Oral Answers to Questions

David Mackintosh Excerpts

Monday 27th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

I am sure the hon. Lady knows that no one standing at this Dispatch Box would ever comment on speculative leaks. She will know as well that we are about to enter a negotiation. We are confident that we will get a good result for the people of Britain, and that is what we will be doing.

[David Mackintosh (Northampton South) (Con)]

13. What assessment he has made of whether the benefit cap encourages people into work.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Welfare Delivery (Caroline Nokes)]

The evaluation of the previous cap speaks for itself: capped households were 41% more likely to move into work than similar uncapped households, contributing to the record levels of employment we see today. Since 2013, over 26,000 previously capped households have moved into work.

[David Mackintosh]

Can my hon. Friend give me some examples of how the benefit cap is working in my constituency?

[Caroline Nokes]

In Northampton South, of 110 house- holds capped since April 2013, 90 are no longer capped. Of those, about 48%—40 households—have moved into work, demonstrating that my hon. Friend’s constituency is outperforming the national average.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Mackintosh Excerpts

Monday 21st November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

My right hon. Friend makes a very good point. We know that many more disabled people want to get into work, and one route is through self-employment. I am pleased to be able to say that more than a fifth of the participants in the new enterprise allowance scheme are people with a declared disability, but there is a great deal more we can do.

[David Mackintosh (Northampton South) (Con)]

3. What steps the Government are taking to ensure that employers are supported in recruiting and retaining disabled people.

[Justin Tomlinson (North Swindon) (Con)]

15. What steps the Government are taking to ensure that employers are supported in recruiting and retaining disabled people.

[The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (Penny Mordaunt)]

We already support employers through the new Disability Confident scheme, Access to Work and the Fit for Work service. Other measures are planned. The Green Paper consultation will provide further insight into how we can support employers and their disabled employees.

[David Mackintosh]

What advice can my hon. Friend offer to people such as my constituent Jehanzaib Sabih, who is deaf, so struggles to speak on the telephone, worked hard to obtain a university degree and yet is really struggling to find employment in the financial sector?

[Penny Mordaunt]

A lot of our bespoke expertise lies in the partner organisations we work with. If my hon. Friend contacts Sarah Holtham, who is the work coach at the Northampton jobcentre, she will facilitate a meeting with Deafconnect for him and his constituent. It also does a huge amount of work getting placements in the financial services sector, in particular with Nationwide, whose headquarters are in his constituency.