Welfare Cap

Daisy Cooper Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern]

We published in November an extensive reform programme for the Department to get Britain working. We showed how in some parts of the country—I will come to this in more detail shortly—people have been abandoned and their labour market has not supported enough good jobs for a very long time. We showed how, by acting on better health and better local support services, we will reintroduce ambition into our support services.

We want to help people get into a job that will support their family finances and help our economy thrive. We have a huge change programme underway in the Department for Work and Pensions, and we will be doing even more than we set out in that White Paper. The challenge is huge, but the potential is also massive. I worry about everybody who is out of work, but particularly our young people, who have effectively been thrown on the scrapheap. It is a disaster now in exactly the same way that it was a disaster, brought about by the economic turbulence that I grew up in, in the 1980s, which is the period the right hon. Member refers to. We will therefore take the challenge of restoring employment—proper employment—in this country extremely seriously.

In doing that, I want to talk about the Government’s wider responsibilities, not just in reforming the social security system but far beyond that. You will forgive me, Madam Deputy Speaker, if I return to the founding document of our social security system, the Beveridge report. In 1942, William Beveridge identified the

“establishment of comprehensive health and rehabilitation services, and maintenance of employment…as necessary conditions of success”

in social security.

That lesson is forgotten again and again in this country, and we will never have a social security system that functions well unless we have an NHS that works and we maintain policies designed to move towards full employment. Social security cannot soak up every single problem in this country if the Government forget their wider responsibilities. I note that the Beveridge report considered the consequences of war and the injury to the nation that that had brought about. In many ways, we ought to learn the lessons of the pandemic: that the health of the nation can never be taken for granted and that, in setting us on the right path in terms of both health and employment, we can plot a course towards a more sustainable future. As I have said, is it any wonder that our social security system is broken given the health of the nation, given what we have been through and given the last Government’s neglect of the NHS and the state of our labour market?

To look backwards again for a moment, we know that in our country’s economic history, we had periods when whole towns and cities were deindustrialised and left to fend for themselves. Economies simply failed, and while great progress has been made, including in my constituency, in my city region in Merseyside and in other places whose economies have moved on greatly since that time, sadly, too many have never properly recovered. As a result, we have a labour market that simply fails to offer good work everywhere.

As part of our “Get Britain Working” White Paper analysis, we found that when students are not counted, the inactivity rate, to give the example of Blackpool, is 29%. That is nearly a third of working age people. That can never be a good platform on which to build a thriving economy, and I am determined that we will turn it around.

More than half of the 20 local authorities with the highest rates of inactivity in England are in the north, while none are in the south-east. It is, however, far from a north-south divide. We have identified 14 types of labour markets in the United Kingdom and considered their features: what they share and what divides them. We want to identify those places that are furthest behind, precisely so that we can help.

It is not just the prevailing economic circumstances or what has happened in the recent past to a local authority that defeats people, but, unfortunately, the jobcentres that are supposed to be there to help. When we did our analysis for our “Get Britain Working” White Paper, we uncovered the record of the last Conservative Government. I was shocked to find that only around 8%—only 8%—of universal credit claimants in the “searching for work” group move into work from one month to the next. In the “no work requirements” group, 92% were still there after six months. That is the very definition of being on the scrapheap: no work and no help to get work. That is just failing people.

Then there is the price tag. Spending on universal credit and disability benefits was £10.9 billion higher than anticipated when the level of the welfare cap was calculated. That is a dreadful record. For the reasons that I set out earlier, the breach of the cap is unavoidable this year, but this Government are taking the action necessary to drive up opportunity in employment while driving down the benefits bill. Our “Get Britain Working” White Paper, as I have mentioned, set out the biggest reforms to employment in a generation, with a radical new approach backed by £240 million of investment. We are overhauling our jobcentres and creating a new jobs and careers service, doing away with needless admin and freeing up work coach time, so that my colleagues can give real, high-quality support to people.

Although I am often disappointed in the help that people receive in jobcentres, I am never disappointed by what our work coaches do. The thing that lets the work coaches down is the system in which they work. For example, they are told that they can see someone for only 10 minutes. How are they supposed to help in 10 minutes? They have to carry out numerous admin checks that could be done with modern technology, when the person in front of them is just sat there waiting, not receiving any help. Our work coaches are full of ideas, full of local knowledge and full of determination that we will make a new system work. I take this opportunity to put on record my thanks to every single DWP member of staff who has embraced change with gusto.

[Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)]

When I visited the jobcentre in St Albans last year I, too, was struck by the fantastic support given by some of the work coaches. However, I was also struck by what some of the jobseekers had to say. One said that she had been in full employment, but had to give up her job to look after her two children because they could not get the special educational needs and disabilities support that they needed in school. Another said that they were struggling with addiction and could not hold down a job because they could not get the support needed from the NHS. Does the Minister agree that, while our work coaches are doing a really good job, ultimately, we need to get our public services, particularly the NHS, back on their feet?

