Oral Answers to Questions

Ellie Reeves Excerpts

Monday 24th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Tom Pursglove]

When we are able, we will set out more detail of the relevant conditions and the approach we will take in delivering on this commitment. I raised the issue in my conversations with officials this morning, because I am keen to progress this as quickly as possible. I see real benefit and value in matching assessors with specialisms to people with particular conditions. It is clear from the feedback that people believe this will make a significant difference. Along the lines I set out earlier, we want to reduce PIP journey times as much as feasibly possible, and I want to make sure that we get more decisions right first time and that we focus on quality, which is precisely what the reforms will do. We will share further detail with the House when we are able to do so.

[Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)]

I have a bedbound constituent who relies on food banks and is unable to do basic tasks such as getting herself dressed and collecting food. She has two young children who are happy to take on these tasks, yet she has been told that her PIP assessment will take four months. How can the Minister justify families having to rely on food banks while they wait for a PIP assessment? What will he do to change this?

[Tom Pursglove]

Again, I refer to my earlier remarks on the steps we are taking to improve PIP journey times as far as possible. I am keen for the hon. Lady to share the details with me so that I can ask officials to look at this specific case. I want people to have certainty on their PIP claim as quickly as possible, as people require this important help. I would always encourage people to apply for PIP if they believe they might be eligible. If she provides me with those details, I will gladly look at them as a priority.

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Ellie Reeves Excerpts

Thursday 16th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)]

Today, I want to ask a simple question: exactly who does our economy work for? If the past 13 years are anything to go by, it is certainly not ordinary working people. We are seeing: wages flatlining; inflation soaring; mortgages rising; a generation forced to pay extortionate rents because buying a property is a forgotten dream; public services rolled back; and schools, hospitals and local authorities with slashed resources, but with demand through the roof. This is the Tory’s record after 13 years in power. What do they have to say? “Can’t pay your rising bills, then get a better paid job, take on more hours, cut your consumption.” In so many cases, this is not just out of touch, but insulting. It is insulting to the teacher in my constituency who has been living in temporary accommodation. She cannot afford private rent let alone get on the property ladder, so, for the past four years, where has she and her two children been living? She has been living in one room in a dilapidated hostel. Should she get a better job? It is insulting to the care worker who is already working 14-hour shifts and barely able to afford food and other essentials after paying her bills. Should she take on more hours? It is insulting to the family of the elderly lady who passed away this winter because she could not afford to heat her home. She could not even follow the advice to cut her consumption because she could not afford heating in the first place.

My constituents are paying the price of this Government’s failure to get the economy working for them. Instead, what have they received from this Government? They have received: a mini-budget that crashed our economy, pushing pension funds to the brink; dither and delay in taking on the oil and gas giants as they made their eye-watering windfall profits; and the highest tax burden in 70 years because the Government failed to unleash the sustained growth of which our country is capable. Indeed, we are the only G7 country with a smaller economy now than before the pandemic. But what would you expect when the Tories have spent more time trying to hold their party together than making any effort to hold our country together?

There is another way, a different approach that can fix our economy. Labour would give our country certainty, attracting foreign investment and getting our economy moving again. We would invest in the industries of the future, creating high-paid, skilled jobs, ensuring that we are a world leader in clean energy. We would make our tax system fairer, working in the interests of ordinary working people.

Instead, what did we get from this Government in yesterday’s Budget? A £1 billion handout for the richest 1% and their pension pots. Labour would scrap the non-dom status, end tax breaks for private schools and private equity bosses and reverse the changes to the tax-free pension allowance, using the money to give our schools and hospitals the resources they need for more doctors, teachers and nurses.

I started by asking who our economy worked for. The sad truth is that it works for far too few of us: not the elderly couple using food banks who are now having to consider giving up their pets to keep up with rising prices and higher bills; not the mother and her three children with respiratory issues living in a small, damp and mould-infested home who are now facing homelessness because their landlord is putting up the rent; and not the mother with terminal cancer, a priority patient, who collapsed on the floor unable to move, waiting more than four hours for an ambulance while her partner and young daughter watched and waited. Our country can no longer afford the Tories. It is time for a Government who understand what ordinary working people are going through, who make the tax system fairer, who ensure access to decent housing, and who deliver strong public services. All of that is possible, but only when there is a Labour Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ellie Reeves Excerpts

Monday 7th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[David Rutley]

As I said to the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes), our key priority at a time of record vacancies is to encourage people into work. The opportunities for the north-east highlighted in the recent levelling-up White Paper and those sponsored by local Mayors and, indeed, local MPs will be a real boost. Of course, the household support fund will be available. In South Tyneside alone, £1.4 million is available.

[Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)]

20. Child poverty and destitution are increasing under this Government. In Lewisham, 39% of children are growing up in poverty and more than 14,000 families are on universal credit. Not only have the Government cut universal credit by £1,000 a year; today they are again cutting support in real terms. A lone parent who is out of work will be £300 worse off. That means more children in Lewisham living in poverty. How is that fair?

Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits

Ellie Reeves Excerpts

Wednesday 15th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Reynolds]

Of course it is better that people are in work, but the whole point of reform in this area over the last decade and a half has been to try to create a system that integrates with the world of work. I cannot see how the hon. Member does not understand that. I cannot see the logic in his argument that a cliff edge is necessary for the outcome that he wishes to see.

[Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend makes a compelling argument about universal credit being an in-work benefit for many people. I have been inundated with calls from constituents who are supermarket workers, teaching assistants and carers. They are already working long hours and they have gone above and beyond during the pandemic. Does he agree that this is not the way to thank those hard-working key workers for everything that they have done for this country?

[Jonathan Reynolds]

I agree absolutely; that is the point. We saw in the exchanges between the Secretary of State and me on Monday, as well as in Prime Minister’s questions, that the Government’s proposition is that somehow people working full time will be able to work 50 or 55 hours a week, on top of what they are already doing. The Opposition are more than happy to have a discussion about raising pay—we have plenty of ideas. Let us discuss raising the minimum wage to at least £10 an hour now or reducing the universal credit taper rate so that people keep more of what they earn. To dress up this devastating cut as a choice between supporting jobs and supporting families is an insult to the millions of working people who will see their incomes drop. Hon. Members who support the cut should at least have the decency to stand up and say so rather than hide behind straw men.

Income Tax (Charge)

Ellie Reeves Excerpts

Thursday 4th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab) [V]]

The Budget was an opportunity to repair our economy and provide the support needed by so many. Instead, it is just a sticking plaster that will continue to leave many of my constituents behind.

For example, I represent a large number of enterprising self-employed people working across multiple sectors, but many have been completely excluded from support for nearly a year. While the Budget means the newly self-employed in 2019-20 will no longer be excluded, those changes could have been made months ago to help to protect livelihoods. Meanwhile, those who previously earned more than £50,000 a year or who operate through limited companies remain completely excluded from support. When I asked the Chancellor in November, ahead of the second lockdown, what he would be doing to fix those gaps in support, he made it clear it was a deliberate policy decision to exclude them, which, frankly, is shocking. The cliff edge of £50,000, rather than a tapered approach, has caused considerable issues in constituencies like mine. One of my constituents, a talented musician who earned over £50,000 before the pandemic, told me: “Raising a young family of four in London as the main earner when work stopped in March caught us in a very compromised position. Now, a year later, we are deep in £30,000-worth of debt. In January, I paid over £14,000 for my tax bill despite receiving no money from the self-employed income support scheme, which, had I not been excluded, would have alleviated a level of anxiety and stress I did not realise was possible. As the months tick by, we become increasingly desperate and I have had to sell a number of my instruments.”

Meanwhile, another constituent of mine has received no support because she is a limited company director. She now faces having to wind up her successful business of eight years amidst the demands of home schooling and caring for her elderly, shielding mother. These are real-life issues affecting my constituents and the Budget does nothing to help and support them. It is clear that the Chancellor’s decision to exclude certain people is having a huge and lasting impact on families. The Government should be fixing this rather than ignoring the matter.

I also represent a large number of independent businesses. Sadly, support to date has not been enough to see many of them through the crisis. The much-loved Alexandra pub in Penge is a brilliant, independent community pub that is a very special place to many, myself included. It is reduced to having to crowdfund, otherwise it faces permanent closure. The news of restart grants is welcome, but for many viable businesses this has come too late in the day, and for others, they may not be able to wait until April to apply for the grant.

We needed an ambitious Budget that sought to support all those who have fallen through the cracks and to rebuild the foundations of our economy for the long-term. Instead, we have a Budget that continues to exclude many from support and only offers a return to the same insecure economy that allowed this virus to cause so much damage in the first place.

Universal Credit and Debt

Ellie Reeves Excerpts

Wednesday 5th June 2019 Westminster Hall

[Dr Dan Poulter (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) (Con)]

rose—

[Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)]

rose—

[Ruth George]

I will go across the House first.

