State Pension Age (Women)

Eilidh Whiteford Excerpts

Wednesday 11th May 2011 Westminster Hall

[Teresa Pearce]

I agree: this is not just an economic issue or a gender issue, but a class issue.

As I was saying, many women have done part-time work or have taken time out of the work force altogether to raise children. Many women worked in part-time jobs at a time when part-time workers were unable to take out a private pension. Those women have worked for 40 years, paying their national insurance contributions. They were looking forward to the retirement that they expected to start at 60. They, and I, were disappointed when it was announced that the age of retirement would go up from 60 to 65 between April 2010 and April 2020, but we accepted that and planned accordingly. Now, these women find that just as they are nearing the end of their time in the labour market, the goalposts have been moved yet again.

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

Some of the women in my constituency who have approached me about the issue have found out about the changes by reading about them in the newspaper. There has not been adequate information. Does the hon. Lady share that concern?

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[Steve Webb]

We had to take a judgment about not affecting people who were within a few years of retirement, those who were 58, 59 or so and were set to get their pensions in their early 60s. We took the view that change for them would be too soon, which is why nothing at all changes before 2016. However, having gone past that initial point, the crucial group—the one-month cohort, which a number of Members have mentioned—will, assuming that the Bill gets Royal Assent this summer, get six years and eight months’ notice of the change. I accept that notice, which has been mentioned by several Members, is the key issue.

[Dr Whiteford]

The issue is not only the pace of change. It is the context of a lifetime of low pay and inequality faced by many women, and the old-age problems that are a cumulative effect of that. The Government had an opportunity here to tackle women’s inequality in old age, but so far they have, instead, arbitrarily targeted women born in 1954.

[Steve Webb]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising the position of women in the pension system. Assuming that some of the pension reform proposals in the Green Paper that we published last month go ahead, for example the single flat-rate decent state pension, the group of women most affected by this change would be the first group of women to benefit, and potentially very substantially. At the moment, women draw a state pension of £40 a week, on average, less than men, but under the single-tier pension proposal, which I have been very involved in introducing, many women would be the main beneficiaries.

Various Members have raised the important issue of women whose pension rights have been hampered by time spent bringing up children or caring for relatives, and under the single-tier pension proposal a year spent at home with children or a relative will be worth just as much to a state pension as a year spent running a FTSE 100 company. So much do I take the view—in government as I did in opposition—that the work that men and women do, whether paid work or bringing up a family, is of equal value, that for the first time we are proposing that that be manifest in the pension system, and that will be transformative, particularly for women.

Welfare Reform Bill

Eilidh Whiteford Excerpts

Wednesday 9th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I am going to make a little progress, because I am conscious that we have a limit. Mr Speaker is looking at me benignly, but he might not look so benignly shortly.

It is time for fundamental reform of the social fund, which is poorly targeted and open to abuse. Some 17,000 people have received 10 or more crisis loans in the past 12 months, and we have already taken steps to limit the number of crisis loans for living expenses to three in a 12-month period. Those are important steps, because the fund has been somewhat out of control and is complex. The Bill will then pave the way for local authorities in England to deliver a system of assistance that should replace the community care grants and some crisis loan provision. This is a complex area, and many will know more about it than I do, but the key point is that we are trying—

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

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[Mr Duncan Smith]

I think that the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Dr Whiteford) was before the hon. Gentleman, and he has had a shot.

[Dr Whiteford]

Returning to crisis loans, my greatest concern is that people who go for them will not be able to buy essential items such as cookers and beds. That will push them straight into the arms of loan sharks and other high-cost lenders, and that issue has been overlooked. I also question the view that the increase in the uptake of such loans has not been down to the recession and the hardship that people have faced.

[Mr Duncan Smith]

The answer to the hon. Lady’s question is that budgeting loans will still be available for those cases. On the second question that she raises about crisis loans being down to the recession, the trend of upward claiming was on track and had started long before the recession.

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[Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)]

I welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate, because this issue will have profound implications for the welfare and benefit system, and will impact on all our constituents.

Time is limited, and the scope of the Bill is extensive, so I shall focus on a few key issues, the first of which is the proposed changes to disability living allowance, particularly the work capability assessment. The Government appear to place more emphasis on the independence of those who judge someone’s fitness for work, rather than on their expertise, which is of concern to many people, particularly those who suffer from hidden, complex and often poorly understood conditions with variable symptoms, including autistic spectrum disorders, mental health issues and multiple sclerosis.

