Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Green and Alex Cunningham

Monday 27th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

I have two points for the hon. Lady. First, the National Federation of ALMOs—social housing providers—calculates that some 75% of tenants are in arrears under the legacy benefits, so she is not right in her suggestion.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Just 75%!

[Damian Green]

Yes, quite; this has been happening for a long time. The idea that universal credit causes housing arrears is just nonsense.

Secondly, the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central (Chi Onwurah) will know that my Department is working on a pathfinder arrangement with Newcastle City Council precisely to address the problems that may be there now and have been there for many, many years.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Green and Alex Cunningham

Monday 20th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

I can supply the hon. Gentleman with evidence that we have transformed saving over the past few years. People have often said that young people in particular do not want to save, but the facts I have just put before the House suggest that that is no longer the case. If the hon. Gentleman is advocating taking away all tax relief for pensions, I would be interested in his ideas—as, I am sure, would his own Front Benchers.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Ministers have been clear on the need for transparency in the pensions industry, including in master trusts dealing with auto-enrolment. In his Second Reading speech on the Pension Schemes Bill, the Secretary of State spoke of it. In a speech to the TUC, the Pensions Minister said:

“We have to get transparency. It’s not an option to do nothing.”

On Report in the Lords, Lord Freud said:

“We want pension scheme members to have sight of all costs and charges”.—[Official Report, House of Lords, 19 December 2016; Vol. 777, c. 1528.]

Despite those fine words, all the attempts to deliver on transparency in the Bill Committee were dismissed by the Government, so can the Minister tell the House what they mean by transparency in the pensions industry?

[Damian Green]

The Bill—I note the Labour party did not vote against it on Second or Third Reading, so the hon. Gentleman cannot have objected to it that strongly—actually set up a new system of regulation, particularly of master trusts, that deals with not just transparency but a whole range of aspects, so this relatively new form of financial body is now much better regulated than it was before. I would have thought that the hon. Gentleman welcomed it—actually, he did welcome it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Green and Alex Cunningham

Monday 9th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

I have already given the hon. Lady a number of figures relating both to adult poverty and child poverty—

[Alex Cunningham]

Up or down?

[Damian Green]

Well, the fact is that since 2010 there are 100,000 fewer children in relative poverty. I would hope that the hon. Lady would welcome that and the fact that the child poverty unit is now covering a much wider range of policies and is based inside the Department for Work and Pensions.

--- Later in debate ---

[Damian Green]

I too welcome those figures. I can tell my hon. Friend that the new enterprise allowance has helped to create nearly 100 new businesses in North Cornwall since it began. We are moving to a second phase, beginning this April, with an improved NEA. Since it began, over one in five businesses supported by the NEA have been started by disabled entrepreneurs, which is an extremely encouraging development.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

It was great to hear earlier that there is consensus on the need to implement in full the Financial Conduct Authority’s recommendations on transparency in pension scheme costs. We hope that that will be soon, and we will hold the Government and the Minister to account on that.

Let us try another subject. Labour is committed to the state pension triple lock. Are the Government?

[Damian Green]

The Government are committed to the triple lock for the whole of this Parliament.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Green and Alex Cunningham

Monday 17th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

According to the International Monetary Fund, a series of forecasts has shown that the vote to leave the European Union will lead to low global growth and rock-bottom interest rates for years to come, and that as a result, despite the saving of trillions of pounds, workers who are due to retire in the next few years will not even have their basic needs met. Today, as the deputy Governor of the Bank of England defends the Bank’s approach to the economy to Members of Parliament and outlines his concerns about pensions, will the Secretary of State tell us what the Government are going to do to shore up the pensions of people who have done the right thing and earned their retirement?

[Damian Green]

The best thing that the Government can do—and, of course, it is what we are doing and will continue to do—is ensure that our underlying economy is strong and continues to create jobs as it has over the past six years, because, as we know, that is the best way to preserve and enhance both the state and the private pensions systems in the future.

Border Control Scheme

Debate between Damian Green and Alex Cunningham

Tuesday 15th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

My hon. Friend is quite right to point out the shambles that was in place before, but as you pointed out, Mr Speaker, that is not my responsibility. I am very grateful for that. What I am responsible for is what happens now, and my hon. Friend makes a good point. That is precisely why we are making the changes that we are across the borders system. As I have said, using risk-based and intelligence-based measures will give us safer borders in the long run. Stansted is one of the airports where there have already been significant changes to plug some of the loopholes that existed. There is certainly more to be done at Stansted, Manchester and other airports, and I am not saying that the system is now perfect, but it is getting better.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Part of Durham Tees Valley airport is in my constituency, and today we are getting conflicting information from officials there, one claiming that security is very much compromised, particularly in the case of private flights, and another claiming in today’s Evening Gazette that the airport is 100% secure. Will the Minister please tell the House who is right, and at least try to reassure the people of Teesside and beyond that their airport has taken the necessary steps to protect them and our borders?

[Damian Green]

The hon. Gentleman actually makes a very deep and important point. Different people working at the front line, presumably alongside each other, can genuinely have different perceptions of how good the system is. I would not go as far as the optimistic one of his constituents who says that it is 100% secure all the time—it would be foolish for any Immigration Minister to say at any time that every part of our border is 100% secure. However, I can absolutely reassure him, his constituents and the workers at the airport that we are doing our best to set up systems that make it more secure, and that we will keep doing so.

[Alex Cunningham]

It is not secure now.

[Damian Green]

Well, that is not what the hon. Gentleman’s constituent has told him.