Oral Answers to Questions

Frank Roy Excerpts

Monday 26th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)]

My constituent, John McArthur, was laid off at the end of a temporary job that paid the national minimum wage. The DWP later tried to force him to work for the same company, in the same job, for six months. He subsequently got accused and lost his benefit. How can that sanction possibly be justified?

[Esther McVey]

This was a complicated case. I will obviously meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss it. His constituent had been laid off and then, as we were trying to support him back into work, he did work experience. It was in a different part of the business, and it was how we could best enable him to move from long-term unemployment into employment. If the hon. Gentleman would like to meet me, I am more than happy to do that, but I have already looked into this case.

Oral Answers to Questions

Frank Roy Excerpts

Monday 3rd November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Harper]

I agree with what my hon. Friend says; we are conducting the further natural reassessment roll-out only in those areas where I am confident we have the capacity to undertake the claims in a timely way. We are doing it in a carefully controlled way. The majority of DLA claimants will not be invited to claim PIP until 2015 onwards under a programme of managed reassessment.

[Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)]

Thousands and thousands of DLA recipients are feeling the effect of the unjust bedroom tax. What does the Minister intend to do to raise discretionary housing payments to help alleviate the problems felt by people on DLA?

[Mr Harper]

The hon. Gentleman is right to mention discretionary housing payments. I looked into this matter quite carefully. We have been very generous in the amount of money that we have given to local authorities. Indeed, many local authorities have not spent the money we have made available to them. We also made available further funds for which local authorities could bid and, again, not all of that money was spent. So we have given local authorities the wherewithal to use discretionary housing payment to support those who they think have a good case following the removal of the spare room subsidy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Frank Roy Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Esther McVey]

I will indeed join my hon. Friend in celebrating this positive news. What is happening in his constituency is also happening in every constituency throughout the country. This is positive news that we can all celebrate.

[Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)]

Has a comparative assessment been made of former Remploy employees who find themselves in part-time or full-time work, and if so, will the Minister publish those findings?

[Esther McVey]

I and the Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning), will be publishing those findings. We have had significant success with Remploy employees. They have gained jobs at a faster rate than others who have been made redundant, and the work of the local Jobcentre Plus has been exceptional.

Remploy

Frank Roy Excerpts

Thursday 4th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Esther McVey]

My hon. Friend raises many key points, which are correct. Stages 1 and 2 were so difficult because there was no blueprint in 2008, and those people were not supported, tracked or monitored. It was shameful of Labour not to do that.

[Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)]

I do not understand why the Minister is misleading the House by saying that the Motherwell factory has opened. It absolutely has not. A year after the factory closed, many of the workers still do not have a job. There is no guarantee that when that factory is eventually opened by someone else any ex-Remploy worker will get a job there.

[Esther McVey]

I read out the names of the factories, including Bolton. It is anticipated that up to 10 employment opportunities for disabled people will result as social enterprises come forward. The hon. Gentleman is right: the factory may not be open at this moment but it is going through the process of opening, so considerable work is being done. That is why I can say that that has happened and is happening—we have been dealing with it for two years, knowing that it is happening.

Oral Answers to Questions

Frank Roy Excerpts

Monday 1st July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Esther McVey]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and we will do just that. I hope she agrees that the step that the Chancellor took—adding another £200 million to child care support—will be essential in helping mums and dads back into the workplace.

[Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)]

Many women in my constituency lost their job when the Government supported the closure of the Remploy factory. Nearly a year later, they have not found any employment. Why?

[Esther McVey]

I will tell the hon. Gentleman what has been happening: out of the 1,100 people who came forward from the Remploy factory and wanted support, to date, 400 have work and 328 are in training. When it comes to getting people into work, that is a higher rate than for any regular redundancy. We have provided £8 million in tailored support and have tracked those people—something that the previous Labour Government never did when they closed down 29 factories in 2008.

Oral Answers to Questions

Frank Roy Excerpts

Monday 10th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)]

The Remploy factory in Wishaw was forced to close in the summer, and despite Government promises made from the Dispatch Box, not one single worker—not one—from Remploy in Wishaw has now got a job. Why?

[Esther McVey]

We are working hard to get everybody from all the Remploy factories into work. When I last talked about this matter in the House, only 35 of those people across the country had got into work, but I am pleased to say that we have now more than quadrupled that number, to 148. We have looked into the personalised support, and we are adapting it every day. We are working on it, and we will make it better.

