Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Barwell and Mark Hoban

Monday 5th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

15. What recent assessment he has made of the level of employment.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mr Mark Hoban)]

There are more than 29.6 million people in work—the highest number since records began over 40 years ago.

[Gavin Barwell]

In my constituency, unemployment is down by nearly 10% since its peak in February this year. We clearly need to do better still. Does my hon. Friend agree that, contrary to some suggestions, the evidence shows that that is not down to an Olympic blip, but that we are seeing welcome progress month on month, with more and more people finding work?

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. We have seen employment levels rise. Even if we exclude London in its entirety, we have seen the number of people in work increase by 500,000 since the general election.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Barwell and Mark Hoban

Monday 10th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

The Government are piloting a scheme in my constituency in which the young unemployed who have never worked will be required to do voluntary work in return for their benefits. Does my hon. Friend agree that that will be good for the long-term job prospects of the young people concerned, and good for confidence in the benefits system, in showing that people will not get something for nothing?

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are implementing that scheme in conjunction with the Greater London authority, and it will provide an important way of getting more young people into work. That will be to their benefit and to the benefit of society and taxpayers generally.

Equitable Life

Debate between Lord Barwell and Mark Hoban

Tuesday 20th July 2010 Westminster Hall

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. The crisis has gone on for too long. Lord Penrose’s report was back in 2000, and the previous Government could have tackled the issue then. They blocked the ombudsman’s second inquiry into Equitable Life, and they took six months to respond to the ombudsman’s report. At every step in the process, the previous Government delayed. We want to make rapid progress, but fairly and transparently for policyholders and taxpayers.

In our coalition agreement we pledged to make fair and transparent payments, through an independently designed scheme, to policyholders for their relative loss as a consequence of regulatory failure. In the two months since we have been in office, we have made real progress and will continue to do so over the coming months. In May, in the Queen’s Speech, we announced an Equitable Life Bill, which will give the Treasury the statutory authority to incur expenditure in making payments to those who have suffered loss in connection with maladministration and the regulation of Equitable Life. The Bill will be introduced shortly and will be an important step towards resolving the issue.

Another important step will be the imminent publication of Sir John Chadwick’s final report on Equitable Life. It will give us a greater understanding of the losses that policyholders have suffered. Some have called for us to abandon the Chadwick process or to alter Sir John’s terms of reference. However, after careful consideration, I decided to allow Sir John to continue with his work under the current terms of reference. His work has been the culmination of almost 18 months of detailed analysis and evidence gathering. He and his actuaries have delved deeply into the issues, and their work has been informed by consultations with interested parties. For example, his flexible approach to establishing loss removes from policyholders the burden of proving what they would have done had they been aware of problems at Equitable Life. It is important to have his work available, as it will aid us in providing a swift response.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

The Minister certainly has the reputation with EMAG members that he mentioned earlier, but an issue of concern is the Government’s attitude to Chadwick. The Minister said that their response would be published imminently. Is there likely to be a statement before the summer recess?

[Mr Hoban]

I believe that there will be a statement before the summer recess. I recognise the concerns about Sir John’s work, but it is a useful building block in the process. To dismiss it and not give it due consideration would be an error.