Under-occupancy Penalty (Nottingham)

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 18th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

“Nowhere to go”—that is how today’s Nottingham Post describes the crisis facing thousands of social tenants in our city. Why? Because two weeks today the Government are set to play the cruellest joke on more than 6,000 of our city’s poorest households. On the same day as they deliver a huge tax cut to the UK’s highest earners, they plan to take £4.23 million from the pockets of those people in our city who are least able to afford it. Whether we call it the bedroom tax, the under-occupancy penalty or the spare-room subsidy, it is a heartless policy that, the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research concluded, will create “severe hardship” for affected households.

Let us look at the households affected. Two thirds of them include someone who is disabled, one third are families with children, more than a fifth are working households on low wages, and many of them do not have a spare room at all. They include families whose children have their own rooms. Let us face it, some bedrooms are so small that they are barely big enough for one child, let alone two. Many families do not think it is fair to expect their teenage son or daughter to share with a toddler, even if they are the same sex, and children’s education can suffer if they do not have somewhere quiet to study.

So-called spare bedrooms are also needed where couples sleep separately, especially where a husband or wife cares for their disabled partner and desperately needs a decent night’s sleep. Some are used to store disability-related equipment. Where parents are separated, these bedrooms are needed for when their children visit at weekends. Are the Government really saying that people who live in a council or housing association home cannot have a spare room for their children or grandchildren to sleep in when they come to visit? It seems so. People who have lived in the same house for decades and spent time and money making it their home all face the same impossible situation: move out or find the extra money.

For people in Nottingham, that means on average an extra £11 a week if they have one room more than they are allowed, or £22 a week if they have two rooms. That may not sound like very much to the Minister, but for someone on jobseeker’s allowance of £71 a week, it is the difference between eating or going hungry, turning on the heating or sitting in the cold, borrowing money to pay your rent or going into arrears. This morning on Radio Nottingham, a local Tory Member of Parliament did not know what the fuss was about. She had explained to her constituent that she should simply move house. But of course, it is not that easy.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

The bedroom tax and the under-occupancy terminology will affect people throughout the United Kingdom. In Northern Ireland, we will be £10 million shy in the money available, and 32,000 households will be affected. Is not one of the greatest discrepancies of the whole process that there are not the smaller occupancy houses to move to, so all these people will have to find the extra money?

Romanians and Bulgarians (Benefits)

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 5th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

Absolutely. In fact, we have already had a number of meetings with the Prime Minister and coalition colleagues about tightening up between Departments and understanding where one Department’s position knocks on to another. The first thing is to get rid of the silo mentality that existed and create a pan-Government position. The next thing is not to talk tough here and soft abroad, but to work with the Foreign Office to be as tough over there as we are back here. That is the process that is now being engaged.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

The Minister will be aware that large numbers of migrants are bypassing France, Italy and Germany to get to the United Kingdom, almost in haste. What discussions has he had with other EU countries to find the reason for bypassing other countries? Is it that the benefits system in the United Kingdom is much more generous than those anywhere else in Europe?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

We have had meetings about this issue with about 17 countries, all at the same time. I would list them all, but they include meetings with officials from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Germany, France and Poland. We have had meetings with all of them. There is no common position for them all, but a sub-set of those most likely to be affected—I understand that Germany and Spain are where most of the Romanians tend to be going at the moment—are very concerned about what may happen. We are discussing with them exactly how to respond. Reality is now striking many and I think the door is open for us to make a serious move on this issue.

Housing Benefit (Under-occupancy Penalty)

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 27th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

I have already given way to the hon. Gentleman.

[Jim Shannon]

May I return the Minister to the subject of disabled people in bungalows or houses to which they will have to consider moving in order to downsize? What criterion will the Government use to enable a person to justify keeping a spare bedroom? Will it be a doctor’s note saying that the person is disabled and needs a bedroom of his or her own?

[Steve Webb]

We have already made one specific exemption. Someone who needs a spare room for a non-resident, overnight carer can have it. That is an absolute right, and people do not have to apply for it. However, someone who is in particular need can approach the local authority, which has discretion—after all, the D in DHP stands for discretion; there is no set of national Whitehall-driven rules—and the authority can then judge whether the household is indeed in particular need of help from the budget that has been allocated to it. We have not set out a rigid blueprint; the whole point is that local authorities will have discretion to meet people and, if they think it a priority, to meet their needs.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Dr Whiteford) for bringing the motion before the House. This is a serious issue that is proving to be stressful for a great many vulnerable people—the elderly, single parents and disabled couples—and that stress is affecting their health. That point has been made eloquently at Prime Minister’s questions and throughout this debate. The Minister is greatly respected and well thought of in all parts of the Chamber for the way he responds to a great many points. My questions and comments are meant constructively, and I would like him to respond to them.

