Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Howlett Excerpts

Monday 27th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

No, we have been mindful throughout of our duties under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. Equality analysis will help to inform the final decision-making process, and it is an integral part of the thinking and process throughout.

[Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)]

Following the publication of the Women and Equalities Committee report on Muslim women in the workplace, what work is the Minister doing to ensure that minority groups in which unemployment remains stubbornly high are prioritised at jobcentres across the UK?

[Damian Hinds]

There are a number of very good local projects working with local organisations. I do not have the list in front of me, but there is some good work going on, and we seek to find where best practice exists and see how far it can be replicated.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Howlett Excerpts

Monday 9th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

The right hon. Gentleman will know that the disability employment gap has been closing under both this Government and the coalition Government. We recognise that we need to do more, and I think the public sector can do more. Part of that is identifying particular roles that individuals can take up. The Government are picking up the pace on the issue and we are in a much better situation than the one that existed under the previous Labour Government.

[Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)]

I welcome the fact that more than 1 million more women are in employment now than in 2010, but will the Minister confirm what the Government are doing to support women with children who might find it difficult to return to work because of childcare responsibilities?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Welfare Delivery (Caroline Nokes)]

Our aim is to help parents to get into a job that fits around their caring responsibilities, which is why we are doubling the amount of free childcare offered to working parents to 30 hours a week. Last year, we spent a record £5 billion supporting parents with the costs of childcare and the figure will rise to more than £6 billion by 2020.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Howlett Excerpts

Monday 17th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)]

As the Secretary of State will know from his recent visit to my constituency, earlier this year I worked with local Bath charity St John’s Hospital to set up the Action Against Child Poverty group in Bath, bringing together over 50 charities and £100,000 of funding to tackle the issue of the one in five children who live in poverty in my constituency. Will he agree to meet Action Against Child Poverty in Bath, this time in London—don’t worry!—to learn about the group’s work and extend his congratulations on its work?

[Damian Green]

I am delighted to join my hon. Friend in congratulating the group in his constituency. It is exactly the sort of thing that one wants to hear that the third sector is doing, and I am happy to meet the group. I am grateful that he is depriving me of yet another trip to Bath. I am always happy to go there, but I quite like to spread myself around the country a bit.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Howlett Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vara]

The hon. Lady is well aware that a number of benefits are involved here. The DWP survey in 2012 found that only 6% of the women who were due to retire within 10 years were unaware that the state pension age had increased.

[Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)]

T3. Thanks to the work of this Government, the unemployment rate in Bath is just 1.5%. Does the Minister agree that, as well as providing a steady income, working also provides health benefits, both physical and mental?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People (Justin Tomlinson)]

I fully agree that being in work has many benefits beyond the immediate economic security that it brings. It gives us a sense of value and can greatly benefit our mental and physical wellbeing, which is why this Government are championing the transformative role of work. With more people in work than ever before, we are making sure that the whole of society benefits from our growing economy.

Motability Car Scheme

Ben Howlett Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd February 2016 Westminster Hall

[Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Hollobone. I congratulate the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown) on securing this debate on a subject that I care about a great deal. I should declare an interest, in that my mother has benefited from a Motability vehicle for more than 10 years.

I want to make it clear that I agree with the Government about ensuring that everyone who needs a Motability vehicle should have access to one. However, for decades, the system has not been reformed and it must be changed in a fair and cost-effective way if we are to ensure its future effectiveness. To ensure that the most vulnerable receive the support that they need, those who no longer have a medical condition need to be told that reform must occur to ensure the future viability of the system. That is only fair to people such as my mother who really depend on the Motability scheme.

Before I move on to my substantive points about improvements to data sharing between the Department of Health, the Department for Work and Pensions and the NHS, I would like to seek assurances from my hon. Friend the Minister that the high volume of appeals that are currently being seen are constantly being reviewed. Although I understand that new systems take a while to embed, as we know from what happened when the previous Labour Government introduced the Atos system to handle work capability assessments, these things should be constantly reviewed.