A medically qualified assessor may be independent, but not necessarily an expert in a particular condition. The single point assessment is unlikely to give a comprehensive view of an individual’s fitness to work that is more reliable than that provided by an expert in the field who has treated and monitored the patient over a long period. The clinician will also follow professional ethics in making judgments about a patient, which provides a safeguard for the Government. If expert written evidence is available, it should be used and should carry more weight than the opinion of a benefits assessor, who may not have detailed expertise in dealing with those matters.

[Dr Whiteford]

As someone who represents a constituency that was part of the work capability assessment pilot, one of the biggest concerns was that the evidence of I know that someone’s GP or consultant was not taken seriously by the medical assessors. Will the hon. Lady comment on that?

[Naomi Long]

That is a fundamental concern. One of my constituents recently came to Parliament, on behalf of the mental health charities Rethink and MindWise, to give evidence to the Select Committee on Work and Pensions about the impact of the assessment proposals on people with mental health problems. Members who met her at the round-table session would agree that she presented her evidence in a professional, competent and effective manner, as one would expect of someone with a medical degree. However, her evidence carried weight not because of her degree, but because she receives disability living allowance. She is not fit for work, and is not permitted to practise as a GP as a result of serious mental health issues, which developed in her final year of study.

If a benefits assessor, even a medically qualified one, witnessed her performance in Committee, they would doubtless assume that she was fully fit to work. However, her condition is unstable, and in periods of ill health, she is unable to leave her home or interact with people at all. Even when well, she is reluctant to take on additional stressful responsibilities because of her history of instability.

Social Security

Eilidh Whiteford Excerpts

Thursday 17th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jenny Willott]

I shall clarify my remarks in case anyone misunderstood me. I said that we will not be debating complicated uprating changes every year. Clearly, there will still be a debate every year, I assume, on the uprating of benefits; I should hate to think they will be frozen in future. I shall talk about pensions later in my remarks.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the universal credit will mean that 2.5 million families will be better off. They will get more money, which will in time help to reduce the total benefit bill by making it more worthwhile for people to get work and remain in work and off benefits. That should generate support on both sides of the House, as it is something we all want families to do.

As well as an improvement in prospects for those on working-age benefits, as the Minister said, this morning the Government introduced changes that will make a significant difference to pensioner incomes. The level of pensioner poverty in the UK is a complete disgrace in a civilised country. During the shadow Minister’s remarks, it slightly got me that he seemed to criticise the Government for not sticking to the CPI increase for pensions and going for a larger increase in pensions this year. In 2000, the previous Government were happy to see an increase of only 75p in the state pension, which most of us found stingy, measly and completely unforgiveable. At least, this Government are tackling pensioner poverty and are willing to do something serious about it.

Labour’s efforts to lift older members of society out of poverty resulted in a massively complicated, overly bureaucratic system based on means-tested benefits that has left 2 million pensioners still living below the poverty line. Clearly there is something wrong with the current system, so I am delighted that real progress is being made to safeguard the value of the basic state pension. Current pensioners will now be protected by the triple lock, which is welcome. I am delighted that a Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment is being implemented by the Liberal Democrats in government. What we promised we have delivered, and the state pension will increase by earnings, 2.5% or CPI, whichever is greatest. People over the age of retirement will have the protection they deserve. As the Minister said, the amount can be quite significant. We are talking about £15,000 over a person’s lifetime, which will make a significant difference for a large number of pensioners and will, I hope, have an impact on pensioner poverty.

I am glad to see that change. However, I believe that we are still building up problems for future generations of pensioners. Current pensioners’ circumstances will improve significantly, but the ticking pension’s time bomb was not tackled by the Labour Government or by previous Governments. I would like the current Government to take the bull by the horns and ensure that we do not end up with a problem in decades to come. Far too many people are not saving for retirement. Auto-enrolment will help in that regard, but people need to know that it will pay to save. We must reduce the amount of means-testing to ensure that people know that, if they save while they are working, it will benefit them in retirement.

