22. How many people are in receipt of out-of-work benefits; and what assessment he has made of the level of inactivity in (a) Stafford constituency and (b) England.
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mr Mark Hoban)
The proportion of people who are in work or looking for work is the highest for more than two decades, and the number of people who are claiming the main out-of-work benefits has fallen by 230,000 since 2010. In Stafford, about 5,000 people are claiming one of those benefits, which is down on the year and down since 2010.
Jeremy Lefroy
Last month, inactivity fell to the lowest rate since 1991 at just 22.3% of the working-age population. What has contributed to that fall?
Mr Hoban
There is a range of factors, including the resilience of the private sector in creating jobs and the fact that people are able to work more flexibly and thereby manage health conditions and look after children while working part time. The Government have had a relentless focus on using welfare reform to encourage more people to look for jobs and move into work. The benefit of that is starting to flow through.
Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)
I welcome the recent introduction of mandation to universal jobmatch, which means that Jobcentre Plus advisers can mandate jobseekers to use the new service to help them find work and require them to demonstrate their progress. More than 2 million jobseekers are now registered, which is twice the number when I last updated the House. That shows just how quickly the system is revolutionising how jobseekers look for work.
Mr Betts
This question was raised with me by my constituent, Mr Leonard Jolicoeur. He asked whether it is true that someone who is of pensionable age when the new single-tier pension comes in and who has a small occupational pension and therefore does not receive pension credit will get the existing state pension, but that someone who is in exactly the same financial circumstances and becomes of pensionable age after the single-tier pension comes in will get the new single-tier pension, which is some £40 a week more. What can the Minister say to persuade my constituent that it is fair or reasonable for somebody who is in exactly the same financial circumstances as his neighbour to get £40 a week more than him?
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)
That is not what would happen. People who have contracted out into an occupational pension, such as his constituent, currently get money off their state pension, which is called a contracted-out deduction. That will remain part of the single-tier proposition. Therefore, somebody such as his constituent who has contracted out would not get the £144. There is no cliff edge. There would be a deduction for past contracting out in both cases.
Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)
T3. Does my right hon. Friend agree that for Opposition Members to talk of the spare bedroom subsidy as a tax shows a profound lack of understanding on their part of what a tax actually is?
Mr Speaker
Order. I say gently to the hon. Lady that Ministers have no responsibility for the Opposition’s use of terminology. It is better that we leave it there. There has been a very full exchange on that subject.
Mr Liam Byrne (Birmingham, Hodge Hill) (Lab)
May I start by thanking the Secretary of State for briefing me and my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms) on his plans for urgent legislation, about which his Department has commented in The Daily Telegraph this morning? Both he and I believe that sanctions are vital to give back-to-work programmes their bite. However, when he signed off the 2011 regulations that created sanctions for the Work programme, why did he not check that they were legally bullet proof?
Mr Duncan Smith
The right hon. Gentleman knows that the advice that we received made it very clear that the regulations would survive a challenge, and that was the view that we took. As he knows, the High Court upheld our position. It was the Court of Appeal that decided, on quite a technical line, to change that position. The position on human rights was upheld, as was the main point of our direction of travel.
Mr Byrne
I do not think that it is a technical challenge when three Court of Appeal judges unanimously quash the 2011 regulations because they are not in line with the law. That mistake puts in jeopardy about £100 million of sanctions that have been issued. I did not think that the Work programme could get any worse, but it has. We will support wise and sensible legislation that will fix the problem, but will the Secretary of State take personal responsibility and apologise for this mess, which may cost twice as much as the west coast main line fiasco?
Mr Duncan Smith
The right hon. Gentleman knows very well that when Ministers make regulations, they take the fullest advice possible. That advice came to us; it was checked and it said that the regulations were fine. The High Court upheld them. It was the Appeal Court that decided that an element of that was not correct.
I do not wish to make this a political issue, and I take full responsibility for everything that goes on in my Department. I accept that we wish we were not in this position, but if the right hon. Gentleman supports the idea that people who have been mandated to do work, should take jobs and do work experience once they have volunteered without messing around otherwise they lose their benefit, I hope that we can look forward to his supporting the legislation that will ensure that we do not have to pay out money against a judgment that we never anticipated.
