Working-age Welfare System
Debate between Baroness Sherlock and Lord Bishop of Manchester(1 month ago)
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Baroness Sherlock (Lab)
The noble Lord raises an important point. We all agree that those who can work should work and those who cannot work at all should be supported. That leaves us with two questions. One is: how do you tell the difference? The second is: is it an absolute difference anyway? I think it actually is not. The mistake we have made is assuming that the world is in two categories of people: those who can work and those who never can. The fact is that for lots of us there are times in our life when we can or cannot work, and times when we can do some work. Our job is to accept that the overwhelming majority of people can work, either now or in the near future, and we know they want to. Our job is to make sure that we support people and help them. But clearly the system is there. There are clear conditionality requirements. If you can work, you should. But just telling you that is not enough. We need to give you the confidence. For example, in our work with young people—I am sorry, Chief Whip, I will stop now.
The Lord Bishop of Manchester
My Lords, I am glad to hear that the Minister is so passionate about this and that, overall, this is taking place. As part of that, however, the Trussell Trust tells me that the majority of people who go to food banks are already on universal credit. Are the Government going to look at what it actually costs to survive in this country so that that can be factored into what levels of universal credit people are going to be getting?
Baroness Sherlock (Lab)
The right reverend Prelate raises a really important point. As I know he knows, in our work on rebalancing universal credit, the Government are making the first above-inflation increase in the standard rate of universal credit. We are also investing in other things that support people with the cost of living: help with housing, with heating and with childcare. We need to support those who are out of work. Also, a lot of people on universal credit are in work, so it is important for us to help them to get on in work, develop, improve their salaries and have opportunities. Most people do not want to spend their entire life out of work. It is not good for them; it is not good for the state. That is our job.
Household Support Fund
Debate between Baroness Sherlock and Lord Bishop of Manchester(2 years, 2 months ago)
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Baroness Sherlock (Lab)
I remember that very well. In fact, I read the Hansard of the last time this came up and noticed that the noble Lord made that point. When I looked at how the financing had been provided, I saw that the money had been provided for only six months. Therefore, there is currently nothing in the budget to go beyond that. But I take his broader point about cliff edges and short notice being unhelpful. As I said, we need to get back to a space where we can support councils with longer, multiyear funding to give them the kind of stability they need but simply have not had recently.
The Lord Bishop of Manchester
Something like seven out of every eight local authorities now use this money to alleviate holiday hunger among our children. Can we have any hope that the Government will look at a more strategic way of helping children cope with hunger during the school holidays? Many of the churches in my diocese, and those of my right reverend friends here, are having to put on voluntary projects to support children during those periods. What can we hope for?
Baroness Sherlock (Lab)
I pay tribute to the Church and other faith organisations, which do such important work with children, families and their communities. I commend them for that. The question of holiday hunger, and indeed of children and food, will clearly be considered by the child poverty strategy and the task force when it gets together. We will set up a child poverty unit in the Cabinet Office that will work with the task force. We have already begun talking to stakeholders of different kinds, asking for experiences and getting expertise from inside and outside government to look at the best ways we can make this better. But we are also making some specific starts. For example, we are committed to making sure we have breakfast clubs in every single primary school. That is a simple measure that helps with the cost of living for families and helps children to start the school day able to concentrate because they have had something to eat. So I fully accept the importance of ensuring children have food and of being consistent; that will be part of what we look at.