Supporting Disadvantaged Families
Debate between Beth Winter and Thérèse Coffey(4 years, 1 month ago)
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Dr Coffey
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to welcome the funding, which will support her constituents. Working with local councils, we want to ensure that money reaches the people who really need it, and there will not be pre-qualification through other ways. Councils are well placed with sources of information to make sure they help children not just at school age but before that. They will have access to benefits data. They have access to other data from social services and health visitors —the list goes on—so they can really target their support. I am sure they will also be helped by many local charities and organisations, such as those in my hon. Friend’s constituency.
Beth Winter (Cynon Valley) (Lab) [V]
Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found significant increases in poverty rates as a result of the covid pandemic. Local and devolved Governments in every country of the UK have now democratically called for pilots of universal basic income. There is a clear will across political parties and among the public for such pilots to go ahead. Will the Secretary of State agree to meet me and the other co-chairs of the cross-party group on UBI to discuss what support her Department can provide for that important initiative?
Dr Coffey
I know that the hon. Lady is interested in universal basic income. She once asked me a question in this House that took more than a minute. The answer was no then and it is no now to UBI. I am conscious that she is being tenacious on this matter, but she will not make UBI happen under this Government.
Covid-19: DWP Update
Debate between Beth Winter and Thérèse Coffey(4 years, 7 months ago)
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Beth Winter (Cynon Valley) (Lab) [V]
Many of my constituents suffered financial hardship and poverty before covid-19 struck, with the delays in universal credit, the processing of personal independence payments, the child benefit cap, low wages and insecure employment. That has been multiplied by the coronavirus, with communities, individuals and businesses seriously affected. Our local citizens advice bureau has been inundated with welfare benefit queries, and I thank it and all local agencies for their hard work. It is time the Government began to face the financial realities and hardship of people’s lives. Will the Minister please agree to consider introducing a recovery universal basic income to help achieve a sustained economic recovery? It could become the foundation for a future social security system that provides financial security for everyone.