"My Lords, the Department for Work and Pensions says that, of those referred on to the Work Programme—those unemployed for more than 12 months—30 per cent would get a job anyway, regardless of any intervention. I gather that the minimum contract performance on the Work Programme is to get 33 …..." Lord Knight of Weymouth - View Speech
"My Lords, for the universal credit system to work, the tax and benefit systems need to be successfully merged, as do the IT systems at the DWP and HMRC. The Minister talks about a good relationship, and he is very happy with his relationship with HMRC. However, can he really …..." Lord Knight of Weymouth - View Speech
"My Lords, the Government inherited falling youth unemployment, yet this is the eighth consecutive monthly rise in unemployment and precedes the eurozone crisis. This crisis is down to this Government’s decisions to scrap the EMA, to cut post-16 education funding and to scrap the future jobs fund, and an austerity …..." Lord Knight of Weymouth - View Speech
"I want to comment briefly on this. I say “briefly” because I have the next amendment, there is more I want to say and I do not want to take up too much of the Committee’s time today. I got a bit of billing from my noble friend Lady Hayter …..." Lord Knight of Weymouth - View Speech
"My Lords, forgive me for taking a little time in introducing this amendment. It seeks to address delivery concerns around the implementation of universal credit and requires a report to be published in both Houses demonstrating that there has been proper, full testing and establishment of things such as the …..." Lord Knight of Weymouth - View Speech
"Certainly, it is important that individuals such as the noble Lord can apply successfully for their state pension online. We have seen some great successes across government in being able to use digital as the default route—in particular, the student loan application process, and vehicle licensing and road tax services …..." Lord Knight of Weymouth - View Speech