Mr Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)
T4. Is the Secretary of State aware that Conservative Members support his courage and his battles in trying to reduce the crippling burden of the social security budget? In particular, may I commend his quiet courtesy this weekend in reminding the Archbishop of Canterbury that trapping people in dependency is not necessarily a Christian response? What the Secretary of State is doing is a good and positive way of making work pay.
Mr Duncan Smith
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I have no issue whatever with the Church of England and the bishops saying whatever they believe. It is right and proper that they should argue with us and put pressure on us on a variety of issues. However, I do not agree that the way to get children out of poverty is to keep transferring more and more money to keeping people out of work. The reality is that we are having to reform a system that became completely out of control under the last Government and get in place a system that gets people back to work, because being in work is how people get their children out of poverty.
Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)
T2. Mandatory reconsideration after employment and support allowance is refused and when somebody wants to appeal can lead to people being without either ESA or jobseeker’s allowance. Will the Minister ensure that a short time limit is set on reconsiderations so that people are not left without any income?
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mr Mark Hoban)
Mandatory reconsideration is in place to help accelerate decision making, so that the Department can revisit a case rather than have to wait for it to go to the tribunal. We try to keep delays as short as possible to ensure that we get the right outcome and get the right support to people as quickly as possible.
Paul Uppal (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)
T6. As the Minister may be aware, the number of private sector jobs in the west midlands decreased under the last Labour Government. Will he welcome the news, as I do, that Jaguar Land Rover is increasing investment in the engine plant in Wolverhampton by £150 million, creating an additional 700 high-skilled jobs?
Mr Hoban
My hon. Friend is right to celebrate the achievements of Jaguar Land Rover. In national apprenticeship week, I commend him for his work to promote apprenticeships in his constituency. He is right, and he points the way towards how a private sector-led recovery can increase employment. That is why we have seen 107,000 additional jobs in the west midlands.
Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)
T5. Local housing associations in my area are deeply concerned about their ability to provide services as a result of this year’s welfare changes. What assessment will the Secretary of State make of their credit ratings, both this year and next? Does he expect them to go down the way?
Mr Duncan Smith
The best thing for me to do is to ensure that I write to the hon. Lady properly and place the reply in the Library of the House.
Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)
T7. Last week we discussed in the House the treatment of women across the world. To deliver equality and fairness of treatment in the United Kingdom, we must ensure equal access to work and remuneration. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important to make a continuing assessment of the number of women in work?
Mr Hoban
My hon. Friend will celebrate, as I did on international women’s day, the fact that there are record numbers of women in work and that the number of women unemployed has fallen by 29,000 over the past year. We need to do more to get women in work, and universal credit will help, but it is important also to celebrate the flexibility of the labour market, which enables more and more people to work part time to meet their responsibilities.
Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)
T9. Why is the Secretary of State disregarding research by the National Housing Federation which shows that the discretionary fund to provide help with the bedroom tax is £100 million short of what is required?
Mr Duncan Smith
We are not. We listen to councils and everybody else who talks to us about these things, and ensure that we adjust accordingly. In reality, more than £280 million is going in discretionary payments direct to councils over two years to resolve these issues. That is more than ever before and I believe it is enough. We are asking councils to make sensible judgments that benefit the maximum number of people—tenants and those on housing benefit—in their areas.
Mr Shailesh Vara (North West Cambridgeshire) (Con)
T8. What assessment has the Minister made of the support available to disabled people through the Access to Work programme?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Esther McVey)
Last year 30,000 disabled people were supported through Access to Work. We have extended that programme and added an extra £15 million, and it is working very well.
Hywel Williams (Arfon) (PC)
This afternoon I received a message in my inbox that was sent to all MPs and marked “importance: high”. It said that one-bedroom apartments, located in the most convenient and sought-after positions in the heart of St James’s, and including a spacious reception, double bedroom and fitted kitchen, were advertised at £390 per week although the landlord would take an offer to fall-in with the parliamentary allowance. Would the Secretary of State advise one of my Caernarfon constituents, currently luxuriating in a two-bedroom flat, to apply?
Mr Duncan Smith
No, I would not, and I hope that nobody else in the Chamber would be able to apply either—otherwise we may find out exactly what they are worth. The changes we are making with the spare room subsidy are to get rid of the subsidy that ordinary taxpayers are paying for people to under-occupy houses while many others live in overcrowded accommodation.
Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con)
There is significant concern across the country about the likelihood of welfare dependency as a result of immigration from Romania and Bulgaria from January 2014. Will the Minister look urgently at the habitual residence test within the context of the free movement directive and ensure that such issues are addressed in good time?
Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
Will the Secretary of State consider introducing a compulsory jobs guarantee for people who have been unemployed for two years or more?
Mr Hoban
The hon. Lady should be commended for trying to trot out a policy that I thought the Opposition had dropped two or three weeks ago. When such a scheme was piloted under the previous Government, it demonstrated that it was not good value for money or good for the unemployed. The hon. Lady should welcome the measures the Government are taking to get people into work. That is why record numbers of people are in work and unemployment has continued to fall for 11 months in a row.
Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)
Although the Labour party thinks that the benefit cap is too low, the majority of my constituents think it is far too high. May I urge the Secretary of State to ignore the left-wing bishops, who probably do not even speak for the majority of people who go to church each week, let alone the vast majority of the British people?
Mr Duncan Smith
I listen to everybody who gives me advice although I do not necessarily follow it. The Government are doing the right thing in bringing in a benefit cap, and for the first time ever people on low and average earnings will realise that at last those on benefits will not be paid more through their taxes than they themselves earn.
Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op)
I met the mother of Hayden, a three-year old boy in my constituency, who has just received a letter stating that she must now pay the bedroom tax. Hayden has sleep difficulties and often has disturbed nights. Should he be forced to share a room with his four-year-old sister who will now also be disturbed, or will it all be okay because there is a tiny amount of discretionary funding?
Mr Duncan Smith
I do wonder that the Labour party, which sat in government for 13 years, never once raised the issue of people living in overcrowded accommodation, and never once seemed to care that huge numbers of people were on the waiting list. Nevertheless, Labour Members bleat about those who are under-occupying and are being subsidised by poorer people who cannot find accommodation.
David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)
The Pensions Minister will have seen the recent press coverage about the high margins generated by annuity providers. That comes as no surprise given the complete market failure that has occurred in large parts of the private pension industry. Will he consider imposing a uniform product structure—as has been done in energy—and will he enforce legally the open market option?
Steve Webb
My hon. Friend has a good track record of challenging the issue of charges and value for money. The Association of British Insurers has just published its code of practice, to which members have to sign up, to ensure that instead of people just defaulting to the provider they save with, they shop around. We will monitor closely whether that makes the market more effective. [Interruption.] Opposition Members are shouting “Do something”, but they did not do something when they were in power.
Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)
A constituent I met on Saturday is a divorced lone parent who works hard for a low income, and his children stay with him on three evenings a week. Why does the Secretary of State believe that such a hard-working individual should lose £12 a week under his hateful bedroom tax?
Mr Duncan Smith
Again, another hon. Member who does not know the difference between a subsidy and a tax. The reality is that those who do not occupy all the rooms in social housing are being subsidised by many of those who live in overcrowded accommodation. Let me remind the hon. Gentleman—Opposition Members do not like to be reminded—that under local housing allowance for the private social rented sector, which was introduced by the previous Labour Government, people were not allowed to occupy houses that had spare bedrooms.
Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)
The Government’s under-occupancy policy relies on people being able to move into appropriately-sized housing, but in specific parts of the country that is very hard to achieve. Does the Secretary of State agree that no benefit reduction should take place until people have at least been offered somewhere appropriately sized and located? Will he make sure that there is enough discretionary housing budget for councils to ensure that that is the case?
Mr Duncan Smith
I agree, particularly with the last part of the question. We have set aside £280 million over two years for councils to be able to negotiate and work out with their tenants the best and most amenable way to go. My hon. Friend’s question is constructive, in sharp contrast to the Opposition. All they can do is moan about a policy, but in 13 years they did nothing about overcrowding, with the lowest level of house building since the 1920s.
Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)
When the bedroom tax is introduced in my constituency, some people, who will be unable to move because properties are not available, will be left with £18 a week to live on. During the recess, I tried that to see what it would be like. I have had a lot of messages from members of the public asking me one question: will the Secretary of State try for a week to live on £18?
Mr Duncan Smith
When we made changes to local housing allowance, the hon. Lady and others prophesised that hundreds of thousands of people would be made homeless—they went up and down the country scaring everybody. The figures now show that our homeless figures are lower than the peak under the previous Labour Government.