We have an uncertain jobs market. There are no more jobs for life. Occupational pension schemes are closing at a terrifying rate. Many occupational schemes are defined-contribution, rather than defined-benefit, and far less generous. Even with the triple lock, problems will increase. I would be grateful if the Minister told us what the Government plan to do in the long term to tackle the time bomb. The triple lock will make a significant difference, but we need to look at the whole pension system to ensure that we reform it in decades to come so that it is more appropriate to the needs of society.

Clearly, a big issue is the move from RPI to CPI. I understand why people are concerned about that, but I say to pensioners who are worried about the impact on their basic state pensions that they will be protected by the triple lock. As the Minister made clear, the majority of people on public sector pensions will be protected from a potential reduction in their long-term benefits by the triple lock on the state pension, so they will end up better off in the long term. The impact on people will not be as great as many Opposition Members have said it will be.

I can see that benefits come with the change to CPI. It is more stable. It means that we will not face issues such as the one that arose last year when benefits were frozen, which caused significant hardship for many millions of people. CPI is also a more appropriate system as 70% of pensioners own their homes outright. As the Minister said, there is a negative impact for those pensioners as the rate of mortgage interest is taken into account under RPI. They do not benefit in any way from the massive fluctuations that that can generate in their pension increase.

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

One of the big concerns is that the Royal Statistical Society has said that the CPI is not a good measure for pension inflation. The differential impact of that measure is causing many Opposition Members concern.

[Jenny Willott]

I thank the hon. Lady for her comment. The issue is likely to be taken up by the Minister in his summing-up because, from his comments from a sedentary position, he seemed to disagree with similar comments by the shadow Minister. I do not have a copy of the whole quote in front of me, but I am sure that he will be able to fill the House in on that and respond to her question later.

Oral Answers to Questions

Eilidh Whiteford Excerpts

Monday 14th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

My hon. Friend is right that of the 2.6 million women who are affected, 33,000 were born in the vintage months that he describes. That group will have to delay for up to two years before they receive their state pension. One reassurance I can offer is that those women—and indeed he, should he find himself in that situation—will be eligible to apply for jobseeker’s allowance or employment and support allowance, so they will not be left destitute.

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

The Turner commission recommended a 15-year lead-in for such changes. Those women who were born in 1954 will not benefit from that. Does the Minister think that fair?

[Steve Webb]

The hon. Lady raises the important point that notice periods are important. The challenge we faced was that the time scale for raising state pension ages that we inherited was staggeringly leisurely. The Conservative party manifesto and the coalition agreement made it clear that we would move faster. The state pension age for men was set at 65 a century ago—I think we need to move faster.

Disability Allowance

Eilidh Whiteford Excerpts

Tuesday 30th November 2010 Westminster Hall

[Mr Clarke]

My hon. Friend, who has added substantially to the quality of debate in the House on these matters, asks the kind of question that people are asking, including, I am sure, people in his constituency. I know that he will always tell it like it is.

I was dealing with organisations of and for disabled people, and so I turn to Mencap:

“Mencap believes the government have misunderstood how disabled people use this important benefit. Without this vital lifeline, many disabled people in care will lose much of their independence, be unable to take part in many community activities and have fewer opportunities to meet with friends and family. Mencap is concerned that by removing this benefit many disabled people who live in residential care…will be unable to lead fulfilling and independent lives.”

Sense says:

“The Government’s initial justification for this decision, was that the situation of people in residential care homes is the same as those in hospital. This is a totally incorrect assessment; residential care settings are individuals’ homes and they should expect to be able to access their families and local communities. Yet Sense’s experience as a provider of residential services to deafblind people is that in the vast majority of cases, local authorities will take the DLA mobility component into account when deciding on funding levels.”

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

Does the right hon. Gentleman share my concern that, when local authority budgets and the voluntary sector organisations that provide transport services for disabled people are under pressure, this is the worst possible time for the mobility component of the DLA to be withdrawn? Doing so will increase the institutionalisation and isolation of disabled people, instead of promoting their integration and inclusion in communities.

[Mr Clarke]

If I may say so, that is an excellent point. The plain and simple fact is that we all know in our hearts that our local authorities are under tremendous pressure. We know that they are facing cuts and difficult decisions, and unfortunately, in too many cases the result is that provision of social services and disability care does not always get the priority needed and required. There is not a shred of evidence from the local government organisations in England—or no doubt from Northern Ireland, and certainly none from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities—that local authorities will be in a position to pick up the bill if the Government remove the money from those living in residential care. We are facing a crisis, both for local government and for disabled people.