Ever since I began to work alongside the NHS eight years ago, the UK has had a significant problem with data. Although I freely admit that it is not the most interesting subject in the world, it certainly is the most important when it comes to producing evidence-based policy. While I sadly do not have time to discuss the problems with evidence-based data collection and information governance, I want to focus for the last couple of minutes on the need for improved data sharing. All too often constituents come to my surgeries and ask why it is so complicated in today’s digital age to ensure that patient information is shared with the Department for Work and Pensions.

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Ben Howlett]

I will not give way because I have very limited time.

Sharing information would make a huge difference to all disabled people as well as people on the Motability scheme. It would save so much time and money if there were one joined-up system to enable a GP to identify a disability and to refer that person directly to a DWP contact in a joined-up and efficient way. Currently, it takes two sets of paperwork and a vast amount of time and communication, which can only be described as lacklustre at best. I completely back the Government in getting this sorted.

For too long, the most vulnerable have been let down. If there were a joined-up system, the GP could notify the DWP quite effectively if someone was no longer in need of a Motability vehicle. The efficiency savings that would be made could be driven into increasing support for those who desperately need it and would also help disabled people feel that the process is much more joined up when they probably need as smooth a process as possible to get through those tough experiences.

How can the Government achieve this? The Government have to identify weaknesses in the law that prevent data sharing between the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions. As the Government look to produce a Green Paper on the impact of welfare on health and wellbeing, it is important for the DWP to formalise discussions with the Department of Health and consider the benefits of direct and indirect data sharing. Although I appreciate the sensitivities around data protection, charities are screaming out for changes and we should be doing everything that we can to help facilitate that.

I specifically ask for the Minister to work with his counterpart in the Department of Health to look into the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to understand why there is a problem with data sharing. Under that Act, the law allows personal data to be shared between those offering care directly to patients, but it protects patients’ confidentiality when data about them are used for other purposes. While I agree that these secondary uses of data are essential if we are to run a safe, efficient and equitable health service, we should consider new legislation that will further enable swift and effective data sharing between the NHS and the DWP.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Howlett Excerpts

Monday 1st February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vara]

The general trend for longevity is increasing. The new state pension will ensure that 650,000 women will receive £8 extra a week. Women live longer and, in the longer run, they will benefit a lot more.

[Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)]

Although I appreciate that emotions are high on both sides, it is important to ask why, in 13 years of government, the Labour party did nothing to address the issue, especially since they knew that women were living longer. Does the Minister agree that a triple-lock single flat-rate pension would be much fairer to women than the old system?

[Mr Vara]

Absolutely. Such a pension will be much fairer. When such passionate comments come up at oral questions and in the various debates we are having on this issue, it is worth remembering that not one party—neither the Scottish National party nor the Labour party—put such a measure in its manifesto. That is because simply to reverse the 2011 measures would cost over £30 billion, and it would cost countless billions more to reverse the change made in 1995. Those parties should be mindful of the fact that the issue was in not in either of their manifestos.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Howlett Excerpts

Monday 22nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I remind the hon. Gentleman that this was very much the situation when his party was in government—before he starts lecturing us too much on what we have done. We have done more to improve the status of carers, and we support carers enormously. As I said, in universal credit we are adding an extra benefit for them by allowing the work allowances for carers to support them as well. I am certainly happy to look at the particular situation he asked about, and I will write to him.

[Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)]

As the Secretary of State will know, the Bath Carers Centre in my constituency does a superb job of supporting carers and their families. What assurances can I give people there as to the Government’s plans on supporting carers in the coming years?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

As I have said, we did a huge amount to support carers in the last Parliament, and we intend to continue to protect and support them throughout this Parliament. Carers do a huge amount to support people, including in the national health service, and including people with disabilities. This has been our promise and our pledge. We will continue to support carers.