Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Hywel Williams and Mims Davies

Monday 24th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mims Davies]

May I remind the hon. Gentleman of Labour’s 10p tax rate, and the fact that we have doubled tax-free allowances? [Interruption.] Food banks are important. They are independent charitable organisations where people in local communities can support each other. [Interruption.] This is a great example of the generosity of spirit in our communities. [Interruption.] If this mattered to the hon. Gentleman, perhaps he would listen to my response rather than chuntering from the Front Bench.

I remind the hon. Gentleman that we take the issue of food security very seriously. That is why we added the internationally used food security questions to the “Family Resources Survey: financial year 2019 to 2020”. The new statistics on usage will help the Government to understand more about the characteristics of the people who are most in need, and we will continue to do what we pledged to do and are proving to do in supporting the most vulnerable.

[Hywel Williams (Arfon) (PC)]

8. What steps he is taking to reduce child poverty.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mims Davies)]

This Government believe that work is the best route out of poverty for families and we are supporting parents to progress, to stay in work and to be better off. That was shown in our spring Budget, which will deliver an ambitious package of measures, across Government, to support people to enter into work, increase their working hours and extend their working lives. We have also raised benefits and benefit cap levels by 10.1% and we are providing those further cost of living payments, which commence tomorrow.

[Hywel Williams]

Have the two-child limit and the benefit cap increased child poverty?

[Mims Davies]

The reality of the policy that the hon. Gentleman mentions is about fairness for the taxpayers who support the most vulnerable and making sure that we have a welfare and benefit system that works. We will spend around £276 billion through the welfare system in 2023-24, including £124 billion on people of working age. I would again point people towards the cost of living website and the benefits calculator on gov.uk and I would ask him to note that the benefit cap was raised this year as well.

Local Housing Allowance

Debate between Hywel Williams and Mims Davies

Wednesday 15th March 2023 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mims Davies)]

I thank the hon. Member for Arfon (Hywel Williams) for calling this debate on the local housing allowance, which provides housing support for universal credit and housing benefit claimants in the private rented sector. I thank you, Ms Elliott, for presiding over this important debate; it is my first time here, too.

The Government fully recognise the importance of affordable, decent quality housing, as the hon. Member for Westminster North (Ms Buck) pointed out, which is why we have invested significantly to support those on low incomes, including private renters. All constituency MPs are focused on this issue, as has been alluded to this afternoon. We are grateful to our excellent caseworkers who support us and keep us informed about what is going on in our constituencies. I thank all the charities for all the positive work that they do in the sector. I will be visiting further innovative pilots and interventions on Monday to look and learn and see how we can really help the most vulnerable to progress, including some of the groups that have been mentioned this afternoon.

Acting on childcare, as we have done today, helping people to progress and earn more and helping people with energy costs will help with the wider challenges that many of our colleagues have spoken about this afternoon and all the constituents who have been impacted. The Government spent almost £30 billion supporting renters with housing costs in 2021-22. More widely, the Chancellor announced in the autumn statement a significant wide-ranging package of support to help low-income households struggling with the increased cost of living, which will of course include housing.

We recognise and acknowledge that rents are increasing. However, the challenging fiscal environment does mean that difficult decisions were necessary to ensure that support is targeted effectively. That support provides stability and certainty for households through the further cost of living payments for the most vulnerable for 2023-24, which I was pleased to bring forward myself. Around 8 million households on eligible means-tested benefits will get a further £900 pounds in payments in 2023-24.

[Hywel Williams]

Does the Minister accept the argument that I and other Members have made—that doing something about the local housing allowance would save the Government money in the round?

[Mims Davies]

I appreciate and understand the point that the hon. Gentleman is making, and I will make some further comments shortly.

Today’s Budget has focused on more help so that people can be better off, to raise living standards and to improve lives. To the hon. Member for Westminster North and the right hon. Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), I say that this is a challenge that I am working on and that I am keen to rise to—across Government, as the hon. Lady says, and of course with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. I say to anybody struggling today, whether with housing costs or other matters that are impacting them, that there is an opportunity to find out more on the benefits calculator website, in case they are missing out on any extra support. There is also the Help for Households website and the Job Help website. Of course, as has been mentioned, the benefit cap, working age benefits and disability benefits will also be uprated by 10.1% for 2023-24.

The household support fund extension provides an extra £1 billion of funding, including the Barnett impact. I met many local authorities yesterday afternoon to see how they are targeting that support—particularly on housing needs and costs, white goods and other things that might affect household budgets. The scheme will be backed with £842 million and will run from 1 April to 31 March 2024. It is right that devolved Administrations will decide how to allocate that Barnett funding. As we have heard, local authorities are expected to support those households most in need.