Finally, there are many relevant organisations to which I could refer, and I apologise to those I have not mentioned this morning due to time constraints. I want to end with Parkinson’s UK:

“The Government compares this decision with the removal of the mobility component from hospital inpatients. But the two situations are very different. Hospital stays tend to be relatively short, and patients are often not in a position to make good use of the benefit. By contrast, many people live long and active lives in residential care homes.”

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[Robert Halfon]

If the hon. Lady is patient, she will hear the answer later in my remarks.

To preserve spending on other front-line services, the Government then announced that they would have to go even further in tackling the extremely large welfare bill. One way in which they are doing that is by ending the mobility component of DLA from 2012-13 to claimants who have been in a residential care home for more than 28 days, which will affect about 58,000 claimants. The Treasury says that that will save £60 million in 2012 and that the figure will rise to £135 million by the end of the Parliament. I appreciate, however, that the Government have confirmed that affected residents will retain an underlying entitlement to the benefit, and that payments will start again if they leave the care home. I also understand that the measure will not be introduced until October 2012. Local authorities will have a legal obligation to provide mobility services for residents from their social care funding.

[Dr Whiteford]

I come back to the point that I made to the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Mr Clarke): local authorities face the same squeeze in their budgets as everybody else. I know from my constituency that there are some great voluntary services supporting wheelchair users and people with severe mobility problems who live in care homes or in their own homes, but who do not have access to transport. However, those charities are terribly strapped financially because of a lack of giving and the problems with trust funds. There is nothing to pick up the slack. Why should disabled people be on the front line? Why should they be punished for financial mistakes that were not of their making?

[Robert Halfon]

I thank the hon. Lady, but I do not agree that all care homes would be unable to afford to provide mobility equipment if there was a statutory requirement. I have a further response to what she says, but I will come to it later.

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[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

Yet again, we have an example of how not to do welfare reform—if indeed that is the intent. The Government have attempted to pray in aid the fact that the Opposition had said that they were willing to consider reforming DLA. However, I thought that that meant looking at the benefit in the round, examining how it operates, and assessing what needs to change and what can be done better. I did not think that it was about picking out one brick without looking at the way in which the whole benefit operates. From my perspective—and, I am certain, that of my whole party—that was what we meant when we suggested that we were open to considering changes in DLA.

We are considering something that was clearly proposed as a saving—or a cut. It is about reaching that £18 billion figure, which was why it was announced in the comprehensive spending review rather than as a part of welfare reform. Having decided to do that—ex post facto—all sorts of things are then presented as to why it might be done, why something could be done better and why there may be money somewhere else.

A similar thing happened during the proceedings of the Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Public Bill Committee, of which I was a member. Having decided to make a series of reductions, a number of reasons were suddenly conjured out of the air, and then a whole host of ideas was proposed to find the money to make up for some of the cuts, but those ideas were not costed or fully thought through. The Government were not even able to say whether those proposals would cost more than the savings that were being suggested.

As someone who comes from Scotland, I want to know what consultation has gone on with the Scottish Government. What consultation has been carried out with local authorities in Scotland? I can assure the Minister that, over the past three years, my local authority has already seen substantial reductions in the money going into social care. I have several constituents whose direct payments, which they were receiving from the local authority, have been cut substantially. In some cases, “substantially” means halved. Such cuts have largely come about because of the financial constraints under which the council has found itself. Yes, the cuts have been dressed up in terms of my constituents’ personal needs, but as their needs and capacities have not changed at all, it is clear that this is really about making savings. I am not confident that my local authority has the resource to put this in as a substitute for removing DLA when it is already making so many cuts, and that is before the even further reductions in local authority spending that are coming our way in Scotland and elsewhere.

Moreover, it is important to consult. The Government should not make a decision and then wait for people to react. I heard the Secretary of State for Health talking on Radio 4 this morning about the importance of consultation over public health matters. He was discussing whether to implement the regulation on tobacco and the display of tobacco. He said that it was very important to consult, but if it is so important to consult even on something that has already been passed and subjected to consultation, why is it not important properly to consult the users, care homes, local authorities and the devolved Administrations that are all involved in this change? If it was then felt that there was a need to consider the way in which the benefit is provided and that was better for it to come down the local authority route, so be it, but I do not think that that is why we have got to this position.