In Northern Ireland, we are faced with 2,000 households in social housing—whether housing executive tenants or housing association tenants—facing a major shortfall in their rent of up to 25%. That means a tremendous number of families are unsure of how and where they will live. I am aware that in many parts of Great Britain there are many more smaller social homes with one or two bedrooms, and tenants who want to move have a realistic chance of downsizing to a property the cost of which will be covered by their benefit. That is not the case in Northern Ireland and, while we have started to build smaller apartments and homes, we have nowhere near the necessary number to begin to implement this reform and to move people who cannot afford to pay the difference.

I was a councillor for 26 years before I came to this Chamber. One measure that I pushed for as a councillor 20-odd years ago was for the executive to upgrade its one-bedroom bungalows to two bedrooms. It has taken nearly 20 years for that to happen. Today, we wish we could turn back the clock—the film “Back to the Future” comes to mind. The very thing that we pushed for 20 years ago has to be turned back—a matter of great concern. The Minister for Social Development in Northern Ireland has no option but to implement these reforms, as the Northern Ireland block grant does not allow for a delay. However, his Department is in no way, shape or form ready to follow through on the legislation that has come before this House.

In Northern Ireland, it has been estimated that there will be a housing benefit shortfall of £10 million per year, and I doubt that there are many people on housing benefit who can afford to make up that money themselves. The Minister for Social Development, Nelson McCausland, has said:

“The best way forward is the use of discretionary housing payments. We have increased the money there for those that may be affected.”

Yet again, it must be stressed that the Northern Ireland Executive cannot bear the load of these changes out of the block grant, and that will inevitably lead to severe hardship for many families in Northern Ireland, as it will—I know this from hon. Members who have spoken—on the mainland in Scotland, Wales and England. Elderly widows have been ringing me to ask whether they will be expected, at their time of life, to take in a lodger in their two-bedroom homes. Their fear is palpable, and the state should never be guilty of enforcing that on them.

For some, the new rules will reduce their existing housing benefit by £650 per year. The bottom line will be that if they cannot afford that, they will have to find a new house. The scenario I would like to put to the Minister is this: a divorced mother has two children, a son of nine and a daughter of eight. The new rules say that the children can share a bedroom and the family therefore have to downsize their home. However, that will apply for only a year because the children will no longer have to share when they are 10 and nine, and the rules state that they will then need an extra bedroom. Would it be economical to expect the household to move, or will the housing benefit section have the discretion to waive this tax in those circumstances? How far does this discretion extend? Does it allow for the disabled couple who cannot sleep together and need a carer to sleep in the house at times to help with their care needs? Are they expected to foot the bill because they are disabled and need help?

We recently spoke in this House about needing more foster carers and touched on the effects on them. I do not want to repeat what has been said, but by the same token people on housing benefit will be penalised for trying to offer a home to young people who need some love and care. I have to ask: where is the big society in that?

I could go on, but time is limited. We are not ready to implement this either morally or physically. We lambast absent fathers for not playing an active role in their children’s upbringing. We then tell them that they are not allowed to have a bedroom for their child to stay in when they are trying to build a relationship through their visitation rights. We tell people who are married and working, “We have no houses for you in the housing executive, so you will need to rent privately and we will help you with the payments.” We then say, “Well, your private rented house is one bedroom too large, so we won’t help you with this payment anymore, and we can’t rehouse you so you can find a smaller home close enough for your child to walk to school. As you have no car, there is nothing that can be done for you.” Hon. Members—on both sides of the House, to be fair—have asked, “Is this really what the House advocates?” I would say not. I and many other Members do not advocate it. Single tenants regularly come to me, and like others, I am sure, I have helped hundreds with their housing benefit. Often, we find that, because of their age, they are restricted in how much housing benefit they can get. The discretionary payment fund helps them that wee bit along life’s road, but then we find that this payment, which helps them to develop their quality of life, get a job and so on, is being taken away from them.

We need to make changes to the housing sector, but we cannot enforce changes without the infrastructure in place to implement them. I do not want to be part of a measure that puts 32,000 families in housing stress. Is this something that the Minister is prepared to implement before the foundations have been laid? I hope that he will allow the infrastructure and details to be put in place before this is pushed through.

Pensions and Social Security

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 13th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

I well remember our exchanges last year, and I seem to recall that the right hon. Gentleman rejected that way of measuring things.

