Oral Answers to Questions

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)]

12. What assessment she has made of the impact of jobcentres on economic growth.

[The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)]

Increasing employment and helping people into good work is essential to growing our economy, which is why our “Get Britain Working” plan sets out our vision to reform jobcentres and build a new jobs and careers service that will meet the different needs of local labour markets, people and businesses.

[Deirdre Costigan]

On Friday, I visited the assessment centre at the west Ealing jobcentre, where staff told me the assessments focus on proving that disabled people cannot work, rather than identifying what jobs they could do if they had the right support. Many disabled people in my constituency are eager for a good job. What more could jobcentres and the Department do to help disabled people into work, rather than simply writing them off?

[Alison McGovern]

I thank my hon. Friend for meeting with Department for Work and Pensions colleagues in west Ealing and, through her, thank them for all the work they are doing. I know she will have been impressed by them, as I always am.

Disabled people have a right to work like everyone else, and it is our job to see that right realised. Doing so will benefit everyone, as we all win when people’s talents and potential are maximised. It is good for business and strengthens our economy. We are doing great things to bring forward our plan for a new jobs and careers service, which will put disabled people at its heart.

[Lee Pitcher]

I recently visited two jobcentres in my area, Thorne and Scunthorpe, and saw the great work being done by the staff there. Our jobcentres should be places where everyone can go for help to get them back into work. However, many blind and visually impaired people need technology such as screen readers to use computers, while others might need specialist screen magnification software. Research by Sense has found that no jobcentres have this specialist assistive technology, meaning that some disabled jobseekers cannot use the computers on site to look for work. How will the Government ensure that jobcentres are equipped with essential pieces of assistive technology in the future, enabling more disabled people to look for work?

[Alison McGovern]

I apologise to my hon. Friend; I could not quite hear which jobcentres he has visited. However, I thank him for doing so and for connecting with DWP colleagues in that way; it is really valuable. I ask him to take all our thanks back to them.

As part of the new jobs and careers service, we will radically enhance our use of technology so that people can access support through the channels that best meet their needs. Assistive technology can aid the accessibility and inclusiveness of the new service that we are building, so we are listening to those who already use it.

On 22 January, the Minister for disabled people, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), and I met colleagues from across Parliament on the all-party parliamentary group on eye health and visual impairment, where we had a great opportunity to listen to experts in this field.

[Mr Peter Bedford (Mid Leicestershire) (Con)]

Does the Minister agree that whatever steps her Department is taking to get people into work are being immediately undermined by the anti-growth, anti-jobs and anti-business measures included in the Government’s Employment Rights Bill?

[Alison McGovern]

I do not.

[Alex Easton (North Down) (Ind)]

Will the Minister join me in commending the dedication and hard work of our work coaches, who assist with job applications and interview preparations?

[Alison McGovern]

On that one, I certainly will agree. Our work coaches are absolutely brilliant, and they are leading the way in changing jobcentres.

[Neil Duncan-Jordan (Poole) (Lab)]

2. What steps she is taking to increase take-up of pension credit.

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[The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)]

Thanks to the dreadful inheritance left to us by the Tory Government, we need to raise productivity, reduce economic inactivity, increase employment rates and drive up economic growth. Our “Get Britain Working” plan sets out how we will progress our ambition of an 80% employment rate, which would place the UK among the highest-performing countries in the world.

[Mr Snowden]

There was some lovely wording in that answer, but the Government appear to be doing absolutely the opposite. Following the Budget, it appears that there is not a week that goes by without another employer announcing significant job cuts. Reed recruitment has already announced that job postings are plummeting. What will the Government do to support the Minister’s Department in the situation it will find itself in—a rapidly increasing number of people looking for jobs and a rapidly decreasing number of jobs being posted because of the Government’s policies?

[Alison McGovern]

I am glad the hon. Gentleman is bothered by the employment rate and I hope he is bothered by the record of his party, which saw employment fall off a cliff after the pandemic and never recover. We were an outlier in that; it did not happen anywhere else in the world. As it is, our jobcentres, which, as we have said, are full of brilliant staff, see just one in six employers ever consider using them to recruit. We will change that. We have a new strategy. The Secretary of State recently announced our plan to ensure that the Department of Work and Pensions serves businesses and that we get the best jobs into jobcentres so that people can take them up, improve their lives and grow our economy.

[Luke Akehurst (North Durham) (Lab)]

4. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to tackle benefit fraud by criminal gangs.

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[Liz Jarvis (Eastleigh) (LD)]

14. What progress her Department has made on developing a child poverty strategy.

[The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)]

It is a terrible consequence of 14 years of Conservative misrule that around 4.3 million of our children are growing up in poverty. That is why the child poverty taskforce’s work to complete our strategy is urgent. Taskforce Ministers have met six times and have had extensive engagement with people across the country, including external experts, local leaders and children and their families living in poverty.

[Liz Jarvis]

According to the End Child Poverty coalition, in 2022-23 the child poverty rate after housing costs in my constituency of Eastleigh was 21%. Analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation projects that child poverty in England will rise to 31.5% by 2029. Every day without action pushes more children into hardship, and they cannot wait for the Government’s strategy to be published. What urgent measures will the Government take now to prevent more children from growing up in poverty?

[Alison McGovern]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right: this issue is urgent. That was why in the Budget the Chancellor announced the fair repayment rate, which stops families having to deal with so much debt through the universal credit system, saving families over £400 a year, but we know we have to go further. That is why, as I mentioned, Ministers are working hard to bring forward our child poverty strategy.

[Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) (Lab)]

I know the Government are working hard on developing their child poverty strategy, but what discussions is the Minister having with the Welsh Government to ensure that combined efforts deliver the best for our children, wherever they live?

[Alison McGovern]

I regularly meet representatives of the Welsh Government because while we strongly believe in devolution, we know that a partnership between Governments is the best way to protect our children from the terrible consequences of the poverty that the Conservatives left them in.

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

I am pleased that the Minister is updating us with progress. Does she believe the poverty strategy will be announced quickly enough for there to be changes made in, for example, the spring or autumn statements, or are we looking into next year? Please could she give an idea of the timeline?

[Alison McGovern]

I hope the hon. Lady will understand from the tone of what I said that this matter is urgent and that we are working quickly and will bring forward proposals as soon as we can.

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

Alarmingly, there has been talk of ruthless cuts to welfare. That would be utterly devastating as any cuts would push more families into poverty. We will not see a reduction to child poverty by economic growth alone; it will require targeted policy action—something that the Trussell Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation agree with in their essentials guarantee. Do Ministers have plans to change the basic rate of universal credit so that it reflects the cost of life’s essentials—food and household bills?

[Alison McGovern]

As I have said several times, we are working quickly to bring forward the detail of that plan. In fact, only last week we had a parliamentary engagement session so that colleagues across the House could be brought up to speed on the detail of that work. I sat on the Opposition Benches and watched for 14 years as the Conservatives put our children into poverty. We will waste no time in dealing with this problem.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

Children in poverty in Torbay make up 23% of our population but 100% of our future. Barnardo’s recently highlighted that the most powerful tool in the Government’s toolbox to tackle child poverty is ending the two-child cap. Only last week, the annual poverty report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation came to the same conclusion. When will the Minister come to that same conclusion and end the two-child cap?

[Alison McGovern]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and for coming along to our parliamentary engagement session last week, which I hope he agrees was a productive update for everybody. As I just mentioned, I watched from the Opposition Benches as various policies, including the one he mentions, were introduced. We can see their consequences all around us. We cannot promise to do anything that we cannot pay for, but we are determined to have a child poverty strategy that works.

[Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Lab)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

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[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

T2. Last month, I brought together local leaders from charities and other organisations to discuss how we can best tackle child poverty in Bracknell Forest. I welcome today’s update on the progress of the child poverty taskforce. Does the Minister agree that community leaders are best placed to shape the support needed to tackle child poverty locally?

[The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and I am so pleased to hear about that work in Bracknell Forest. That is why the fourth part of our child poverty strategy is about local support. I look forward to working with my hon. Friend and his constituents to ensure that strategy is a success.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

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[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

The Child Poverty Action Group has reported that 4.3 million children in the UK are living in poverty. In a classroom of 30, that is nine children living in poverty. Given that the Government have ruled out scrapping the two-child benefit cap, will the Minister commit to publishing measurable targets for reducing child poverty during this Parliament?

[Alison McGovern]

As I have already mentioned in a number of responses, we understand the scale and seriousness of the problem the hon. Member mentions. We have already published the terms of reference for the child poverty taskforce, and we will continue to keep the House updated as we move forward, given the seriousness of the issue.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

T7. On Friday last week, we held our first NEETs—those not in education, employment or training—and youth opportunities summit in Peterborough, bringing together Peterborough college, Anglia Ruskin University Peterborough and employers to see how we can tackle our youth unemployment problem. Will the Secretary of State commit to working further with places such as Peterborough to ensure we can deliver decent apprenticeships and more opportunities for young people who need them?

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[Seamus Logan (Aberdeenshire North and Moray East) (SNP)]

The Minister will have heard several references to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report this afternoon. The report demonstrates not only that extreme poverty is rising, but that the only part of these islands where child poverty will fall in the next four years is Scotland. Is it not time that the Westminster Government took a leaf out of the Scottish Government’s book?

[Alison McGovern]

I think it is fair to say that we have spent a great deal of time talking to people from all parts of the United Kingdom, and we will continue to do so, because only a strategy that covers all of the UK will be a success.

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[Darren Paffey (Southampton Itchen) (Lab)]

We all know that the best route out of poverty is through well-paid work, but for families in my constituency, where a third of children grow up in poverty, low-paid and insecure jobs are a massive barrier. What will the Department do to help more families back into work and to alleviate poverty for children growing up in Southampton Itchen?

[Alison McGovern]

My hon. Friend eloquently makes the case for our “Make Work Pay” reforms. This is not just about helping our economy grow, it is also about protecting people from poverty. In all we do to change jobcentres, we want to support people into good, sustainable, well-paid work because that is the best way out of poverty.

[Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)]

A constituent came to see me last week who had not eaten for four days. Her state pension had increased in line with the triple lock but this took her over the threshold for pension credit, which then took away her entitlement to a range of other benefits including the winter fuel allowance. What are the Government doing to ensure people do not experience such a significant cliff edge?

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[Dame Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)]

I applaud the Front-Bench team for its energy in driving the child poverty taskforce, but every decision has consequences and costs. Will the Minister outline the costs of some of the processes she is looking at changing, particularly the cost of lifting the two-child cap, and if she does not have the figure to hand will she write to me?

[Alison McGovern]

I thank my hon. Friend the Chair of the Treasury Committee for all her work on this issue. I will happily engage with her through correspondence on the matter.