[Dr Whiteford]

The mobility component of the DLA is one of the few parts of the benefit system to which personalisation already applies. Does the hon. Lady not agree that the Government’s proposals will take away that aspect of the personalisation agenda at the very time they are talking about promoting it?

[Sheila Gilmore]

I certainly agree and, as I have said, I have seen some of that personalised agenda being placed at risk in other ways over recent months, which is a substantial concern, especially to the recipients of this component.

I think that we have an opportunity to look again at the proposal and to get it right, if it is genuinely thought to be necessary to fund this scheme differently. However, if it is being seriously suggested that this change can be made—it involves a substantial sum for an individual, but the collective cost of any substitution will be very substantial for a local authority—and if the Government will ensure that it is made, I would ask whether there is a costing of how much will be involved in monitoring the change, in checking that it is made and in managing that whole process, when in fact the system appears to be working well.

Welfare Reform

Eilidh Whiteford Excerpts

Thursday 11th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Let me remind colleagues of the need for economy if we are to accommodate as many people as possible.

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

I applaud the Secretary of State for his announcements today and for his efforts to incentivise work, but I still have an arithmetical problem despite his answers to previous questions. I am struggling to see how 450,000 job vacancies divide into the 5 million people that the reforms aim to help. I am hoping that he can explain.

[Mr Duncan Smith]

This universal credit comes in over a period of four or five years. In the time over which it is implemented, even under the hon. Lady’s most pessimistic forecasts, the British economy will grow and create more jobs. The Office for Budget Responsibility, which is independent, forecasts growth of some 2.5%, which will lead to much higher numbers of private sector jobs. The reality is that we must prepare the ground. The important thing is that people are better off as they go to work and take those jobs. The point of the proposals is to break the cycle of people saying, “It’s not worth me going to work and it is worth me staying on benefits, because work does not pay.” The proposal is about work paying.

Housing Benefit

Eilidh Whiteford Excerpts

Tuesday 9th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

Does the hon. Lady acknowledge that the majority of housing benefit recipients are people in work, pensioners and disabled people, and that less than one in five of the recipients are unemployed?

[Laura Sandys]

First, it is 13% of people who work who receive housing benefits. It is good to see on the Front Bench the Minister who is responsible for disability, because in addition many provisions are made for people with disability. We need to protect those who are vulnerable, and they will be protected. It is crucial that we ensure that equity and justice are at the heart of the housing benefit structure.

Housing benefit is one of the key problems in Thanet. In an area of real deprivation, the rate of housing benefit has dramatically distorted the market, disadvantaging those on low wages while not delivering an improvement in the housing stock for those on housing benefit. I wish to highlight three blights that my constituency faces as a result of the level of housing benefit. As I said, it is unfair on the low paid, who do not claim housing benefit. The double whammy of inequity is compounded by the inflationary impact on the overall housing market.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jackie Doyle-Price]

I would say that Labour Members are in denial about how we are going to tackle the issues that will get the economy moving again. Many of my constituents say, when I go knocking on their doors, “Good for you—it’s about time people did this,” because they are heartily sick of having to keep putting their hands in their pockets.

[Dr Whiteford]

On the DWP’s own figures, nearly 27% of the people who currently receive housing benefit are pensioners. How are those people, who are mostly on a fixed income that has been squeezed hard during the financial crisis, supposed to be able to pick up the tab for welfare reform? That makes no sense, and it puts unbearable pressure on household incomes that are already very pressured.

[Jackie Doyle-Price]

I think that the hon. Lady needs to see that issue against our broader package of welfare reform. When we introduce the welfare credit reforms, that will be tackled. The Government have recognised that such fundamental reforms will generate difficult cases, and to that end they have increased the money available for discretionary payments. I wholeheartedly endorse that.

Let me reiterate what has been said about the impact that these changes will have on landlords. Removing subsidies means that landlords will change their behaviour. They are charging rents that they know the market will bear, and if we reduce the amount of support available they will have to stay in the market by reducing their rents, or get out of it. As the hon. Member for Sedgefield (Phil Wilson) and my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton South West (Paul Uppal) said, those are exactly the kind of people we want to leave this marketplace.