[Ruth George]

The hon. Gentleman has pre-empted part of my speech. The five-week wait for payments is doing a tremendous amount of damage, putting people into debt right at the start of their claim.

That is not to say that universal credit has not improved—I am sure we will hear a lot about that from the Minister. I pay credit to the Department for listening, and especially to the current Secretary of State, who has made changes beyond those forced on her by High Court cases. However, there is still an enormous amount to do to help people to get by and feel secure with universal credit.

[Ellie Reeves]

A number of my constituents are living below the poverty line, because that is what their universal credit calculation assesses them as being entitled to. It is not surprising that three quarters of those who are in rent arrears are on universal credit, while only one quarter are not. Does my hon. Friend agree that the way we calculate welfare payments to the most vulnerable must be looked at again?

[Ruth George]

Absolutely. As I will come on to discuss, the problem is not only welfare payments, but the deductions made from those welfare payments. People who are already in poverty are having huge deductions taken from their incomes with almost no recourse to justice.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ellie Reeves Excerpts

Monday 13th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Will Quince]

My hon. Friend raises a good point. Healthcare professionals are subject to a rigorous recruitment process, followed by a comprehensive training programme in disability assessment for physical and mental health conditions, and have to be approved by the Department. They are then required to complete a programme of continuing professional development.

[Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)]

Reoffending rates among those who have served a sentence of less than 12 months are a staggering 64%. The Ministry of Justice has signalled a clear intent to move away from this model of sentencing. What discussions have Ministers had with the Ministry of Justice about ensuring that community-based sentences have substantive support around employment to ensure that reoffending is curbed and sentences deliver meaningful rehabilitation and workplace opportunities?

[Will Quince]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. Being relatively new in post, I have not had those conversations as yet, but I do work very closely with my counterpart at the Ministry of Justice and will be having such conversations.

Households Below Average Income Statistics

Ellie Reeves Excerpts

Thursday 28th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

I am sorry, but I am going to disappoint the hon. Gentleman. I think we have the right welfare system. It protects the most vulnerable, provides the safety net we need and helps people into work. Under the Labour system, people were abandoned on out-of-work benefits and were not helped. Under this Government, we ensure that they engage with jobcentres and work coaches to make sure that they have the opportunity of a job.

[Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)]

Sums of £23 a week, £25 a week and £20 a week are all amounts that the Government have told my Lewisham West and Penge constituents on universal credit they should be able to live on after rent and basic utilities. With over 72,000 emergency food supplies given to Londoners over a six-month period, will the Secretary of State take responsibility for the shambles of universal credit and stop the roll-out?

[Amber Rudd]

I remind the hon. Lady that, under Labour, unemployment rose every time. Under this Government, we are ensuring that there are jobs available, with more people in work than ever before. I would hope that the work coaches at her jobcentre are able to help people into work, because there are jobs available, and that, ultimately, is what will help her constituents and her families have a better quality of life.

Universal Credit

Ellie Reeves Excerpts

Tuesday 16th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

There is a new burdens policy in place, and the DWP has paid out to local councils. I believe that the figure for 2017-18 was around £13 million. If the hon. Gentleman forwards me the correspondence, I would be happy to look at it.

[Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)]

Last Wednesday marked World Mental Health Day. The Mental Health Nurses Association stated in its letter to the Secretary of State that universal credit

“will make matters much worse, especially for those living with mental ill health.”

Given the stress, uncertainty and poverty caused by universal credit, is it not time to scrap the roll-out?

[Alok Sharma]

My ministerial colleagues and I have regular discussions with key stakeholders, particularly those representing the most vulnerable. We will continue to do that, and we will work with them to ensure that the managed migration process delivers for the most vulnerable.

Universal Credit and Welfare Changes

Ellie Reeves Excerpts

Thursday 21st June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ms McVey]

More people now are getting more money on PIP than they ever got on DLA. Every year from 2010 right the way through to 2022, more people will be getting more support and there are higher rates of support.

[Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)]

Universal credit will be rolled out in my constituency in July. I already deal with lots of constituents who need help getting the benefits they are entitled to, due to unnecessary barriers put up by the DWP. The reality is that half of claimants are unable to make a claim for universal credit online without assistance. What real assurance can the Secretary of State give my constituents? I have heard little today that gives us confidence in the roll-out.

[Ms McVey]

We are making it a much simpler system, by taking six benefits and turning them into one. Instead of the hon. Lady’s constituents having to get housing benefit from the local council, get tax credits from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and also go to the DWP, they can get it all under one roof, because it is streamlined. If she would care to go into a jobcentre with her constituents, they could see how it now works.