Our above-inflation increase will be £2.70 a week, taking the new level of the basic state pension to £110.15 a week. That means that from April 2013 the basic pension is forecast to be around 18% of average earnings. My right hon. and hon. Friends might be pleased to know that that is a higher share of average earnings than at any time in the past 20 years. Our triple-lock commitment means that the average person reaching state pension age in 2012 with a full basic pension can expect to receive an additional £12,000 in basic state pension over the course of their retirement.

Let me turn to additional state pensions, often referred to as state earnings-related pension schemes. This year SERPS pensions will rise by 2.2%, which means that the total state pension increase for someone with a full basic pension and average additional pension will be around £3.33 a week, or £175 a year. Unlike the Labour party, which froze SERPS in 2010, the coalition Government will, for the third year in a row, uprate SERPS by the full value of CPI.

Let me turn to pension credit. As I announced in my statement on 6 December, we have taken steps to ensure that the poorest pensioners will benefit from the effects of our triple lock. Each year the standard minimum guarantee must be increased by law at least in line with earnings. That means that the minimum increase this year would be 1.6%. However, we decided to increase the value of the standard minimum guarantee credit by 1.9% so that single people will receive the full increase of £2.70 a week, which is equal to the increase in the basic state pension, while couples will receive £4.15 a week. Consistent with our approach last year, the resources needed to pay that above-earnings increase to the standard minimum guarantee have been found by increasing the savings credit threshold, which means that those with higher levels of income will see less of an increase.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Although the increase in pension credit is welcome, what steps are the Government taking to ensure that those who do not take up pension credit are enabled to do so? A vast number of people in Northern Ireland—somewhere in the region of 100,000—are not taking advantage of pension credit, and I am sure that the same applies across the whole United Kingdom.

[Steve Webb]

The hon. Gentleman is right that non-take-up of pension credit has been a persistent problem. Over the past year or so we tried a pilot scheme in which we took a sample of people we thought, based on our records, might be entitled and put the money in their bank account. We then wrote to them to say, “We’ve put some money in your bank account. Would you like to claim pension credit?” The experiment failed. Incredibly, people did not claim it, or decided that they did not want or need it, or thought that they were not eligible. Even putting money into people’s bank accounts, based on our records, did not succeed. However, I have some good news for the hon. Gentleman. As a consequence of the universal credit reforms, whereby housing benefit for working-age people will be merged with universal credit, we will be merging housing benefit for pensioners with the pension credit.

The reason that is relevant to the hon. Gentleman’s question is that we know that some people claim their housing benefit and not their pension credit, and that some claim their pension credit and not their housing benefit, but when we combine the two in a single payment each group will claim both and we anticipate several hundred million pounds of extra benefit expenditure to low-income pensioners as a result. I think that that will be the most tangible thing that any Government have done in many years.

Personal Independence Payments

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd January 2013 Westminster Hall

[Julie Hilling]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, because it is really important that those guidance notes are printed. However, I also question whether we actually need to put those criteria in the regulations themselves.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the hon. Lady for giving way and, like other Members, I congratulate her on bringing this matter to the House. The Royal National Institute for Blind People and Action for Blind People have both indicated that they will be able to help people to fill in forms. Does she feel that the Government should consider assisting those organisations to help people to fill in forms and to get the forms right, so that the assessment can be right?

--- Later in debate ---

[Esther McVey]

I will indeed congratulate the RNIB and other charities and organisations that have represented the needs of blind and partially sighted people. The hon. Gentleman makes a good point.

The approach taken in the DLA to recognise the mobility difficulties of blind and severely visually impaired people does not look at people as individuals; it looks at their conditions. What we are doing—and, I believe, what the hon. Lady seeks—is requiring that everyone needs to be looked at as an individual: how has their condition affected them? That really is what PIP is intended to do. It is personalised. It is about the individual: what help that person needs.

At the moment, for DLA, 50% of claimants do not have medical support for their condition. More than 70% have an award for life. We seek to serve the public, including the hon. Lady’s constituents, as well as we can by making an award that is personalised.

The hon. Lady’s first question was about means-testing: no, the award of DLA and PIP is non-means-tested and that is how it will remain. It is intended to help those people with the most barriers to overcome them and live independent lives. As I said, it is very much about the individual, about what is fair to that individual and about the needs arising from the condition. To that extent, it is very much personalised. It will be flexible enough to reflect individual needs—that is what PIP is specifically designed to do. It is about having clarity, so that people will be certain of what they will get, but also about flexibility.

I thank the hon. Lady for bringing her constituents’ concerns before the House, because that is what we are here to do, to put a face and a person behind the needs, so that we can explain things clearly.

