Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Chloe Smith

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Phillips (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)]

2. What progress the Government have made on resolving the West Lothian question.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Miss Chloe Smith)]

With this, I will also answer Question 2. The McKay commission, which the Government established to consider how the House of Commons deals with legislation that affects only part of the UK, reported yesterday. We are grateful to the commission for its work. This is an important issue, which is why the Government asked the expert commission to look at it. The report presents a positive step forward, and we will give it very serious consideration before responding substantively.

[Harriett Baldwin]

I, too, thank the McKay commission for such an erudite report. The commission outlines a principle: that decisions at UK level with a separate and distinct effect for England should normally be taken only with the consent of a majority of MPs for constituencies in England. Will the Minister argue with her boss, who is a passionate believer in political and constitutional reform, to implement that sensible principle in the next Session?

[Miss Smith]

I commend my hon. Friend for her work on this important matter—she has campaigned long and hard and taken the time to go into the detail. As I have said, the Government take the report extremely seriously. We believe it is a positive step forward, and I am happy to talk to all members of the Government about its merits and otherwise.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Chloe Smith

Tuesday 6th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Miss Smith]

I do agree with my hon. Friend. As I have said already, it is a question of fairness. This measure asks a couple to do what a lone parent has always had to do, and I think that is fair.

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

Can the Minister confirm that, under the current system, a single parent who is offered more than 16 hours’ work a week by his or her employer would face a marginal withdrawal rate of up to 97%, and that such anomalies will disappear with the change to the universal credit?

[Miss Smith]

My hon. Friend makes a very fine point, and she is absolutely right that the reform paves the way for the universal credit, through which this Government are proud to be tackling the incentives that make work pay.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Chloe Smith

Tuesday 24th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Miss Smith]

We expect that that policy will be additional in the sense that it is extending it to disadvantaged two-year-olds. We expect 130,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds to be assisted by the 15 hours of free child care, and we certainly expect local authorities to take sensible decisions with the limited resources that they also have.

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

With 2 million children living in workless households, does the Minister agree that the essential steps include not only the additional child care places, but the universal credit and the fact that every hour of work will count towards increased reward for the household? That is an essential part of those fiscal measures.

[Miss Smith]

I certainly do agree with my hon. Friend, and on a couple of counts. First, poverty is not about income: it is about work. I am sure that she will agree that it is a crying shame that under the previous Government the number of children in workless households reached one in every six. I also agree with the chief executive of The Big Issue, who says in The Times today that

“You don’t help the poor by making them dependent on handouts”.