Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Amber Rudd and Steve Double

Monday 13th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)]

18. What steps her Department has taken to increase working people’s income through universal credit in this financial year.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Amber Rudd)]

That is such a relevant question from my hon. Friend. The key difference between the legacy system and the universal credit system is that work coaches provide such a tailored, individual service, which will give his constituents the additional support they need to make sure they get the best financial reward from their work this year.

[Steve Double]

Cornwall has a higher than average number of self-employed people—about 60% higher than the English average. Being self-employed and claiming universal credit can present a number of challenges, particularly in the early years when starting out. What specific help are we giving to self-employed people who need to claim universal credit?

[Amber Rudd]

It is good to hear from my hon. Friend quite how enterprising his county is. I reassure him that work coaches provide additional support to allow those who want to become self-employed to do so via the new enterprise allowance, which provides mentoring support and additional financial support. We announced in the last Budget a one-year grace period from the minimum income floor for claimants joining universal credit with an existing business. All these efforts try to make sure that his constituents, and other people throughout the country, are able to set up their businesses and work self-employed and get access to universal credit.

Windrush Children (Immigration Status)

Debate between Amber Rudd and Steve Double

Monday 16th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

It is my firm belief that the individuals who will be able to access this group in the Home Office will not need legal advice, because the process will be simple and one in which my team will try to assist. We will be able to use information across Government, so that we can help prove their national insurance number or their school records without calling on them to send in so much detail. It will be a shared responsibility, which I think will make a big difference.

[Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)]

I thank the Home Secretary for her clear message today that the Windrush generation not only have the legal right to stay, but are welcome here and we want them to stay, if that is their desire. Will she reassure us that her Department will provide every sensitive assistance possible to help the affected people produce the documentation that is required?

[Amber Rudd]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving me the opportunity to reinforce that point. We value immigrants in this country, and we value the contribution that the Windrush community has made. I will ensure, going forward, that that value is conveyed to them.

Online Hate Speech

Debate between Amber Rudd and Steve Double

Thursday 30th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

The hon. Lady makes a very important point, and I thank her for raising it. The Holocaust Educational Trust does incredibly good and important work. I know that because some of the children in my schools in Hastings and Rye have been on such trips, and I have been on one myself. It is a very powerful way of remembering the terrible things that happened, and of learning how by remembering them we can make sure that they do not happen again. I absolutely support her point.

[Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)]

Does the Home Secretary share my astonishment at the fact that someone in the position of the President of the United States actually finds the time to trawl through Twitter looking for posts as abhorrent as the ones he has retweeted? Does she share my view that far from making America great again, his actions in retweeting those tweets reflect badly on his office and undermine the very principles on which the United States was founded?

[Amber Rudd]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point, and that is why the Prime Minister was so swift and so firm in her response to the President’s tweets.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Amber Rudd and Steve Double

Thursday 12th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

Forgive me for making no comment about the appointment. I certainly share the hon. Lady’s view that prepayment meters need reform, that we need the safeguard tariff that the CMA has proposed and that it is unacceptable for the most vulnerable customers—usually those on the lowest incomes—to be stuck on higher tariffs. We will support the CMA to ensure that it delivers on that.

[Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)]

Cornwall produces the world’s finest china clay, but the industry faces a significant increase in its costs due to the proposed implementation of the EU emissions trading scheme. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Government should do all they can to make sure British industry is not put at a competitive disadvantage as a result of energy costs, and will she meet me specifically to discuss what we can do to support the china clay industry?

[Amber Rudd]

I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend, who I know is a strong champion for the china clay industry in his constituency. The EU ETS provides an important role in levelling out competitiveness within the EU to make sure that our intensive industries are protected. I will meet him to ensure that his industry receives a fair settlement.