[Jim Shannon]

Can the Minister answer my intervention on the hon. Member for Bolton West (Julie Hilling)? What can the Government do for RNIB and Action for Blind People to help people to fill in forms? Those organisations will be inundated with people needing help, so whatever assistance the Government can give will be money and time well spent.

[Esther McVey]

The hon. Gentleman may not know that the people seeking the award can say how they would like the form delivered to them and in what context. If people so wish, they can be accompanied by someone from a charity or organisation or by a friend to help them with the assessment. The process is about finding out as much as we can about the individual to help with the assessment and the decision so that we can give the correct award. Again,

“reliably, repeatedly, safely and in a timely manner”

is key to the decisions—that phrase is in the guidance and in the contract with the providers. The hon. Member for Bolton West asked whether that could be put in regulation, and I announced before the Select Committee on Work and Pensions yesterday that we are examining whether that would be of benefit. The matter is with lawyers at the moment, because we do not want to introduce something that could go against what we are seeking to do, to ensure

“reliably, repeatedly, safely and in a timely manner”,

which is key to the assessment. We are therefore looking at whether it can be put in regulation or whether it is better staying in the guidance notes. The hon. Lady also asked about those notes, which will be published as soon as they can be, possibly by the end of the month.

This is a principled reform, which we have developed in consultation and collaboration with disabled people. We have listened to their concerns, and those of their representatives and organisations, and we have made a significant number of changes as a result of the feedback from groups that represent visually impaired people. Indeed, that was recognised by RNIB, which stated in its report to the secondary legislation scrutiny Committee that

“the final criteria include a number of significant improvements for blind and partially sighted people.”

We were told that our draft communication activity did not take appropriate account of the barriers faced by people who cannot access written information. As a result, we introduced an additional activity to assess ability to read and understand signs, symbols and words. Therefore, someone who is completely unable to read because of their disability—for example, because of blindness—will get eight points towards their daily living component score. The score from that activity alone will mean that they get the standard rate of the daily living component. That is only one of the criteria; there will be a further nine in that section.

We also acted on the feedback that the effect of visual impairment for people who use long canes was not appropriately reflected in the mobility activities and that the barriers such people face are similar to those faced by people who have a support dog.

Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

The problem with this debate is that nobody has gone back to the idea of what the social security welfare state was for. It was brought in to make sure that people who were in desperate need at a time of unexpected circumstances did not fall into poverty. When somebody lost their job, that often meant they were stuck. That is why the social state was created.

I have sat throughout this debate and listened to many a speech, and the only Opposition Member who has spoken with any passion is the hon. Member for Gateshead (Ian Mearns). He gets it—he knows what the welfare state is about. All the other speeches by Opposition Members have, I am afraid, been about pure political point scoring. I do not doubt for one minute that the vast majority of Opposition Members care deeply about the poorest in society, as we do on the Government Benches.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Alec Shelbrooke]

Just give me two ticks. The constant mocking that has gone on is shameful political posturing.

[Jim Shannon]

The two commodities that have seen the highest inflation are food and fuel, which affect those on a low income more than anyone else. Does the hon. Gentleman think that the Secretary of State’s benefits cap will enable those people to come out of poverty and go for jobs?

[Alec Shelbrooke]

The hon. Gentleman mentions rising food inflation, but let us not forget that we have just knocked 10p off the price of a litre of fuel. That 10p was in the Opposition’s plans and would have created extra inflation.

This debate has been polarised, but a divide has been in existence for more than a decade and it is coming to the fore. As soon as we try to address it, we are described as nasty and heartless and told we are not dealing with people fairly. The fact is that too many people in this country have the wrong idea about benefits, which is not a dirty word.

Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 18th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Timms]

That is an alarming report and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for passing it on. That matter will be on the Minister’s desk—[Interruption.] I beg his pardon; it will be on a desk in his former Department in the Treasury. There are worries—we have heard reports today—about delays in answering the phone at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, and I hope that my hon. Friend’s point will be addressed.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

The problem is not only about delays in payments but about the complications of the system and changes in people’s circumstances, financially and otherwise. Such things all contribute to the problems for those claiming housing benefit, jobseeker’s allowance, income support and so on. Does the right hon. Gentleman think that the issue is not just about the speed of the process, but about making the system easier for people?

[Stephen Timms]

Yes, the hon. Gentleman is right. One thing that worries me is growing reports of jobcentres taking a trigger-happy approach to sanctions. People do not know why they have been sanctioned; all they know is that their money is suddenly taken away. The network of jobcentres is the Minister’s direct responsibility.