Remploy

Frank Roy Excerpts

Monday 10th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Esther McVey]

I take on board what the hon. Gentleman says. Those are the numbers. I also announced today, because we are working on a daily basis, that five major businesses have come on board to support ex-Remploy staff. More people are getting jobs every day, and we will help them as best we can.

[Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)]

Can the Minister give a specific answer: why has no Remploy worker from Wishaw, whose factory was closed over the summer, been helped into a job?

[Esther McVey]

I will meet the hon. Gentleman, because I do not understand why none of them has been helped into a job. The offer was there for them to come forward for personal support, and it was their choice whether to do so. More people have come forward; the number was only 800 previously, but it is now up to 961. Perhaps we could work together and he could ensure that they come forward so that we can track and support them. I believe that that is just as much up to him as it is up to me, so let us work together to help those people.

Specialist Disability Employment

Frank Roy Excerpts

Tuesday 10th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

I commend my hon. Friend for taking the kind of attitude that other hon. Members should take on this issue. He rightly points out that many parts of this country, not least as a result of the actions of the right hon. Member for Neath (Mr Hain), do not have access to a Remploy factory. We need to ensure that no postcode lottery appears. I am sure that my hon. Friend will be pleased to know that in the south-east—I think his constituency will fall into this area—almost 4,000 people have been helped through the Access to Work programme already, with some £10 million of expenditure. Through the measures that I have announced today, we will ensure that more people are helped.

[Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)]

Shamefully, the Minister did not even take the time to read out the list of the closed factories. Had she done so, she would have noticed that the list includes Motherwell Remploy, which has not existed for 11 years. How is that dealing with fact?

[Maria Miller]

The hon. Gentleman will know that a list of the factories that are affected is attached to copies of the statement. I am sure that Mr Speaker, who I know wants to make progress, would not have thought that reading out a list of factories was the right thing to do.

Disability Benefits and Social Care

Frank Roy Excerpts

Wednesday 20th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Byrne]

That is an important commitment, but I am afraid that it will be cold comfort to the workers in Remploy factories where business plans must be submitted by Monday if their future is to be ensured.

[Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)]

My right hon. Friend will know that the Wishaw Remploy factory is earmarked for closure. We have learned that article 19 public service contracts will be available to many Remploy factories, but it has now emerged that Remploy has not even contacted the local authorities to ask them about article 19. Is that not shameful?

[Mr Byrne]

It is shameful, but I am afraid that it is par for the course. After all, that announcement was smuggled out on a very busy day in the House. I believe that the Minister was forced to come to the House at the end of the business to make a statement that she should have been upfront about making.

--- Later in debate ---

[Maria Miller]

The right hon. Gentleman knows that my predecessors and I have put a great deal of effort into looking for ways to get work into Remploy factories. He also knows that the DWP has awarded business to Remploy factories.

[Mr Frank Roy]

Why is it that since the closure of the Wishaw Remploy factory was announced, no one from Remploy has approached either North or South Lanarkshire councils about article 19 contracts under the relevant European Union directive?

[Maria Miller]

Obviously, we will want to look into all such issues. The hon. Gentleman and I have already had a number of conversations about his factory, and I applaud the work he does in supporting disabled people in his community, but I should also draw his attention to the facts I gave him before: there are many thousands of other disabled people in his community whom I want to make sure are getting support, and our reform of Remploy will help to achieve precisely that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Frank Roy Excerpts

Monday 23rd April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

My hon. Friend is right to suggest that we feel that access to work is the measure that will, when expanded, do most to help disabled people into work, and we will be working with disabled people to ensure we get the measures right. We have already been able to announce an extra £15 million to support access to work over the spending period, thereby helping some 8,000 more disabled people into work.

[Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)]

I have spoken to every single worker in the Wishaw Remploy factory, and all of them are in despair at the thought of losing their jobs. How many notes of interest have there been from potential bidders for the Wishaw factory?

[Maria Miller]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. I am not privy to those sorts of commercial details, but I will be working as hard as I can—as, I am sure, will he—to ensure that there are more credible bids so that, if possible, factories such as the one in Wishaw, which supports some 20 disabled people, can continue. However, I also remind him that there are more than 11,000 disabled people in his constituency, and we are trying to ensure that the available money is helping all of them.