Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Esther McVey]

My hon. Friend is quite right that work readiness skills are key and that it is not only the number of jobs for which somebody applies that matters. Through the claimant conditionality and the longer intensive interview when a claim is made, the people at Jobcentre Plus will find out what skills the claimant needs and support them.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

The Minister will know that Deloitte is selling its interest in the Work programme. Why does she think investors are pulling out of the scheme?

[Esther McVey]

Investors are not pulling out of the scheme. The hon. Gentleman is quite right that Deloitte is not working with Ingeus any more. Ingeus is one of the top performing Work programme primes. We expected to see movement in the industry. Deloitte came in and supported Ingeus as best it could, and now it is exiting, as happens when any businesses come together. As I said, the Work programme is working. The figures are going up, which is something that the Labour party could not achieve.

Housing Benefit

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Tuesday 12th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, because many of the spare bedrooms are used by carers supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our constituencies. We think that the time is now right for each and every Member of this House to show where they stand, because we know the facts. Stories of the hardship and heartache that the Secretary of State is causing are streaming in from every part of the country and every constituency.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I commend my hon. Friend for bringing this motion before the House today. In Tameside, New Charter Housing has seen the number of people in arrears rise by two thirds as a result of being clobbered by this pernicious bedroom tax, yet Tameside council’s discretionary housing payments go nowhere near tackling the real problems families are facing. This is not creating new capacity in housing; it is clobbering the poorest the hardest.

[Rachel Reeves]

As in Tameside, two thirds of the budget for discretionary housing payment in my constituency has already been used, despite the council adding £250,000 to the budget.

I have heard heart-rending testimony about the tax. I have heard about a man who received worrying letters about rent arrears while in hospital for a triple heart bypass because he suddenly had to find another £18 a week to keep the specially adapted home he had lived in for most of his life. I have heard about a woman with young children who had found another flat with a family and wanted to swap, but she was in a Catch-22 situation because she could not move until she had paid off the arrears she had built up as a result of the bedroom tax. I have heard about a family with a disabled son who have discovered that the room that carers stay in is now designated as a spare bedroom with a charge of £14 a week.

In so many cases, local authorities and housing associations are put in impossible situations, trying to minimise the impact of this badly designed policy on local people. Decent people in tough situations who are doing their best and trying to survive are being trapped by an absurd policy that makes no sense. They are terrified of losing their homes or sinking deeper into poverty and unmanageable debt.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Monday 1st July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

Indeed, they are at their highest level since 2008. That is why we have record numbers of people in work, record numbers of women in work, and a record number of hours worked. It is about time the Opposition welcomed that.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

In the invitation to tender for the Work programme, the Minister’s Department said it expected providers significantly to exceed the minimum standards it had set out, but the facts are that they have not even reached the minimum standards, including for young people getting back into work, and that about half the providers have not even met the standards his Department said would be met without a programme in place. Is not the Minister even a tiny bit embarrassed?

[Mr Hoban]

I am pleased to be able to say that performance is improving. Across the country the performance of Work programme providers has improved, and about half of providers have significantly exceeded the minimum standards. That is why people are getting into work; that is why we are seeing lives transformed. I wish the Opposition would stop carping and congratulate the work the providers are doing to get people into work.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Monday 20th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

Obviously, women in the age group we are talking about get a basic state pension based on 30 years, whereas those under single tier will need 35 years and those a few years older need 39 years. Each group has a different system, but the key point is that the new system will cost exactly the same as the system it replaced. We are not putting extra money into new pensions and ignoring today’s pensioners; it is the same amount of money, but spent in a simpler way.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

There are 900 of my constituents who are female and were born between 6 April 1951 and 6 April 1953, and who will not receive these new pension entitlements while men of the same age will. Will the Minister take this opportunity to apologise to those 900 women and bring forward proposals to look again at making sure that we have proper equality in the system?

[Steve Webb]

I think that the hon. Gentleman might have written his question before he heard my earlier answer. Comparing those women in his constituency with men born on the same day, as he did, misses the point that those men will have to wait several years longer for their pension. They would far rather be in the position of the women who get their pension at 62 or 63.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Monday 28th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Esther McVey]

My hon. Friend is correct to suggest that we have been in discussions about this. At the moment, the words “reliably, safely, repeatedly and in a timely manner” are in the contracts and in the guidance, and we are looking to see whether they can be put into the regulation, but that will happen only if that achieves what it is intended to achieve.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

DWP research suggests that over 42% of people affected by the bedroom tax will not be able to pay the difference and will go into arrears instead. Given that DWP research, how many people does the Minister or the Secretary of State expect to lose their homes as a result of these crazy policies?

Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

That is correct. That is exactly what this Bill sets out. That will also be the case this year.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I wish to take the Secretary of State back to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Derek Twigg) about disabled people. We have now gone from the Secretary of State saying that there is a blanket protection for disabled people to him acknowledging in the impact assessment that some disabled people will be affected by these changes. Given that recognition in the impact assessment, can he tell the House how many disabled people his Department estimates will be affected by these changes?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I stand by what we said originally, and I say it again: in this Bill we have protected people on disability living allowance, as well as people in the support group on ESA. All the disabled premiums in JSA and so on are also protected. I do not know where Labour Members think they are going with all these points, because the reality is that they are basically opposed to absolutely everything. They would spend more money, they would tax more and they would borrow more, and the people who would suffer would be the British people who would have to pick up the bill. That is the reality.

I was making an important point about fraud and error. In essence, more than £10 billion was lost, and we do not even know how much was overspent, because Labour would not collect the figures. Writing off those debts wastes taxpayers’ money. To put this in perspective, the Bill sets out what we are doing at the moment to raise £1.9 billion, but that money could have been raised without difficulty had Labour’s system been better and more efficient.

It is also worth pointing out that, for many of the people Labour Members talk about, universal credit will improve their income dramatically. I have some very good examples of that. Under universal credit, a typical one-earner couple who have two children and rent their home will be £61 better off—including the changes today. A one-earner family with an income of £20,000 and two children will see a net gain of at least £34 a week. That will be a big boost for them and was not taken into consideration in the IFS figures.

The reality is that there is an issue about fairness, which we touched on just now. We should bear in mind that 70% of all households will not be affected by this legislation. Many of our constituents are taxpayers picking up the bill for all these costs, including the deficit and borrowing that the last Government left us. Over the last five years, following the recession, the gap has grown between what people in employment have been earning and what those on welfare have been getting. Those in work have seen their incomes rise half as quickly as those on out-of-work benefits—10% compared with 20%. That is not fair to taxpayers. Returning fairness to the system is critical, and it is one area that Labour refuses to acknowledge. Under the previous Government, taxes rose, borrowing rose and the deficit rose—and they left those bills for the next generation to pay. It is our job to get that under control. These are not decisions taken lightly or easily, but we have to take them and they are in denial.

The shadow Chancellor likes to sound off from a sedentary position. He likes to give it out but does not like to take it. I remember only a few weeks ago that he went around the studios complaining that we were too mean to him. If he does not like it, then he should stop making sedentary interventions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Monday 10th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Esther McVey]

We are working hard to get everybody from all the Remploy factories into work. When I last talked about this matter in the House, only 35 of those people across the country had got into work, but I am pleased to say that we have now more than quadrupled that number, to 148. We have looked into the personalised support, and we are adapting it every day. We are working on it, and we will make it better.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

14. For what reason people who receive carer’s allowance are not exempt from the benefits cap.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Esther McVey)]

Although there is no specific exemption from the cap for carers, in practice most carers will be exempt because their partner or child is in receipt of disability living allowance. In addition, there are exemptions for people in work that can also apply to carers. Under universal credit, carers need only work the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the national minimum wage to be exempt.

[Andrew Gwynne]

I am grateful to the Minister for that response, but it is not quite correct. Close reading of the regulations indicates that a household comprising parents and a disabled adult dependant receiving disability living allowance will not be exempt from the cap, despite the Minister’s promises that they would be. I am sure the Minister appreciates that this is causing great anxiety to those potentially affected. Will she undertake to fix this problem?

[Esther McVey]

Should there be another adult in the house, that is then a separate household, so both have to be assessed separately. However, I reiterate the fact that those who are exempt from the cap include those on working tax credit, all households with someone who is in receipt of a disability-related benefit, war widows and widowers, and those in receipt of war disablement pensions. A lot of people are therefore exempt.

Jobs and Social Security

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Wednesday 28th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Byrne]

My hon. Friend has been a consistent champion of Stoke, and has consistently drawn attention to the need for greater economic development there. The Work programme is not helping, the cuts in council funds are not helping, and the Chancellor’s wider economic strategy is not helping. My hon. Friend is right: we must redouble our efforts, particularly in those poorer parts of the country, to get people back into work. There is very little sign that that is happening at present.