Welfare Reform (Disabled People and Carers)

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 18th December 2012 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Gateshead (Ian Mearns) on bringing the matter to the House. I thank him, because it is one that is close to my heart, for two reasons. The first is personal, because my brother, Keith, had an accident in which he received serious brain injuries. He had many years of rehabilitation, and although it did not mean he could lead the independent life he once had, he can have some sort of independent life, because of his carers and my parents. My parents give as much help as they can, but my mother is 81 and my father is 83, so they will be able to give less and less help. There will be greater emphasis on the NHS and what it does through carers, but also on the DLA award that helps Keith to have carers in the house on a more permanent basis. He relies on the award to pay for the help he needs. If that were to change—I hope that the Minister is taking this on board—his quality of life would change dramatically. He would have to go to a health facility elsewhere.

Is my brother the only person in my constituency to whom that has happened? Of course not: there are hundreds—indeed, thousands—who fit into that category. All over the country people have made me aware of that. Some of the hon. Members present for the debate attended Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson’s inquiry. In her report she has said that

“230,000 severely disabled people who do not have another adult to assist them could receive between £28 and £58 a week less”.

Also,

“100,000 disabled children stand to lose up to £28 a week”

and 116,000 disabled people who work risk losing up to £40 per week from payments towards additional costs of being disabled. Clearly, those figures cannot be ignored. Those are the facts of the case and that is how things will happen. A recent newspaper comment said:

“DLA helps disabled people to manage some of their own care needs; without this support, they could increasingly rely on family members.”

Yes, that is so if the family members are alive and accessible. If not, that cannot happen.

Other hon. Members have mentioned Carers UK and the Hardest Hit survey. Three in 10 disabled people stated that without DLA their care would not work. The figures are clear. Family carers provide an unmatched service in the United Kingdom, saving the Government millions upon millions of pounds each year. The Government must address care-in-the-home needs. There is only so much that families can do and while we are trying to save money care in the community cannot bear the brunt, but that is what is happening. Private care companies are under pressure and have less money available to them. That means that elderly people are living in unfit conditions, and much more is required of their carers.

Many young and single-parent families find it very difficult to cope. Young mothers try their best to do without the absent father, but they cannot juggle taking care of the home as well as looking after children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. There are many in that situation in my constituency, and that will be true of the constituencies of many other hon. Members. Those mothers have particular problems, trying to hold down a job of 16 to 20 hours a week to qualify for help, and they are under tremendous strain, which in turn leads to breakdowns in their health. Voluntary sector groups used to fill the gap, and sometimes they can, but mostly they cannot. Such a mother is under pressure, worried about DLA and the effect on her son, and about her increasing child care costs. Those problems multiply. I want to make a quick mention of Home-Start, a charity at home in my constituency and many others, which does marvellous work and can look after a child for a year for £422. Where else could anyone get that?

In conclusion, there is a degree of penny wise, pound foolish about what is happening—saving money in the short term, while in the long term there will be no saving. Worse, in the long term families will be pulled apart, disabled people will be isolated and the community will not function as it could, all because the big picture was not looked at. I urge the Minister to rethink the reform at this stage, consider its impact on individual lives, and put in place an efficiency package that saves money without doing it at the expense of decent quality of life.

[Mr Christopher Chope (in the Chair)]

I will reduce the time limit to three minutes now.

Work Capability Reassessments

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the hon. Lady for being a champion of this cause. I have a staff member who looks after nothing else but ESA and DLA appeals, because of the volume of those coming in. That is one of my great concerns. For descriptors, they ask them, “Can you move the box from here to there?” or “Can you hold the pint of milk?” Those descriptors do not apply to blind people, to people with depression or to those with severe mobility and other issues. Does the hon. Lady feel that the Government could look upon this matter more favourably and ensure that people have a report from a general practitioner, the person who medically knows them best of all?

[Sheila Gilmore]

Without a doubt, that is one way that it could be done. The flaws of the system include whether people are able to present information, when it is accepted and how it is used.

It seemed that the former Minister at least was prepared to move in respect of people’s being called back too quickly. I put this issue to the new Minister at the Select Committee on Work and Pensions evidence session held on 21 November, but I did not get a particularly helpful response. The Minister said,

“There is the opportunity for the tribunal to make a recommendation”,

which suggests that the tribunal could do that, but he then said,

“When that recommendation is made, it is something that the decision maker should take into account. I think there is also an issue about at what point of time is the tribunal disputing DWP’s decision.”

Should they be looking at

“the point in time the decision was made, which could be nine months earlier…or is it based on what they saw on the day in the tribunal? So there is a lack of clarity there, but I think we should take a fairly clear view about when reassessments should take place, and it is an area that decision makers should work on.”

