Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Paul Maynard and Iain Duncan Smith

Monday 1st February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

There are two elements. The first is that, as my hon. Friend knows, we have introduced a work experience programme, which has been hugely successful in getting young people back into work. When we came into office, people could take work experience through a jobcentre for only two weeks, but we have now increased that to two months—or three months for people who get the chance to have an apprenticeship. Over 50% of those who do work experience have gone back to work.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the huge increase in apprenticeships we are now planning will reskill our young people and ensure that the work they do is high skilled, high value and well paid.

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

4. What contribution his Department plans to make to the strategy announced by the Prime Minister in January 2016 to ensure that people from all parts of society have equal life chances.

[Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate) (Con)]

11. What contribution his Department plans to make to the strategy announced by the Prime Minister in January 2016 to ensure that people from all parts of society have equal life chances.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)]

My Department is leading the development of the life chances strategy. The strategy marks our commitment to transforming children’s lives by tackling the root causes of poverty—worklessness, poor educational attainment, family breakdown, problem debt and addiction.

[Paul Maynard]

Improving life chances is very important in my constituency, given the high levels of deprivation, which are often linked to ill health. What more can the Department do to help people stay in work when they experience ill health, rather than dropping out and having to engage with the benefits system?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I commend my hon. Friend on the huge amount of work that he does so tirelessly in his constituency, which I have seen at first hand when visiting projects with him. He is a huge champion for those who have difficulties getting back into work. As he knows, we have introduced the “Fit for Work” programme, which helps employees facing long-term sickness to get back into work sooner and helps employers to get people assessed properly, rather than allowing them to fall away and have difficulties, so that occupational health can look at them as well as their having a health assessment. That will introduce a new way of looking at people to keep them in work because, as the Department of Health now agrees, work is part of a health treatment and should not be seen as separate. The White Paper that I will bring forward shortly will talk about that.

Child Poverty

Debate between Paul Maynard and Iain Duncan Smith

Wednesday 1st July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

It will not surprise the hon. Lady to hear that I do not agree with almost every single word she said. I remind her that it is no good going on and on about the powers that one wants when one is not prepared to recognise or exercise the massive powers given under the Smith commission—£2.5 billion-worth of new welfare powers, the ability to raise more than 50% of what is spent, and powers over employment programmes. I am not quite sure what she actually wants, but I do know this much: under this Government, employment in Scotland has been better than it has been after previous recessions at any other time.

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s thoughtful statement. Does he agree that, despite having figures for persistent poverty in the structure of the existing poverty targets, they have not hitherto succeeded in driving public policy change in Whitehall or in improving the life chances of those in persistent poverty in Blackpool and Cleveleys?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

That is exactly the point I have been making. One of the big areas that has been missing is educational attainment. By locking in educational attainment, we are at last going to be able to look at a balance of measures that ask whether people are actually seeing their life chances progress. The group of people I most constantly worry about are the families who never got near the 60% line, whose life chances were flat. I want them to be able to follow a trajectory that goes above that line and for them to be able to get ahead under their own steam as they take control of their lives.

Child Poverty

Debate between Paul Maynard and Iain Duncan Smith

Thursday 25th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

Our purpose is to support people as they go into work and progress into full-time work—that is what universal credit is all about. I believe that what the hon. Gentleman will see as we complete its roll-out is that more families will benefit, to the degree of taking control of their lives and having that independence of a pay packet.

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

Does the Secretary of State share my desire to focus on those children in persistent poverty—those in that situation for three years out of four—many of whom are, sadly, in my constituency and face multiple disadvantages within their family? Does he agree that they were a specific group wholly ignored by the previous Labour Government’s anti-poverty strategy?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

My hon. Friend has campaigned hard on this and he is right; one problem with setting a narrow measure such as this and then being governed by it is that it is all about rotating people at the top of the relative poverty scale and not actually dealing with the deepest and deep-set problems. Dealing with those is what our purpose must be as we go forward to look at new measures.