PIP Changes: Impact on Carer’s Allowance

Andrew Pakes Excerpts

Thursday 27th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Stephen Timms]

It is very important that the system properly handles fluctuating conditions. One of the benefits of the proposal in the Green Paper to record by default PIP assessments is that we will be able to provide better assurance that the assessments get these judgments right, particularly in the case of fluctuating conditions.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

I know from speaking to charities, local groups and people from brilliant projects such as JobSmart in my constituency about the increasing complexity of the relationship between different forms of benefit, including carer’s allowance, and the rules around working. That makes it increasingly difficult for people to use the options they have. Can my right hon. Friend assure the House that the record amount of employment support will address the issue of the flexibility that we need to support sick and disabled people into some form of work, and will not just be for mentoring for those in other categories?

[Sir Stephen Timms]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I join him in paying tribute to organisations such as JobSmart in his constituency. When the previous Labour Government introduced the new deal for disabled people in 1998—I was the Minister then, as I am now—the disability employment gap started to fall, and it fell steadily all the way until 2010, when it stopped falling. I want to get us back to that positive downward trajectory.

Welfare Reform

Andrew Pakes Excerpts

Tuesday 18th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Liz Kendall]

Full details on the impact of these changes on the block grant will be available at the spring statement. The last Budget provided the biggest ever block grant settlement since devolution. I will be working closely with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Executive to make sure we do everything possible to help people in Northern Ireland into work and off benefits, to ensure that they have the same chances and choices as people right across the United Kingdom.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

Peterborough is a youth unemployment hotspot. I know not many Members are left on the Opposition Benches, but one of the most shameful parts of their record has been writing off a generation, with one in eight young people not in education, earning or training. There is nothing progressive or good about a Government who write off young people and put them on benefits. I welcome the work that the Secretary of State has announced about employment support services for young people. Will she speak more about my passion, which is the Government’s youth guarantee and how we put into reality youth jobs for the future?

[Liz Kendall]

Young people in my hon. Friend’s constituency are much more likely to be unemployed than young people in the rest of the country, and I know his passion for the youth guarantee. We are investing extra support into the youth guarantee in his area, and I look forward to launching that youth guarantee very soon.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Pakes Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2025 Commons Chamber

[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?

[Liz Kendall]

Yes, I do commit to that, and I thank my hon. Friend for his tireless campaigning on the issue. With almost 1,000 young people unemployed in his constituency, or almost one in 10, I know what an important issue it is. His area is part of one of our youth guarantee trailblazers, meaning that every young person is earning or learning. I commit that the whole Government will continue to work with him and partners in his constituency to make sure that no young person is left behind.

“Get Britain Working” White Paper

Andrew Pakes Excerpts

Tuesday 26th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Liz Kendall]

I 100% want young people, and all my hon. Friend’s constituents in Dartford, to have the same chances. As I said earlier, I do not have a combined authority in my city, so I am acutely aware of this issue. This will be for local councils to lead. They will be developing local “Get Britain Working” plans. They will be the responsible and accountable body over our youth guarantee. We have to deliver this everywhere because talent is everywhere but opportunity is not, and that is what we all came into politics to change.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

This is a momentous White Paper by a momentous Secretary of State. Yesterday, I had the great privilege to take my right hon. Friend to Peterborough college to meet excellent businesses and apprentices doing brilliant work, including EML, Baker Perkins, Taylor Rose, Codem and Gen Phoenix. Those businesses and learners are excelling in a system that has failed too many of our young people. Apprenticeships are down and youth unemployment is up in my city. Can my right hon. Friend tell us how quickly we can get going on these new trailblazers?

[Liz Kendall]

I thank my hon. Friend for an amazing visit yesterday, and I hope he will pass on my thanks to Rachel at the local college and to all the local businesses and apprentices. I agree with him: the number of apprenticeship starts for young people dropped by 38% under the previous Government’s apprenticeship levy, and in Peterborough more than 1,350 young people are claiming benefits, with the majority not in work, so we must act swiftly, and we will. These programmes are starting immediately in the new year. I look forward to working with him and all those businesses and the college in Peterborough to put our plans into action, because we are determined to deliver.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Pakes Excerpts

Monday 11th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sir Stephen Timms]

My hon. Friend raises a very important point. Indeed, she and I worked on an excellent Select Committee report on health assessments for benefits, which provides some very important and valuable recommendations to the Department. We will continue to look at this issue. I am not familiar with the case that she refers to, but I will dig out the details. Clearly, it is vital that the process should be accessible to people with sight impairments or any other impairments. I completely agree with her.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

3. What assessment she has made of trends in the number of young people out of work, education and training.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Liz Kendall)]

The legacy we inherited is almost 1 million young people not in education, employment or training—nearly one in eight—with all the long-term consequences we know that can bring for their future earnings, job prospects and health. That is why our new youth guarantee will ensure that every young person is earning or learning, which is better for them, better for the economy and better for our country as a whole.

[Andrew Pakes]

The DWP has described Peterborough as a national youth unemployment hotspot. In September, the youth claimant count was running at nearly double the national average. Places like Peterborough college, through its Jobsmart provision, are already pulling together a coalition to respond to that challenge. I welcome the Government’s youth guarantee and “Get Britain Working” plans to ensure that young people in places like Peterborough are given the opportunity to earn or learn. Will the Secretary of State please confirm a timetable for the publication of the White Paper?

[Liz Kendall]

The “Get Britain Working” White Paper will be published imminently, backed by £240 million of investment announced by the Chancellor in the Budget. I look forward very much to talking to my hon. Friend and the organisations that are working so hard locally, because I believe that the man, or even woman, in Whitehall can never know what is best in Peterborough, Leicester or Leeds.