Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Work and Pensions
Janet Daby
Main Page: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)Department Debates - View all Janet Daby's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out
Janet Daby Excerpts(4 years, 9 months ago)
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Will Quince
I thank my hon. Friend for his very helpful question and for his support of universal credit and his local jobcentre. I am full of praise for those staff working in the jobcentre at Harrogate and the work that they are doing on the pilot. That is hugely important work, because it sets the scene and gives us the all important data and learnings we need to move out universal credit at scale and pace.
Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)
In the last 18 months, a food bank in my constituency has seen an increase of two thirds in people using it. Will the Government accept that more people in the UK—including those in employment—are using food banks than ever before, as a direct result of policies such as universal credit, the five-week wait and the two-child limit?
Will Quince
I do not want anyone in our country to have no choice but to use or visit a food bank. I visit food banks regularly, and I want to get a clear understanding of food insecurity in our country. That is why we have commissioned questions for the Family Resources Survey, which started in April last year. I am also working with food banks and other organisations that tackle food insecurity to better understand the issue. If we better understand the issue, we will know how to tackle it.