Milburn Review: Interim Report
Debate between Andrew Western and Bob Blackman(1 week, 4 days ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Andrew Western
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. If she has any ideas about how we can extend the knowledge and availability of such information, I would be happy to hear them.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
The Minister must understand that to create the jobs that we need, we must encourage the private sector to invest. In my constituency, every single hospitality venue has halved the number of staff it employs. When I ask why, the answers are national insurance, non-domestic rates and the new Employment Rights Act. Extending the national insurance holiday, as it were, from age 21 to 24 would enable people who leave school to get a job, enable those who leave university to get a job, and de-risk taking on young people for employers.
Andrew Western
The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight that incentives are needed to encourage employers to hire young people. That is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State recently announced the incentives that I have already laid out: supporting young people who have been on universal credit for six months by financially incentivising employers to hire them, and incentivising small and medium-sized enterprises to hire apprentices under the age of 25 earning less than £50,000.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Andrew Western and Bob Blackman(4 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
People who come to this country and make it their home are welcome to work and pay their taxes. However, Ministers may have seen reports over the weekend of foreign career criminals who have been spared prison now claiming universal credit. Taxpayers are going to be outraged by this fact, so what action will the Minister take to ensure that only people who are entitled to receive universal credit do so, and that career criminals do not?
Andrew Western
The hon. Gentleman raises a very serious issue. Payment accuracy and ensuring that only those who are eligible to claim benefits do so are incredibly important for confidence in the system. I have not seen the specifics of the case to which he refers, but where we become aware that such errors have been made, we seek to claim that money back. We have taken further powers through the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025 to take action against the sorts of serious and organised criminals he refers to, and I am pleased to say that that Act received Royal Assent last month.