Oral Answers to Questions

Caroline Dinenage Excerpts

Monday 23rd January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Chris Kelly (Dudley South) (Con)]

9. What recent progress he has made on delivering universal credit.

[Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)]

19. What recent progress he has made on delivering universal credit.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)]

Design work is well under way. As I said earlier, we are continually testing with staff and claimants to ensure that it works and that we make progress. On 8 December the major projects review group panel report acknowledged that significant progress had been made over the past few months.

[Mr Duncan Smith]

Universal credit will be a major sea change for my hon. Friend’s constituents, who will appreciate the fact that for the first time ever we will guarantee that work pays. Figures show that 2.8 million households will have higher entitlements under the universal credit.

[Caroline Dinenage]

Is there any flexibility in the way in which the universal credit will be paid? For example, could it be paid weekly rather than monthly, and could its housing component be paid directly to landlords in order to protect vulnerable families?