The Minister used a lot of words, but did not provide clarity about our making progress on this matter. He was far less clear than his predecessor talking on a television programme. That was disappointing. Perhaps the Minister will provide clarification when responding.

Can the judges suggest a different prognosis time? Are they given guidance as to when they should and should not set prognosis times? Do the Government collect statistical analysis of how often judges take up this option? If they are allowed to do so, they appear to exercise that ability rarely. At what point and how are decision makers brought back into the process once a fit-for-work decision has been overturned? If that happens, could a decision maker at that stage, as opposed to at appeal, suggest a new prognosis time, even if the judge has not taken up the option? What guidance is provided to decision makers in this regard and are there any statistics on it?

I shall pre-empt the Minister by acknowledging that in government my party introduced ESA and the work capability assessment. I do not raise these issues to make political points, but in a genuine attempt to get them dealt with. I have repeatedly stated that I came to this place determined to raise these issues, regardless of who won the election. I first came across many of the issues as I was campaigning for election. I was concerned about a politicised response at the last Work and Pensions oral questions, consisting too much of saying, “You introduced it,” which did not get to the crux of these issues.

It would help if the Minister provided clarity on the following points. Do decision makers set prognosis times for claimants found fit for work? If so, why are those not overturned when this happens to corresponding fit-for-work decisions? Can judges set new prognosis times when they overturn decisions? What role do decision makers have with respect to prognosis times following successful appeals?

Finally, I seek an update on the apparent instruction from the former Minister to civil servants that the time between reassessments should be reduced. A central recommendation of Professor Harrington’s first report was that the WCA should be more compassionate and empathetic, and this will only be achieved once Ministers intervene and stop people being called back for reassessments immediately after successful appeals.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jim Shannon]

In my earlier intervention, I mentioned the possibility of medical evidence being sought before any decision. Have the Government considered direct contact with the GP so that an assessment of the person can clearly be made on a medical basis?

[Esther McVey]

As I said, all factors will be taken into account for the individual having an assessment. It is true that a small number of claimants are asked to attend a further work capability assessment as little as three months after a successful appeal, but only after careful consideration of all the available evidence by the decision maker. Our latest data show, however, that that only happens in around 5% of cases. As part of our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement, the process was reviewed, with revised guidance issued to decision makers in February 2011 to ensure that they were actively considering a suitable re-referral date, so that claimants are called back when most appropriate for them.

Following the recommendations from Professor Harrington’s year two review, a regular audit of decision-maker performance is now conducted via the quality assurance framework, whereby checks are made on a sample of ESA and IB reassessment decisions. We also conduct twice yearly calibration exercises at a national level to ensure consistent application of the quality assurance framework. More than 90% of decisions met the required standard each month between February and September 2012. Additionally, due to changes introduced in July 2012, we have improved the process for receiving feedback from the tribunals if the tribunal has overturned the original decision. Judges now have the discretion to include a recommendation of when the next WCA should take place on the tribunal’s decision notice. The decision maker will take account of that recommendation when setting the review date.

I recognise that the number of appeals that the Department receives, as well as the effect on the individuals concerned, is an emotive issue. I also acknowledge that the volume of appeals has increased significantly over recent years, but that, too, is being addressed. I want to ensure that the decision making is right first time around, which was a focus of Professor Harrington’s independent reviews of the WCA. He has made a number of recommendations to support such an approach to decision making. As a result, we have: changed how we communicate with claimants, to explain the process more clearly; put decision makers at the heart of the process; and introduced the quality assessment framework to improve the quality of decisions made. We have also introduced the personalised summary statement and regional mental function champions to improve the quality of face-to-face assessments.

If a claimant disputes a decision, however, we must be able to resolve the dispute within the DWP, whenever possible. If the dispute cannot be resolved within the DWP, we need to ensure that an effective and efficient dispute resolution procedure is in place. The DWP and Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service are working together to improve the quality of initial decision making to address the high levels of appeals while ensuring that fairness and efficiency are maintained.

Mindfulness-based Therapy

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 4th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on bringing this important issue before the House. Youth unemployment is as high as 30% in parts of the United Kingdom, and it is also high in Northern Ireland. In certain parts of the Province, where we have idle hands we have other problems. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that something must be done to reduce youth unemployment, and that the issue he raises might be a way of doing that?

[Chris Ruane]

I agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman. Giving young people antidepressants is not the cure. We need a range of tools and I believe that mindfulness will be key. He is right to say that the devil makes work for idle hands. I have given the statistics and we need young people to be in work and positively contributing to society, rather than being sidetracked into criminality or—dare I say it?—to terrorism in Northern Ireland.