[Alison McGovern]

I agree with the hon. Lady. Can we just take this moment to thank the DWP team in St Albans? They sound like they are doing a great job and they are also briefing their local MP, which is really good of them. I encourage all colleagues in the House to ensure that they have a regular catch-up with their jobcentre colleagues so that they know the kind of things that our work coaches have to deal with. Often, Members of Parliament can be quite helpful in putting people in touch with other organisations, so I encourage all colleagues to do as the hon. Lady has done.

On the point that the hon. Lady makes about SEND, she is absolutely right: this is a major barrier. If Members want to understand what a struggle to get to work and to stay in work looks like, they should ask the parent of a disabled child. This issue of where the effect of poverty and the SEND crisis can compound is being considered by the child poverty taskforce in particular. The hon. Lady is absolutely right: good public services and a good, strong economy go hand in hand. It is not “public services or a strong economy”—we called that ideology “austerity”, and it did not work. The two go hand in hand. We need to look in that rounded way to see how we can help people, and that is the approach that we are taking. We want to make every jobcentre in the country a place that people who are looking for work, and employers, will actually want to use. We know that what happens early on in a career echoes down the years; as I have said, our young people—the pandemic generation—were failed. That is why our youth guarantee will give every 18 to 20-year-old access to quality education, training or employment.

On top of that, we are working with local leaders who know their towns and cities best, supporting them to produce their own local “Get Britain Working” plans that join up work, health and skills to support their communities. I have mentioned the major fractures still in the UK economy following previous economic events that were not managed properly. That is how we know that the same thing just will not work everywhere. The DWP will reform itself so that we are able to localise support services, and we will work with local leaders to do that.

All of that will ensure that we help people to enjoy the benefits that good work brings to wellbeing—and I do mean “good work”. The choice in this country should never be between the scar of unemployment and the scar of poor work that does nothing but keep people poor. Poor work does not reduce the pressure on our social security system; it just means more people working too hard for their poverty. That is why we will improve the security and quality of work through our plan to make work pay. We will create more good jobs in every part of the country with a modern industrial strategy and local growth plans. Together, they will help us to meet our long-term ambition for an 80% employment rate.

We will create the conditions for success in social security. As I have outlined, the changes made to social security were ill-thought through. A fresh approach is needed to make our social security system sustainable, and we will build that system to give people the help that they need to find great jobs and feel the benefit of work. We want to tackle poverty and target support at those who need it most. We will set out our proposals in a Green Paper on reforming the health and disability system in the spring. We will work with disabled people and their organisations to get that right.

A strong social security system needs the confidence of us all. Anyone might suddenly find themselves unwell or with the extra costs that children bring, and we all hope one day to enjoy the benefits of the state pension, so we must protect the social security system now and in the future. Not only did we confirm at the autumn Budget that we would keep a welfare cap in place with a margin of 5% to account for the volatility of recent forecasts, but later this year we will publish a new annual report on social security spending across Government, setting out the DWP’s plan to ensure that it is on a sustainable path. The days of setting spending targets without a proper plan to meet them are over.

--- Later in debate ---

[Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)]

Years of mismanagement by the previous Conservative Government damaged our economy, hit people’s living standards and left our public services on their knees—especially our NHS and care—so it is no wonder that we have seen the welfare bill go up. The Conservatives left GP and hospital waiting times soaring. They also saw staff vacancies spiralling, and local public health funding was slashed. The cancer treatment target has been missed every year since 2015. They promised 6,000 GPs and left government with fewer of them. Of course, the 40 new hospitals fell apart—literally in some cases—leading to inefficiencies in our health service as staff and patients battle cramped and crumbling buildings. I remember a former Conservative Prime Minister standing on the steps of No. 10 and promising to fix social care once and for all, but, as we know, millions of people around the UK are left to pick up the pieces of a broken social care system.

That disgraceful legacy and the blatant mismanagement of our economy has left millions of people unable to work due to long-term illness and having to rely on support instead, impacting growth and productivity. Under the last Conservative Government, the number of people not looking for work, especially due to ill health, reached record levels, and Government spending on welfare went up drastically as a result. Their mismanagement has left so many people unable to seek work and reliant instead on Government support.

We Liberal Democrats have always understood that a healthy economy requires healthy people. As I have said a number of times in the House, health and wealth are two sides of the same coin. The best way to bring down welfare spending is for the Government to act with urgency and ambition to end the crisis in our NHS and care, empowering people to join the workforce and reducing the need for welfare support in the first place.

The Conservatives’ mismanagement of the economy has had a direct impact on decisions being made today. At informal assessments in 2020, 2021 and 2023, the OBR clearly said that the welfare cap was on track to be breached this year, but the new Labour Government must do far more to fix our health and care services so that fewer people require Government support in the first place. I have to say that the Conservative party has lost every right to criticise the current situation when its fingerprints of failure are all over it.