I shall finish where I started, with the concept of fairness. Government Members want a fair deal for the taxpayer. We also want a welfare system that acts as a safety net and rewards work. Doing nothing, and allowing the current system to continue, would not be treating taxpayers or benefit claimants fairly.

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[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

As a new member of the Select Committee on Work and Pensions, I have a keen interest in this topic. The Committee is undertaking an inquiry into the impact of the changes to housing benefit. We had an insightful evidence session the other day with the Minister for Welfare Reform. Conclusions will follow soon.

It is worth repeating that the statistics show that 4.7 million people receive housing benefit in the UK, two million of whom are pensioners, 500,000 are on jobseeker’s allowance and 700,000 work in low-paid jobs. The housing benefit total is clearly a huge sum, and I, too, am in favour of reforming housing benefit if the changes are fair and well thought through. We all agree that the deficit must be cut somehow, even if we do not agree about the pace at which the cuts should happen. However, the coalition is seeking to push through the changes to housing benefit on the basis of quick fixes and cheap headlines. I reject the approach of targeting and punishing people—that is what it is: punishing people—who cannot find work. Someone who is trying their best to get a job should not have 10% of the money that they need to pay their rent taken from them, thereby only adding to their miserable situation, imposing even greater stress, both financial and emotional, and doing nothing to improve their job prospects. Indeed, quite the contrary: doing so reduces their meagre resources still further, cutting the funds available to them to apply for jobs and attend interviews.

[Dr Whiteford]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that those cuts will affect local authorities, which will have a statutory duty to pick up the pieces when people are evicted from their homes or forced on to the streets?

[Alex Cunningham]

I do agree. Indeed, my local authority has told me of its anguish in wondering how it will cope with the problem at a time when it is also facing 25% cuts in its budgets.

The cut to housing benefit is not the only disincentive to work. Those 700,000 people claiming housing benefit who are in low-paid work will incur greater travel costs to get to work if they are forced to move further from their places of employment. Indeed, they might not even be able to afford to do so, thereby losing their jobs. For those who are already working for the minimum wage or close to it, the change could make the difference between balancing the books each week and being unable to pay the bills and put food on the table. Certain sections of the media would have us believe that the vast majority of people who have been unemployed for 12 months or more are lazy layabouts who do not want to work—not so: in reality, very few people have that attitude. Most people who are unemployed want to work and provide for their families. The Government’s crude measure, however, will target all those people, regardless of their attitude.

Despite reductions in the number of people unemployed in recent years, in the Stockton borough there are still nine people unemployed for every job available. With 500,000 public sector and 500,000 private sector jobs set to go as a result of the coalition’s cuts, things will only get worse on Teesside. People should not be punished because of a lack of jobs. A few weeks ago, Connaught, a major building company, went into administration, and it was followed by another this week, Rok. Both were big employers in my area, and I doubt whether either will provide the private sector jobs that the Government seem to think will be magicked out of thin air. If people had those jobs, they would not have to access housing benefit.

As a result of the changes, people who claim housing benefit will lose £9 a week on average, or £468 a year, which is a lot of money to a lot of people. It is a big drop in income for people struggling to make ends meet. Much of the focus has been on the impact of the changes on London and the south-east, and understandably so, given the high cost of housing in those areas. However, Shelter estimates that some 45,000 people in the north-east will also be affected by cuts to housing benefit. In Stockton-on-Tees, the local authority has told me that from April 2011, 30 families will lose out by £36 a week on average, thanks to the removal of the five-bedroom local housing allowance rate. From April 2012, 400 claimants will be hit by the extension of the shared room rate, which in future will apply to people up to the age of 35. Another 1,800 households will also lose out in hard-cash terms. Clearly the impact of the changes will be felt by people across the country, and not just in London and the south-east.

We must also look at the associated costs of the changes for local authorities. The wider impact of the changes on families and communities will be significant, particularly in areas expected to see an influx of people who have been forced to move out of areas in which they can no longer afford to live. For example, some schools may see an influx of pupils, as families are forced to move to areas where accommodation is cheaper. I worry that uprooting families in that way will cause chaos and might end up costing more than it saves.