Once upon a time we were promised a welfare revolution, and I think that we are right to ask this afternoon what on earth has happened to it. Universal credit is descending into universal chaos, punishing the strivers and battlers whom it was supposed to help. A climate of fear is being created for disabled people, and the Work programme quite simply is not working. The Chancellor knows that it is going wrong, and No. 10 knows that it is going wrong. Only the Secretary of State thinks that it is all okay. There he was yesterday, running from studio to studio, saying to anyone and everyone who would listen that it was all fine—that it would be all right on the night—although, quite obviously, it is all wrong. I am now sure that the Secretary of State is competing for Channel 4’s Comical Ali award for those who ignore all the evidence around them. It is not delusions of grandeur from which he suffers; it is delusions of adequacy, and the tragedy is that there is an alternative.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, although it would be bad enough if just one of the elements that he has mentioned affected any of his constituents, many of our constituents will be clobbered by a combination of them all? They will be hit by the bedroom tax, they will be hit by the changes in tax credits, they will be hit by the housing benefit changes, and they will be hit by the localisation of council tax relief.

[Mr Byrne]

My hon. Friend is exactly right. Many of our communities throughout Britain are being hit from all sides, and the Government simply do not seem to understand the combined impact of what is happening. We can only hope that next week’s autumn statement will contain a proper plan to get us back to growth and to get our country back to work.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Monday 5th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. When people think about how they should vote in Corby on 15 November, they will see that Labour is wrecking job prospects in that area.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

How many unemployed people now go through the fast-signing procedure at Jobcentre Plus and therefore do not get to see an employment adviser?

[Mr Hoban]

We must work out how much support jobseekers need to get into work to ensure that those who need the most support get into work quickly. The hon. Gentleman might also want to know that more people came off the unemployment register in Corby last month than in any other constituency in Northamptonshire.

Universal Credit and Welfare Reform

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Tuesday 11th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to contribute to this important debate. The notion of making work pay should be supported by everyone in the House, but there are worrying signs in the Government’s proposals and unless they heed them, I fear that they will fail in their ambitions.

One of the two local authorities that cover my constituency—Tameside metropolitan borough council—has been selected, along with Oldham and Wigan councils, to be in the Greater Manchester pathfinder area. The Secretary of State mentioned the pathfinder areas in his speech. We are told that the aim of the pathfinders is to build confidence in the components of universal credit and to learn lessons for the larger-scale implementation of the scheme later in the year. Tameside council tells me that it agreed to take part in the scheme so that it could highlight any glitches in the new system that a borough like that might encounter, before the system was rolled out nationwide, so that the Government would be able to iron them out in good time.

I want to turn briefly to some of the specific concerns. There is general consensus on the ethos that work should pay, but there are real worries that such dramatic changes could disadvantage families and that, instead, work—or at least low-paid work—would not pay. On the proposal for monthly payments, the Minister will know that, at present, a significant amount of housing benefit is paid directly to landlords, and in particular to registered social landlords. The Department for Work and Pensions has announced eight local authority demonstrator pilots, and payments direct to tenants in social housing have been accelerated in those pilot areas from June this year. However, none of the pilots is in Greater Manchester. I do not know why; Oldham and Wigan were certainly long-listed. The Government should have a spread of pilots, in order to ascertain the impact that the changes could have in different types of communities. That is the first worry.

Secondly, as we have heard, universal credit is to be paid one month in advance, to mirror a monthly salary if the claimant gains employment. This is a real concern for private landlords and registered social landlords, not least because they expect rent arrears to increase. People might need more budgeting advice and assistance than is currently available. What assurances can the Minister give to me, to landlords and to my council that arrears will not increase in that way? What joined-up thinking has taken place between the DWP and the Department for Communities and Local Government to ensure that it does not happen? Ministers must also understand that residents, especially those under real pressure, will be seeking support from local advisory services, such as Citizens Advice and Welfare Rights, at a time when those services are being reduced as a result of spending cuts. That, too, is a real worry.

A further worry has arisen over the introduction of online application forms. We have already heard that between 5% and 10% of residents will require additional support with such applications. That is particularly worrying in an area such as mine, where there is a digital divide. A significant proportion of the community that I represent cannot easily access the internet and would need extra support to make a claim. Furthermore, this change comes at a time when publicly accessible community IT facilities are being removed as a result of Government cuts.

My final worry relates to the combined impact of other welfare changes, particularly when a transfer of responsibility to local authorities is involved. Local council tax support schemes are an example of that. Indeed, Tameside council tells me that there is still no information from the DWP about how the so-called localisation of council tax benefit will be co-ordinated with the introduction of universal credit, particularly in relation to the sharing of data. It is potentially the same residents who will be targeted by the reductions arising from the changes to housing benefit, to council tax benefit and to the under-occupancy rules. It worries me that those same people are facing a squeeze on their tax credits.

That brings me neatly to where I started. Unless the Government get a real grip on these issues, the new system will fail, particularly in constituencies such as Denton and Reddish where, sadly, the damage could be lasting.