One of the Government’s key aims is to support people into work and to progress in work where possible. That approach is based on clear evidence that, for those who can work, particularly where the work is full time, it substantially reduces the risks of poverty. We see real challenges, to which the hon. Member for Westminster North alluded: more single households, more single parents and family breakdown. The support that we are giving, because of global impact, means that the supply is all the more challenging. I agree with the hon. Lady that wider issues around cost and quality, which very much concern me, mean that this policy, the growing need and the focus are only getting larger. I agree that, in Government, the issue is very much about more than me; I am sorry that I am not enough this afternoon, but I will try to do my best.

Let me turn to some of the points made by hon. Members. On the decision to freeze, we recognise that rents are increasing. However, the challenging fiscal environment has led to where we are, and it is important that we target effectively. The Secretary of State will review the rates and the standard process annually. The hon. Member for Arfon raised the issue of quality. Discretionary housing payments can be made to help claimants with the costs associated with moving to a new home if there is a quality issue. Everyone rightly has the ability to get a safe and secure home. Landlords are key; we need them to come forward, to stay in the sector and to want to be part of the solution where they have already met the decent homes standard. Quality housing remains a priority for this Government, and of course there is currently a White Paper on that.

Social Security (Additional Payments) (No. 2) Bill

Debate between Hywel Williams and Mims Davies

Committee stage
Monday 6th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Hywel Williams]

May I state my delight at seeing you back in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker? I support new clause 14. My constituency has a very high level of self-employment, as I indicated in my intervention on the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Sir Robert Neill), but it also has a large and active television industry, surprisingly to some people, considering that it is at the far end of Welsh-speaking Wales. Most of the TV is in Welsh. The new clause is on an issue that has an impact on us.

I mainly want to speak in favour of new clause 2, which is in the name of my hon. Friends in the Scottish National party, and in favour of the amendments that they have proposed. I support the requirement for an assessment of the latest cost of living support package that the Government have announced. The hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) said that the cost of living payments, although necessary, are a sticking-plaster, and I would repeat that. The payments are inferior to ensuring that benefits keep up with the real cost of living. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that almost half of all families with three or more children on means-tested benefits would have been better off if the Government had not introduced cost of living payments, but had instead just ensured that benefits kept pace with inflation.

Benefit-receiving households where people were in receipt of disability benefits, or were in paid work, were less likely to have been properly compensated for the failure to uprate flat-rate cost of living payments in good time. That is another matter that needs to be looked at. I understand that the cost of living payments will result in the Government spending around £2 billion more on recipients of means-tested or disability benefits in 2023-24 than would have been needed simply to raise ordinary benefits in line with inflation. We really do need a full, detailed analysis by the Government, showing why they think that these ad-hoc payments are an appropriate way to distribute support fairly.

When it comes to living standards and social security, it is important that we recognise the differential effect across the nations of the UK—a point I referred to earlier. The Bevan Foundation’s latest research shows that even before the pandemic, around one in eight people lived in deep poverty in Wales. Around one in 30 has such low income that they live in destitution. New clause 2, proposed by my hon. Friends in the SNP, would require an analysis of the cost of living payments that considered the differing policy contexts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In Wales, we have the shameful record of having the highest proportion of children living in poverty of any nation in the UK. An analysis of how the cost of living payments will play out in Wales might reveal significant differences between the system in my country and the partially devolved benefits systems in Scotland and Northern Ireland. For instance, the Scottish child payment of £25 was a bold step towards tackling child poverty. It was one of the wider reforms that the IFS said was part of a trend in which the Scottish Government are using their devolved income tax and benefits powers to increase the progressivity of the tax and benefit system. That is something that we dearly need in Wales. Had we a similar payment in Wales, our tragically high levels of child poverty would surely be reduced. We also have a higher proportion of disabled people in Wales. An analysis by the disability equality charity Scope estimates that the extra costs faced by disabled people average £583 a month.

These are just a few examples showing why we need a Wales-specific analysis of the cost of living payments and how they interact with wider social security policy. Such an analysis would most certainly strengthen the argument for devolution of social security to Wales, I believe—understandably so, as that is my party’s policy. I am told that new clause 2 will not be pushed to a vote tonight, but I hope that the Government accept its logic, and provide for a proper analysis of changes to social security—an analysis that specifically takes into account the impact in Wales.

[Mims Davies]

It is a pleasure to respond to points made this evening. I thank all hon. Members for their contributions and discussions. I take this opportunity to fully, strongly assure all Members that policy officials in my team at DWP and I have looked roundly at the cliff edges and the challenges in getting these payments out swiftly. This will very much link to the household support fund, and the learnings from that. I can reassure the Chair of the Select Committee, the right hon. Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), that there will be strong communications and engagement with local authorities for anybody who may be missing out. I hope that reassures my hon. Friends and colleagues.

Clause 2 sets out in more detail the eligibility criteria and the means test for the cost of living payments. I have covered much of clause 1, but I will come back to that briefly, if I may. The eligibility criteria, as we have heard, are similar to those in the Social Security (Additional Payments) Act 2022. We know from making those tens of millions of payments last year that keeping the policy simple is essential to delivering the payments successfully and to those most in need.