Oral Answers to Questions

Damian Collins Excerpts

Monday 1st February 2016 Commons Chamber

[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.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

3. What assessment he has made of trends in the level of private sector jobs.

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

A record 26 million people are working in the private sector, up over 500,000 in the past year and by 2.7 million since 2010.

[Damian Collins]

Will the Secretary of State join me in welcoming the fact that the unemployment rate in my constituency has fallen by 48% since 2010? Does he agree that the roll-out of universal credit, which came to my constituency on 25 January, is a further fundamental part of our welfare reforms to make sure that everyone can benefit from work?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

My hon. Friend is right that universal credit provides the support and incentives that people need to get back into work. Evidence released a few weeks ago shows that universal credit claimants are more likely to have been in employment, spent a longer time in employment, done more job-search activity and earned more than those on jobseeker’s allowance. It is also important to note that, as part of the national roll-out, universal credit has now been rolled out across the whole county of Kent, which includes my hon. Friend’s constituency.