Youth Unemployment

Debate between Kirsty Blackman and Pat McFadden

Tuesday 17th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

I am not interested in discussing how we got to this point; we all need to work together to ensure that young people can get the opportunities they deserve and that those opportunities are available to them. I have read the Secretary of State’s statement from Monday, I have read the press release, and I have read and listened to today’s statement. There are some gaps about exactly how the timelines will work and what the legislative process for putting the package in place will be. Will he give us an assurance that the House will get this information at the earliest opportunity, so that we can work together to ensure that young people will have the opportunities that he is hoping they will get?

[Pat McFadden]

The rate of young people not in education, employment or training is, I believe, even higher in Scotland than it is in the UK as a whole. The hon. Member asks for more information on timescales. The hiring bonuses, for example, will be introduced from this summer, and the apprenticeship changes will be introduced from later this year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kirsty Blackman and Pat McFadden

Monday 9th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

15. What assessment he has made of recent trends in levels of unemployment in Scotland.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Pat McFadden)]

The Scottish unemployment rate is 3.8%, and overall economic inactivity in Scotland is higher than in the UK as a whole. However, I am pleased to say that Scotland has had the biggest increase in funding since devolution began. It will benefit from major defence contracts, including the £10 billion contract to build five new frigates for the Norwegian navy, and from the trade deals we have negotiated over the past year, which will be of particular benefit to Scotland’s whisky and food industries.

[Kirsty Blackman]

One in three—or more than one in three—people in my constituency are employed directly or indirectly or in induced jobs in the offshore energies industries. Given the continuation of the tax system for oil and gas, investment in that industry has reduced. Is the Secretary of State confident that the Government’s measure of the number of jobs lost, particularly in the oil and gas industry, is truly accurate, given that people are generally not signing on for universal credit but rather doing things such as moving to Dubai and Doha?

[Pat McFadden]

That is of course a hugely important industry for the UK. The hon. Member will be aware that a transition is taking place, but oil and gas will be part of the mix for a long time to come. The Chancellor met those in the industry last week, and I assure the hon. Member and her constituents that the industry’s importance is recognised and hugely valued by the Government.

Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill

Debate between Kirsty Blackman and Pat McFadden

2nd reading & Money resolution
Tuesday 3rd February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

Not at the moment.

As I said, around half the families who will benefit were not on universal credit when they had any of their children. These are people who found themselves in need of help long after any decisions about family size had been taken.

No account was taken of the costs of the policy further down the line, such as lower educational attainment, worse mental health and lower earnings, perhaps for the whole of people’s working lives.

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

Does the Secretary of State regret saying that whether the two-child cap on benefits causes harm is “open to debate”?

[Pat McFadden]

No, I do not regret anything I have ever said on this issue. All along in this debate, there has been an attempt to divide workers from non-workers—

Women’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO Report

Debate between Kirsty Blackman and Pat McFadden

Thursday 29th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

A decision document relating to the evidence that I have considered has been placed in the Library of the House, which sets all that out together with various surveys, all of which are in the public domain and which were considered in the course of my reaching the decision. I think the campaign is understandable because of the steep acceleration that was legislated for by the coalition Government. We opposed that at the time. The lesson for the future is to give good notice and predictability about rises in the state pension age. That is at the heart of the action plan that we are working on with the ombudsman.

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

The Secretary of State’s colleagues stood with WASPI women holding boards saying, “We support the WASPI women” and “We support compensation for the WASPI women”. He now stands at the Dispatch Box holding his hands up and saying, “I am very sorry that the previous Administration forgot to send out a letter, but we are not going to do anything about it because it would not have made a difference anyway.” Has he listened to the voices of WASPI women who have come to every single one of us and said, “I did not get that letter”? They said, “I did not know that the state pension age was increasing and I found myself”—as the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West (Dame Chi Onwurah) said—“having to work in a physical job far longer than I ever expected because I was not given notice.” Is that the change that the Labour Government promised when they came in last year?

[Pat McFadden]

I will defend to the hilt our protection of the state pension, our increase in the state pension of £575 for the new state pension from April and our extra help for poorer pensioners. There was a wide range of communications about this matter. Letters are one, but not the only, part of that. When we take into account the survey evidence as a whole, we find that most people knew that the state pension age was increasing. If the hon. Lady wants to pledge compensation in some way, she is entitled to do that, as I said to the hon. Member for Wells and Mendip Hills (Tessa Munt). We have looked at the evidence in the round. I repeat the apology for the maladministration, but I think we have reached the right decision today.

Pensions

Debate between Kirsty Blackman and Pat McFadden

Tuesday 11th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

The hon. Member is right; this issue has gone on for a long time. I took the view that, in the light of the evidence being cited, the right thing to do was to look again at it and at the decision in the round. I cannot speak for the previous Government’s failure to engage with the ombudsman—that is a matter for them—but I can tell the hon. Member that this Government are engaged with the ombudsman on the action plan discussed earlier, and we will continue to be engaged. As I said, I will come to a conclusion and report to the House as soon as possible.

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

The Secretary of State said that as part of the legal proceedings challenging the Government’s decision, evidence has been cited about research findings from a 2007 report. Who cited that evidence? Was it the Department for Work and Pensions or the Government, or was it the people opposing the Government in the court case? If it came from Government sources or from within the DWP, why was it not uncovered before? Can he give us every assurance that he is doing everything he can to ensure that all relevant evidence is uncovered in advance of the next decision being taken?

[Pat McFadden]

The hon. Lady asks about the nature of this evidence. It is a report from 2007 and, as I said, it is a DWP evaluation. The survey was not drawn to the attention of the previous Secretary of State because its potential relevance to the making of her decision was not evident at the time. I will consider this survey and any other relevant evidence in the process to which I referred in my statement.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kirsty Blackman and Pat McFadden

Thursday 5th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

I join the right hon. Gentleman in praising the leadership team at DEC. He touches on a very important point, because we do not want just to relocate jobs; we want people to have a good career path, too. In some of the civil service offices I have visited around the country since last year, people have raised the question, “Can I pursue a career here that gets me promoted?” It cannot just be about relocation; it has to be about the chance to build a career in these places.

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

My party was pleased to hear the announcement that GB Energy is coming to Aberdeen, which we have consistently said is the only sensible place for it, as Members would expect an Aberdeen MP to say. Given that GB Energy will bring a maximum of 1,000 jobs over the next 10 years, will the right hon. Gentleman please encourage his ministerial colleagues not to suggest that those jobs will replace the 400 jobs a fortnight that we are set to lose in the offshore energy industry over the next five years?

[Pat McFadden]

Investment in renewables is an energy policy, but it is also an economic and employment policy. I can assure the hon. Member that investment from both the public sector and the private sector will see many good new jobs created in new sources of energy over the coming years and decades.