We have previously discussed the impact of the Government’s national insurance contributions rise and other changes. The Government have said repeatedly that these changes are inevitable as a way to fund the NHS, but they know, and we know, that some of this is really not needed. The national insurance contributions rise will impact our GPs, dentists, public health providers, primary care providers, pharmacists, social care providers and hospices—the list goes on. Those people and businesses are propping up our NHS.

I use this opportunity once again to encourage the Government to reverse the national insurance contributions rise and look to other means of raising those funds. Fundamentally, the best way to bring down welfare spending is for the Government to act with urgency and ambition to end the crisis in our NHS and social care. We Liberal Democrats made that our No. 1 priority during the general election, and with 72 MPs, it remains our No. 1 priority in this House.

International Investment Summit

Daisy Cooper Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)]

I welcome the Minister to her place. I also thank her for her support when she was not in this place and I was further back on these Benches, and we worked together on some of the issues under focus today.

We Liberal Democrats want Britain to be one of the most attractive places in the world for business to invest. We want to see responsible, sustainable businesses investing in tackling the climate emergency and creating jobs, growth and wealth, some of which should be invested into our health, education and public services. I welcome the Government deciding to hold an international investment summit within their first 100 days. It sends an excellent signal to the world that UK plc is open for business, and we Liberal Democrats welcome and support that move.

We welcome, too, the announcements about the revival of the industrial strategy and a new strategy for the British Business Bank. We look forward to scrutinising those plans as a constructive Opposition. However, we also know that this Government have to rebuild not only the economy, but our country’s reputation.

It is an enormous relief that some of the dark days of the last Government are—I hope—behind us. We had the tweeting diplomacy of two former Prime Ministers, which made us look like a small country on the international stage. We had the half-baked Brexit deal, which has wrapped up small businesses in red tape and reams of paperwork. We had the rolling back on net zero and the flip-flopping fiasco on HS2, which created uncertainty, scared off investors and put the jobs of the future at risk. We also had the sheer incompetence of a Government who had forgotten how to negotiate. In my former role as my party’s health spokesperson, talking to some of the pharmaceutical companies involved in the voluntary scheme for branded medicines, pricing and access negotiations, it became patently clear that many were putting their investment abroad and not in this country. That investment was lost on the Conservatives’ watch.

Even though I welcome many of the things that the Labour Government have proposed and are bringing forward, there are some notable gaps, and it is on those gaps that I wish to focus. We know today’s debate is about international investment, but I urge the Government to think about local investment in this country too. Small businesses are the engine of growth and the backbone of our economy. They are the heartbeat of our communities, but they are really struggling to invest. There is one major reason for that: the broken business rates system. It is absolutely absurd that small bricks and mortar businesses on our high streets up and down the country see their business rates going up while Amazon warehouses see their business rates going down. It is a disgrace. I urge the Labour Government, in the strongest possible terms, to make the Budget this autumn the final one in which business rates are a permanent feature. They should be scrapped and replaced with a commercial landowner levy. I urge the Labour Government to act on that as soon as possible.

To make it even worse, we know that in many parts of the country, where high streets are not in a good state, there are small businesses that want to invest in good environmental things. They want to invest in solar panels, insulation, ventilation and bike sheds—things that would be good for business and create a sense of community, tackle the climate emergency and improve the public realm. Yet if they invest in those things, their business rates can go up. That is absolutely nuts, and I urge all colleagues to get behind my call to make the upcoming Budget the final one in which business rates are a permanent feature.

The other point I will talk about is skills. The Government have talked a lot about investing in infrastructure, housing and big things that we can build, but skills are so important. In my constituency, we have a phenomenal organisation called GEM Cable Solutions, a leading defence and aerospace company that makes bespoke cables and fibre optics using precision manufacturing. That means individual people making handmade cables that are flying things into space—it is extraordinary. But can the company get the highly qualified engineers that it needs in this country? No, it often cannot, because we are competing on the international stage for some of the finest engineering talent. At the same time, under the last Government, the company could not get that talent from abroad either, so I urge the new Government to bring forward a skills strategy as soon as possible, consult with other parties, and ensure that our small businesses can get those skills.

My third point is about the climate jobs of the future. I know the UK Infrastructure Bank has been rebranded the National Wealth Fund, and has attracted £7.3 billion in funds already. I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm whether the new wealth fund will have an explicit remit to support the UK’s transition to net zero carbon emissions. Finally, it is no secret that Brexit has wrapped up our small businesses in red tape, and that they are dealing with reams of paperwork. We have to remove as many trade barriers to our small businesses as possible. I urge the Government to bring something forward on that front as soon as possible.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call Sarah Russell to make her maiden speech.