The exact causes of the problem may not be known, but people now feel that they are far from themselves and are on a hedonic treadmill. They are working for consumer durables for themselves and their children, to impress neighbours who perhaps they do not even like. The incidence of mental health problems among the general public is worrying, but among the long-term unemployed it is much higher.

Recent scientific research has measured the impact of long-term unemployment on mental illness, and shows it has physical effects on the brain. Research also shows that those who experience a bout of long-term unemployment never fully recover. It usually takes two or three years to recover from the death of a close one, but long-term unemployment does permanent psychological and physical damage to the individual, their family and community.

The damage that long-term unemployment does to young people just starting their career is particularly harsh. A few minutes ago I gave the percentage of young people who experience mental health problems—the exact figure is 32.3% of 16 to 26-year-olds who tested positive during screening for one or more psychiatric condition. There are 1 million long-term unemployed young people in that age bracket, and their life chances have been diminished from the outset.

For many politicians on both sides of the House, the unemployed are just numbers or percentages with which to bash each other over the head. The true impact on the individual, their family, community and society is not fully appreciated by many Members. The unemployed are portrayed in the media as feckless or wastrels, and the disabled have been particularly marked out. I do not include the Minister or the hon. Member for West Worcestershire (Harriett Baldwin), who are present in the debate, but some Conservative Members have used terminology with which I would not agree, and which has led to an increase in hate crimes against the disabled over the past year. Only one category of the five hate crimes based on gender, race, religion, disability or sexual orientation has increased—that against the disabled.

The language and tone of some politicians, amplified in the media, are responsible for that. It is no wonder that in constituencies such as Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, where 85 people are chasing each job, there is a lack of sympathy for the unemployed. There is no modern Yosser Hughes to portray the slow disintegration of an individual within his family, community and finally himself. The negative reinforcements of such labelling and alienating behaviour serve only to make those affected by unemployment and mental illness more difficult to place in work.

The current preferred treatment for depression is antidepressants. As I have said, I was informed in a recent parliamentary answer that the number of prescriptions issued rose from 9 million to 46 million. The increase in the use of antidepressants occurred in the past 10 years, but in 2004 the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said that mindfulness was a better way to treat repeat-episode depression. It is a proven and scientifically accepted way of improving mental illness, but it has not been taken up. When I have tried to find out whether mindfulness has been taken up by general practitioners and hospitals, the answer has always been that the information is not collected centrally. I believe that it needs to be collected centrally.

How can mindfulness help with unemployment? It can prevent people from becoming unemployed, limit the effects of unemployment, and help people to get back to work. What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is an integrative mind-body based approach that helps people to change how they think and feel about their experiences, especially stressful experiences. It involves paying attention to our thoughts and feelings so that we become more aware of them, less enmeshed in them, and better able to manage them. It uses breathing to slow the mind and the body down—it uses breath as an anchor to help us to live in the present moment.

The DUP—

[Jim Shannon]

We are to blame for everything.

[Chris Ruane]

I apologise to the hon. Gentleman. The Democratic Unionist party may have co-funded the pilots in Northern Ireland, but the DWP—the Department for Work and Pensions, which is what I meant to say —has co-funded pilots on the use of mindfulness in helping people to get back to work. A three-year pilot in Durham finished in 2010. The pilot was jointly funded by the DWP and Durham county council, and there was an element of European funding. It dealt with the most difficult cases—people who were unemployed for between one and 15 years. The average length of unemployment was three years. Depression, and loss of self-confidence and self-worth, had already set in. The catchment area was the Derwentside-Consett area, which had experienced mass unemployment in the ’80s and ’90s.

I spoke today to Gary Heads, the organiser of the project. He told me that not only were clients trained in mindfulness, but so were jobcentre staff. A traditional mindfulness course usually lasts eight weeks. This one lasted for four weeks, consisting of a two and a half hour taught course each week, with 45 minutes of homework a day. The cost was minimal—£300 for each person on the course—but the benefits were maximum. Of the 300 clients who attended, 47% found employment within six months. The 53% who did not find work were placed on a traditional full mindfulness course. Ninety per cent. of those who started the course finished it. Pre-screening ensured that the drop-out rate was minimal and efficiencies were maintained. All who attended were, as I have said, from the difficult-to-reach categories.

The report on the pilot will be finished early next year. Will the Minister assess it? If it can be rolled out immediately, I urge him to do so. If it requires further refinement, I urge him to do it. Gary Heads particularly praised the head of the employment team, Bernadette Topham, who gave support to the project and was pleased with the results. The scheme came to an end after three years because—I was informed—the local authority pulled the funding.

