Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Sharma and Liz Twist

Monday 15th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

I go up and down the country to jobcentres, and they invariably tell me they are having a good experience. They are learning from the past. What I think my hon. Friend will find is that his jobcentre is absolutely prepared for this further roll-out.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

6. What steps her Department has taken to ensure that claiming universal credit online is accessible to blind and partially sighted people.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Sharma and Liz Twist

Monday 21st May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

2. What estimate she has made of the number of families affected by the two-child limit for child tax credits and universal credit since April 2017.

[The Minister for Employment (Alok Sharma)]

The aim of the two-child limit is to strike the right balance between support for claimants and fairness to taxpayers who support themselves solely through work. The policy has been in effect only since April 2017 and statistics relating to its implementation will be published in due course.

[Liz Twist]

The High Court recently found that the ordering restriction on the two-child limit for children in kinship care was unlawful. When are the Government going to introduce regulations to make sure that the law is in line with the Court judgment?

[Alok Sharma]

We welcome the High Court ruling, which showed that the policy is lawful. However, the hon. Lady is absolutely right: in terms of kinship carers, we are going to be making those changes. This will have to come about through regulations in Parliament and we will bring those forward shortly. I would point out that, as the Secretary of State made clear in her written statement, we will be making changes to include not just those in kinship arrangements, but children who are adopted and would otherwise be in local authority care.