Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Ballinger Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Stephen Timms]

Together with disabled people, we are co-producing a review of PIP to ensure that it is fair and fit for the future. The review’s terms of reference reflect the view of successive Governments that PIP should be a non-means-tested cash benefit for people both in and out of work, because anybody can incur additional costs as a result of long-term ill health or disability.

[Alex Ballinger (Halesowen) (Lab)]

Sadly, Dudley borough was named in Alan Milburn’s “Young people and work” report as the worst performing borough in the country for tracking 16 and 17-year-olds—for over a thousand 16 and 17-year-olds, it was unknown whether they were working, in school or in college, or what they were doing at all. Can the Secretary of State outline what the Department is doing to ensure that we do not lose sight of these young people, as we have done in Dudley, so that we can give them the opportunities they need?

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Ballinger Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Katrina Murray (Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch) (Lab)]

8. What steps she is taking to support people with disabilities and long-term health conditions into work.

[Alex Ballinger (Halesowen) (Lab)]

18. What steps she is taking to support people with disabilities and long-term health conditions into work.

[Adam Thompson (Erewash) (Lab)]

23. What steps she is taking to support people with disabilities and long-term health conditions into work.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Stephen Timms]

I commend my hon. Friend for her previous work. She raises a very important point. We have launched the “Keep Britain Working” review, which is being led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, the ex-chair of the John Lewis Partnership. It will look at exactly the point that my hon. Friend raises: how to make workplaces and the wider labour market more inclusive, because we know, and employers know, that that is good for businesses and good for disabled people.

[Alex Ballinger]

As we all know, the last Government were far too quick to write off people who wanted to work but who had health conditions or were suffering with disabilities. Many people in Halesowen tell me that they want to work, and with the right help and support, they can. This will also bring huge physical and mental health benefits. How will the Government reset our relationship with people with disabilities, who for far too long have not been given the support that they need, but have instead been demonised by the Conservative party?

[Sir Stephen Timms]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The manifesto on which he and I fought the election committed us to putting the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of what we do. In the “Get Britain Working” White Paper, we announced the establishment of a disability employment panel to enable us to work with disabled people, ensure that we provide the necessary support and give them the chances that my hon. Friend rightly calls for.