Oral Answers to Questions

Justin Tomlinson Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Will Quince (Colchester) (Con)]

18. What steps she is taking to increase employment opportunities for care leavers.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Justin Tomlinson)]

Building on recent announcements, I have just held two roundtables with care leavers and care leaver charities. The next step is to meet employers to explore how we can further improve job opportunities for care leavers.

[James Cleverly]

I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. Prior to universal credit, under the legacy system, care leavers and other vulnerable jobseekers were just left to sign on but now, with tailored support and work coaches, that has changed. Now that youth unemployment is at record low levels, what is the Minister’s Department doing to make sure that work coaches are helping care leavers to find not just a job but the right job for them?

[Justin Tomlinson]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who has championed this area for a number of years, particularly during his time under the former Mayor of London as his youth ambassador. We recognise that the key is to build a personalised and positive relationship between the work coach and the care leaver. We have been working very closely with the Children’s Society and Barnardo’s to improve both the guidance and the training for all our frontline work coaches.

[Will Quince]

Care leavers are one of the groups at highest risk of homelessness. What support does the Department offer to help care leavers and vulnerable claimants to secure housing?

[Justin Tomlinson]

Last Thursday, my hon. Friend held a powerful debate in Westminster Hall covering some of this area. The Government take the issue very seriously. We are providing additional funding for 47 local authorities that have the highest numbers of care leavers at risk of rough sleeping. That funding will allow them to appoint specialist personnel advisers to provide additional support to small caseloads of those at risk. I am also keen to look at opportunities to open up the jobcentres to care leavers six months before their 18th birthday in order to look at all the different opportunities and support available to them.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Given that care leavers are, by definition, vulnerable and have a host of challenges, including in housing, getting into work, and skills and training, what discussions is the DWP having with local authorities so that rather than drip-dripping a few special projects the Government actually address the chronic underfunding of local government that has let care leavers down, among many others?

[Justin Tomlinson]

Our whole strategy of supporting care leavers, which was set out as part of the care leaver covenant, is about closer partnership working with not only the Department for Education but local authorities, to ensure that there is consistent support across the board. As I said in my previous answer, I want to start that earlier, giving young care leavers the maximum time to prepare for the transition as they reach 18.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

The Government deserve some credit for the care leaver covenant. What specific joint work is being undertaken with the Children and Families Minister the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), to ensure that every young person leaving local authority care leaves with a specific offer of a job, apprenticeship or further training? Have the Government considered making that a legal obligation?

[Justin Tomlinson]

I thank the hon. Gentleman; I know that he has raised similar issues before. It is right for this work to be joined up and consistent. At the moment, in the DWP, we look at this 28 days before care leavers are due to start UC. As I said, I think that that should be brought forward to six months, with advice and training on the different opportunities that are available. It is vital that all groups work in partnership. They have supported all the roundtables that I have held and I will continue to work closely with them.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

19. What recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of in-work poverty.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Justin Tomlinson)]

There is clear evidence that work offers people the best opportunity to get out of poverty. A working-age adult living in a household where every adult is working is about six times less likely to be in relative poverty than one living in a household where nobody works.

[Louise Haigh]

Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that the real-terms cut in social security is the single biggest driver of in-work poverty, leaving those struggling to make ends meet on poverty pay losing hundreds of pounds a year. If the Secretary of State is looking forward to the benefits cut not being extended, as she told Sky News, why do the Government not end it now, rather than wait to review it in 2020?

[Justin Tomlinson]

This Government are not only delivering record employment in all regions of the UK—it is accepted that work is the best route out of poverty—but targeting support at the most vulnerable in society, with increases in the national living wage, which will see the fastest pay rise in the last 20 years, changes to the income tax threshold and a doubling of free childcare.[Official Report, 14 February 2019, Vol. 654, c. 9MC.]

[Dr Huq]

Crash-era debt was owed to commercial lenders and stemmed from lifestyle desires, but Turn2us reports that the bulk of its 9,000 users in Ealing are in-work adults who are struggling to meet the bare basics—their debts are to council housing departments, energy providers and water companies. If the Government will not unfreeze the benefits cap now and end the scandal of zero-hours contracts, what are they doing about that worrying trend, noted by the London School of Economics, the National Audit Office and Citizens Advice?

[Justin Tomlinson]

As we know, there are 1 million fewer people and 300,000 fewer children in absolute poverty. The hon. Lady raised that theme at the last DWP oral questions, when she set out the distressing case of a claimant who she claimed was left with just £10 over Christmas because her payment was due on Christmas day. We looked into that case and I took a personal interest in it. The claimant actually received their full entitlement before Christmas, as well as interim support for childcare because they had been able to secure work. I know that the hon. Lady would want everybody in the House to be aware of that.

[Mr Speaker]

That is a testament to the effectiveness of repetition. As I have often had cause to observe—I say this as much for the benefit of those observing our proceedings as for Members—repetition is not a novel phenomenon in the House of Commons.

[Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)]

That more are in work is welcome. That one in eight are the working poor, with working parents struggling to clothe and feed their children, is shameful. Does the Secretary of State recognise that working poverty consigns millions to a hand-to-mouth existence and, because people fall beneath the threshold for auto-enrolment, working poverty is all too often followed by a retirement in poverty? That cannot be right.

[Justin Tomlinson]

Auto-enrolment is a success, with 10 million new savers, and we intend to lower the starting age from 22 to 18 and remove the lower earnings limit.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

14. What steps she is taking to ensure that disabled people can access the social security benefits to which they are entitled.

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[Chris Green (Bolton West) (Con)]

T10. Last week, I was interviewed on Bolton FM—[Interruption.] Last week, I was interviewed on Bolton FM by a group of young carers who make an immense contribution, but who are concerned about the level of support they receive. Will my right hon. Friend outline what support is available?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Justin Tomlinson)]

I am sure that it was a fantastic interview, which we will all be looking to hear in the archives online. As set out in the earlier questions, we are doing a huge amount to support care leavers. I am very grateful for the support of charities such as the Children’s Society and Barnardo’s, who are helping to shape that. Only last week, I met a group of care leavers from the Big House charity in London, who were able to give me their personal wish list of things that we can do. We will continue to work with care leavers, charities and support organisations so that they can have the maximum opportunities, which many take for granted.

[Mr Speaker]

It is always pleasing to see a happy Member. The hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman) is convulsed with mirth. She is in a state of almost uncontrollable hysteria. Well, I hope she is very happy. I do not know what it is that has amused her, but it is good to know that she is a happy spirit in the Chamber.

--- Later in debate ---

[David Duguid (Banff and Buchan) (Con)]

Additional cold weather payments are paid over the winter months when average ambient temperatures fall below zero degrees for a period of seven days. It is a welcome measure, particularly in Scotland, but may I ask my hon. Friend, on behalf of my constituents around the Banff and Buchan coast, if wind chill factor could be taken into consideration in any future review?

[Justin Tomlinson]

My hon. Friend has been campaigning hard on this issue, which is important to his constituents, and, following the fantastic private Member’s Bill introduced by the hon. Member for Arfon (Hywel Williams), we have committed to carrying out a full review, working with the Met Office, so that we can get more detailed assessments of where cold weather payments are needed, using technology such as satellites, technology on ships, buoys, and so on.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

T7. Will the Government commit to footing the bill for free TV licences for over-75s if the BBC decides it cannot afford to continue funding them?