Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Burghart Excerpts

Monday 26th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Newton]

My hon. Friend truly is a champion for his constituents. I am very proud of the terrific Falmouth-based company, Seasalt, which has a shop in his constituency and produces fantastic products. The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly local enterprise partnership is working with local businesses and agencies as part of the Government’s strategic work and health unit, so that we can ensure that more companies of all sizes become disability confident.

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

12. What progress her Department is making on implementing universal support.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Guy Opperman)]

Funding has been agreed for local authorities to implement universal support to help claimants with transition to universal credit. That partnership working is fundamental to the successful implementation of universal credit, which is of course part of the 1,000 jobs a day that we have seen under this Government since 2010.

[Alex Burghart]

Will the Minister ensure that as universal support is rolled out, it helps people to overcome the two most pernicious barriers to work—addiction and mental health problems?

[Guy Opperman]

I agree that it is vital to ensure that people can overcome the barriers to work, including mental health problems and addiction. We are already investing in the skills and capability of the work coaches, but we have also trained 1,800 universal credit work coaches in how to support claimants with specific mental health issues.