Mindfulness-based interventions can and do work. I mentioned steel and coal communities. The new steel and coal communities will have high numbers of public sector workers. In my constituency, 46% of workers work in the public sector. In the neighbouring constituency of Clwyd West, it is 45%. We need to prepare for the mass lay-offs that will occur in such constituencies throughout the country. Mindfulness-based interventions have been used by Google, Apple, the American military since 2009, and American prisons, emergency services, schools and hospitals for the past 40 years. We need to make an assessment of what has worked over there and whether it will work over here.

Mindfulness-based therapy has been rigorously tested in the laboratory, using MRI and electrical scanners. Electrical activities in different parts of the brain have been monitored in the laboratory. Its efficacy in treating a whole range of mental and physical conditions, including bipolar disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and psoriasis, has been tested and proved. It also helps the immune system and the healing process.

Mindfulness has proven to be beneficial in the workplace, with participants more engaged in their work. With a greater ability to concentrate, workers become more compassionate, both to themselves and their co-workers. When it is used in prisons, prisoners become less aggressive and hostile, and have fewer mood disturbances. It has helped those who suffer from long-term pain, lessening the use of painkillers and their damaging side-effects.

Mindfulness is not just for those who suffer with mental health issues, or who work in high stress occupations— its applications go far beyond that. It is being used in education. In primary schools in my constituency, it is used to train five-year-olds to be more mindful, to live in the present moment and to concentrate. Its effect on personal relationships within families and marriages has also been recorded.

Felicia Huppert, the mother of the hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert), is one of the foremost well-being researchers. She maintains that the bell curve of well-being can be shifted for the whole nation. The biggest gainers will be those below the curve. I pay tribute to the Prime Minister for his work on well-being, which was a bold, innovative and forward-thinking step. This could help to deliver the targets on well-being in the years to come.

It has been estimated that sickness related to mental health costs the economy £12 billion in lost productivity, because of sick leave, and in lost taxes and increased benefits. Surely, if there are successful pilots, such as the two I have outlined, they should be taken up across the country. They would cost a fraction of the £12 billion being lost. The savings to the Exchequer could be massive, public and private sector companies could be more efficient and workers less stressed, more resilient and happier in their workplace.

One of the biggest barriers to the take-up of mindfulness is that GPs do not know about it. Surveys have been conducted by the Mental Health Foundation. More than two-thirds of GPs say that they rarely or never refer their patients with recurrent depression to mindfulness-based practices, and 5% say that they do so very often. GPs do not know about it. Politicians do not know about it. I have asked dozens of questions—perhaps hundreds—on mindfulness and often the response comes back that information is not collected centrally. I urge the Minister to do all he can.

Another reason why mindfulness has not been taken up is that there is no effective political lobby for it. The pharmaceutical industry worldwide spends £19 billion lobbying GPs and politicians to tell them that their latest drug is fantastic—stuff it down children’s throats. That is what happened with GlaxoSmithKline, which received a £2.9 billion fine in America in July. It is a powerful lobby that dismisses any alternative therapies. We need to be open. We need to meet mindfulness practitioners and academics. We should be spreading best practice in our prisons, armed forces, emergency services, the NHS and in the DWP.

In conclusion, I have a number of requests for the Minister. Will he ask the private sector providers of the Work programme if they will engage with the mindfulness experts, practitioners and academics across the UK? In particular, I highlight the work of Mark Williams, at Oxford university, and Rebecca Crane and her team, at Bangor university, north Wales. Will he meet Health Ministers to see whether the Department of Health can play its full and proper role in promoting mindfulness? Will his civil servants in the Department for Work and Pensions assess best practice within the pilots they have sponsored so far, and will they spread this best practice?

Will the Minister visit Durham to see the legacy of the pilot scheme that finished in 2010? Will he visit the real city strategy, in my town, which is using mindfulness and other psychological interventions to help people stay in work, through the fit for work programme, and to reintegrate the unemployed, some of whom are in very difficult circumstances? We have recovering drug addicts and alcoholics working on a local farm. We have disconnected, alienated young people working with animals, including through the coastal hawks project. We have a Jamie Oliver-type restaurant training young people and helping them gain full employment. So there is best practice out there, and I am asking the Minister to go out and visit those projects.

Will the Minister personally meet mindfulness experts and practitioners across the UK? We have many fine academics who have given years, if not a lifetime, of work to the development of mindfulness. They have a strong story to tell, and they have the scientific proof to back up what they are saying. Will he use mindfulness in his own Department? I have put questions to every Department about sickness levels. They have gone up massively. This is a powerful tool that could help Ministers reduce sickness in their Departments. Lastly, will he keep an open mind about, and be mindful of, the issue of mindfulness?