Others Members have talked about the shortage of affordable homes. A key reason for the increase in the housing benefit bill in recent years is the lack of affordable housing. I am passionate about the need to build more homes and ensure that young people in particular can get on the property ladder. According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, more than eight out of 10 first-time buyers get on the housing ladder only because they receive cash from the bank of mum and dad. First-time buyers today typically require a deposit of 21%, compared with 10% three years ago. The problem will surely only get worse for those young people due to start university in 2012, who will graduate with huge debts, of £30,000-plus, making it even more difficult for them to save for a deposit for a house.

Thirty-five years ago, 85% of the housing budget went on bricks and mortar, building new homes. Today, more than 85% of the housing budget goes on helping people with their housing costs, because the lack of affordable housing has driven up rents and house prices so much. Under the previous Labour Government, many new homes were built, including 500,000 more affordable homes, but that was not enough. In addition, the right to buy gave millions the chance to own their own homes, but it meant that the nation’s social housing stock dwindled. Surely the long-term solution to the problem is to invest in our housing stock, to ensure that rents and house prices are sustainable, and that ordinary, hard-working people can afford housing without assistance from the state.

Since the coalition came to power, I am told that local councils have ditched plans for new homes at a rate of 1,300 every day. That is not the direction that we as a nation should be travelling in. I will be interested to hear just what the Government plan to do to reverse that decline and help us build the affordable homes that will help negate the need for such vast sums of public money in the benefits system.

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

As an outer-London MP with the 13th highest proportion of LHA claimants, I very much welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate, in preparation for which I met representatives from Shelter and other interested parties. I had looked forward to this debate, but I must say that as the afternoon has grown longer and I have grown a little wearier, I have been disappointed that, apart from some notable contributions, we seem to have heard a lot of cant, hyperbole and soundbites from many Opposition Members, which has done little to improve the quality of the debate.

I have sat here for so long that I started looking for some fresh ideas, and at one point the hon. Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts) said that there was no strategy. Well, strategy there is, and strategy is the point that has been missed by Opposition Members, because it is a mistake to look at housing reform in isolation. That is a mistake that we have seen all afternoon. To do so is to miss the point of what the Government are trying to do. This Government’s strategy is to try to lift people out of poverty, taking them from dependency to independence—something that the Opposition have neither embraced nor understood, but even at this late hour I hope that they might just reflect on it. They are missing the point of what the Government are doing, but by understanding my constituency they will see what we can do for our constituents.

Enfield North has 7% unemployment, higher than average youth unemployment, and pockets of poverty, mainly in the eastern area. Those are issues that I want to conquer, and that requires reform. Doing nothing is not an option, but constructive suggestions have been notably lacking from the Opposition. Of course the decisions are difficult—[Interruption.] I welcomed the conversion of the hon. Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin) to the cap for London, which was seriously missing from everything that the Opposition had said previously. Of course the changes are difficult, but that does not mean that they are wrong. They will drive out poverty by the most reliable means of helping people and contributing to getting them back into paid employment.

The Secretary of State is sensitive to many of the demands. He was quick to point out the discretionary funds that are available and to which due acknowledgment has not been given today. Is it right to have a system—

[Dr Whiteford]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Nick de Bois]

I will not give way until I have made some progress. I am sure the hon. Lady will understand that I have been here for many hours, and I am not sure whether there is anything new coming from the Opposition Benches.

Is it right to sustain a scheme that works against employment? No. What do I say to the employer who came to my surgery only last week and told me that people are queuing up for jobs, but they want to work for only a limited number of hours for fear of losing their house? How absurd is that? Whatever the Labour party’s good intentions when it was in government, its reforms produced a grotesque situation. What do I say to the people who come to my office and want to work, but are caught in the poverty trap—[Interruption.] I am sorry that hon. Members do not want to listen, but week after week in my constituency I see the evidence of a failed policy on my doorstep, and it is absolutely right to represent my constituents’ interests not only where there has been failure, but where there is an opportunity for success. That is what this Government are trying to do, and rightly so.

What will the changes mean? We are talking about the LHA, not social housing. Rents are high. There has been a 25% increase over seven years in the LHA sector compared with 15% in the private sector. It was interesting when an Opposition Member—forgive me, I cannot remember his constituency—said that the 40% share of the LHA market that the Government are driving is not influencing rents. It is utter nonsense to think that such a massive contribution can have no impact on the level of rents. Opposition Members may deceive themselves if they wish, but I assure them that in the real world that is definitely the case.