Carer’s Allowance

Daisy Cooper Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern]

As the hon. Member knows, the Department is not responsible for the delivery of social security benefits in Northern Ireland, but I am sure that Northern Ireland’s Department for Communities will be keeping a close eye on the debate and will want to take his points into account.

This problem is one of the numerous ways in which our social security system is failing the people of this country, with 2.8 million left out of work because they are unwell and more than 4 million children growing up poor, and we have therefore moved fast to fix the foundations of the DWP. That includes our setting up a taskforce to tackle child poverty, extending the household support fund for six months, and holding the first meeting of our new Labour Market Advisory Board. The board’s expertise and fresh thinking will help us break down barriers to work, such as an inability to balance paid work with family care.

[Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)]

This Government have talked about a duty of candour. Can the Minister give an assurance that if people working at the DWP have information about maladministration and poor management of the service that they have witnessed and wish to come forward with that information, they will be protected as whistleblowers?

[Alison McGovern]

Obviously whistleblowing is very important. The Hillsborough law that is being introduced is not my responsibility, so the hon. Lady will understand that I cannot go over it extensively, but I will say, as someone who worked on the Hillsborough issue for many years, that it is very important to me personally.

These problems are significant, and given the scale of the challenges, we will not be able to solve all of them overnight, but we have taken important first steps, including tackling the issue of overpayments of carer’s allowance related to earnings. We have all heard the stories of some of the thousands of carers who have been affected, we have all heard and know about the stress and anxiety that it has caused them, and we all want—I hope—to establish the facts.

To address this problem, we must first truly understand what has gone wrong. That is why the DWP has announced today an independent review of overpayments of carer’s allowance that have exceeded the entitlement threshold. The review will investigate how the overpayments have occurred, what can best be done to support those who have accrued them, and how to reduce the risk of such problems occurring in future. We are delighted that Liz Sayce OBE has agreed to lead the review. My colleagues the Minister for Social Security and Disability, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), and the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Stretford and Urmston (Andrew Western), have already met representatives of Carers UK, along with carers themselves, to discuss their report on overpayments, and we will consider the findings of that report alongside the independent review.

Covid-19: Disability-Inclusive Response

Daisy Cooper Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2020 Westminster Hall

[Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron) on securing this debate, on a topic that she knows is close to my heart.

Without doubt, the pandemic’s impact on the disabled has been absolutely catastrophic. During the lockdown period, almost seven in 10 people with a learning difficulty have had their care packages reduced or cut completely, which the Disability Law Service says is illegal. We all need to hear assurances from the Government that the easements will be repealed and never repeated.

Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities have also been spectacularly disadvantaged by the pandemic. In a Westminster Hall debate in January, a number of Members of different parties voiced concerns about how SEND children and their families were struggling to get their education, health and care plans. The challenges of home schooling have been well documented. It has had a huge effect on SEND children and their families. Organisations such as Scope and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children are doing incredible work in producing online resources for parents, but we still need more. Parents and families are still telling me that they are struggling to get the laptops and specialist equipment that they need. When will the Government get that much- needed kit to every single child, so that they have a fighting chance to learn during covid? With reports that almost one in five SEND children have been out of school since lockdown, will the Government produce a dedicated plan to help SEND children and their families to get the education that they deserve and to which they are entitled?

The UK is home to a world-leading disability creative arts sector. Many of its members fall into a similar category to ExcludedUK, with freelancers having received absolutely no Government support at all. Without help, these disabled creatives could completely disappear from our screens, theatres and comedy circuits. They could become invisible in our public realm and debate. Will the Minister therefore heed calls from the UK Disability Arts Alliance and commit specific resources to those who are clinically vulnerable and at risk of becoming invisible in creative content?

There is, as we have heard from other Members today, a risk to jobs. As we head into a recession with the prospect of job losses it is vital that those disabled people who are in jobs can be kept in them, because it is so much harder for disabled people and all those with protected characteristics to get into the workplace in the first instance. Will the Government look at urgently amending section 159 of the Equality Act 2010 to empower, but not require, all employers to look at retaining workers with disabilities or other protected characteristics during the redundancy process?

Other hon. Members have mentioned the need for an awareness-raising campaign for disabled and other people who are exempt from face covering. On 15 July I asked the Government whether they would run such a campaign, and on 18 August I received a rather peculiar answer about dentistry and personal protective equipment. I have chased it up and have not had a proper response yet, so I would be grateful if the Minister would look into it.

Finally, the House must lead by example. I urge every Member to petition the Government to re-establish the access to elected office fund. There is a shocking lack of disabled voices in the House of Commons, and I say that as an MP with a hidden disability. The entry cost for many disabled MPs is far too high and we need a proper fund to be established so that candidates of all political persuasions have the opportunity to stand and to represent their communities.