Oral Answers to Questions

Eilidh Whiteford Excerpts

Monday 18th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I hope that the hon. Gentleman will recognise how important it is that work pays in our society and how frustrated working people are that it is possible for a family to receive, when the tax equivalent is taken into account, an income comparable to £35,000 a year in benefits. If we are to send the message that work pays, we have to limit the amount that the state supports people when they are outside work.

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

The Minister will be aware of the pilot scheme operating in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. In this extremely rural area, people are being asked to travel significant distances to appointments and the availability of suitable public transport is very limited. Will he consider taking appointments to the rural communities where people are rather than asking them to travel long distances to jobcentres?

[Chris Grayling]

One reason we are doing the two pathfinder projects is to understand precisely the issues and challenges that we will face when we roll out the programme nationwide next year. I am very happy to consider any of the lessons that have been learned from the experience in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to see whether we can do things better. In the mean time, we have provided additional funding to the two towns and cities involved in the first programmes—Burnley and Aberdeen—so that local needs that arise during the process can be met.

Jobs and the Unemployed

Eilidh Whiteford Excerpts

Wednesday 7th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

Unfortunately for the hon. Gentleman, if we cut the deficit at the pace and scale that his party wants, that will make it harder for businesses. It will make it harder for small businesses and companies across the economy. His party’s own appointed Office for Budget Responsibility confirms that. It says that there will be fewer jobs in the economy, not just next year, but each year for the rest of this Parliament as a result of the Budget. It is hitting businesses and employers throughout the country, making it harder for them to take people on. That is the complete fallacy in the arguments of Conservative Members. They are stuck in the mentality of not just the 1980s, but the 1930s, which says that so long as the deficit is cut, things will suddenly be hunky-dory. It will not. It cuts jobs and makes it harder for people to get back into work, and it pushes up the costs of failure too. That is what is so irresponsible.

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

I have a lot of sympathy with the right hon. Lady’s argument and she is right to stress the fragility of the economic recovery at the present time and the fact that the Budget proposals will cut jobs, but I am sure that she is aware that the previous Government imposed cuts of £400 million on the devolved Scottish Government in the very teeth of the recession, knowing that it would cost jobs and jeopardise recovery. If her argument holds water now, why did it not hold water then?

[Yvette Cooper]

In fact, the additional support we put in through things such as the future jobs funds and support for the economy helped Scotland. Indeed, Scotland benefited from thousands of future jobs fund jobs, which were funded by the Government, in addition to the money that went directly to the devolved Administrations. Every part of the Government had to make efficiency savings, and unfortunately the Scottish Administration consistently set themselves efficiency targets considerably lower than those set and met in Whitehall Departments across government. It was fair to expect the Scottish Administration to pay their fair share and to contribute to those efficiency savings.

We believed, however, that it was right to keep supporting jobs in Scotland through things such as the future jobs fund, which is why the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations said, in response to the cuts in the future jobs fund:

“We know of many third sector organisations in Yorkshire who were ready to place people into jobs and were mid-way through bidding for FJF money to make that possible when the funding was cut. Among the placements that were to be created were jobs to support women in the community through a Women’s Refuge. Now those women won’t get the extra support and Yorkshire won’t get the extra jobs.”

Real jobs in Yorkshire gone—because of the Secretary of State’s plan!

Oral Answers to Questions

Eilidh Whiteford Excerpts

Monday 14th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

If the hon. Gentleman had listened to some of the earlier exchanges, he would have known that we feel strongly that we need to have proper, long-term jobs in place. We will achieve that better through our apprenticeship announcements than through the future jobs fund. However, it is important that organisations such as Pedal Power—which, I am sure, supports disabled people in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency—get the support that they need. I am happy to talk to him about that if he has concerns.

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

On the subject of carers week, will the Under-Secretary assure us that carer’s premium will be protected for those who are unable to find work or need support to stay in work as a result of looking after severely disabled relatives?

[Maria Miller]

Carers have a critical role to play in keeping people out of the formal state-run care system, and we will ensure that they get the support that they need in our coming reviews.