Oral Answers to Questions

Laura Trott Excerpts

Tuesday 14th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Richard Foord (Tiverton and Honiton) (LD)]

1. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of maintaining the pensions triple lock on the economy.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Laura Trott)]

As a result of the Government’s triple lock, the basic state pension is now more than 50% higher in cash terms than it was in 2011. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is undertaking his review at the moment, and I cannot pre-empt that.

[Richard Foord]

Now that Lord Cameron has returned to the Cabinet, it is probably a good time for us to remember that the pensions triple lock was a Liberal Democrat initiative. The 2010 Liberal Democrat manifesto said:

“We will uprate the state pension annually by whichever is the higher of growth in earnings, growth in prices or 2.5 per cent.”

Given that the triple lock has now been operational for more than a decade, will the Chancellor and his team commit to putting the triple lock in the next manifesto?

[Laura Trott]

Nice try. The triple lock was a Conservative invention, delivered by the Conservatives, and it is something to which we remain committed.

[Mr Ranil Jayawardena (North East Hampshire) (Con)]

I welcome my hon. Friend to her new role. Given that it is right that we look after our pensioners and ensure that people are well looked after in later life, it is important that we have the right tax base to fund our pensions. Will she meet me to consider ways in which we can make our taxation system more family friendly, to encourage more people to have more children and to ensure that we can pay for our pensions in the years ahead?

[Laura Trott]

My right hon. Friend is a brilliant advocate on these issues, and of course I would be delighted to meet him.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

3. What recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of trends in the level of food inflation.

--- Later in debate ---

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

7. If he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential merits of uprating benefits in line with inflation.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Laura Trott)]

The Government are committed to supporting households with the cost of living, delivering over £94 billion of support, including uprating benefits by 10.1% this year. As I have said, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is undertaking his review, and I cannot pre-empt that.

[Wendy Chamberlain]

Figures from the Trussell Trust show that food bank usage is at its highest ever level, and over the summer months a record 41,878 parcels of food were provided to 21,000 children in Scotland alone. Meanwhile, child poverty costs the Government £39 billion per year in poor health and educational outcomes. In order to tackle child poverty properly, will the Government commit to keeping benefits in line with inflation and lifting the two-child cap?

[Laura Trott]

We understand that things are really tough at the moment, which is why we have put in place £900 of cost of living support this year, but we also all need to work on bearing down on inflation. We are seeing it start to come down, but we know it is still too high, and we hope we will reach the Prime Minister’s pledge of halving inflation, because that is the biggest help we can give to households this year.

[Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley) (Con)]

8. What steps his Department is taking to help mitigate the potential impact of environmental, social and governance practices of financial institutions on levels of investment in the defence sector.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

9. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of inflation on the ability of graduates to repay student loans.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Laura Trott)]

Tuition fees have been frozen for 2023-24 and 2024-25, which will help affordability for future graduates. For new graduates, interest rates will move with the retail prices index but will have nothing added.

[Mr Robertson]

I thank the Minister for that response but, of course, interest rates have made matters much more difficult for graduates, who cannot afford to both pay off their student loan and buy their own property. Is there anything further that the Government can do to help graduates, who are struggling to do both? One of the things we could do is raise the threshold at which they start to pay back the loans.

[Laura Trott]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. The most important thing we can do is bear down on inflation, because that will bear down on interest rates, which affect us all. I would also point to the cost of living support that the Department for Education is providing for students. I would be happy to discuss the matter with him further.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

10. What recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the economic growth rate.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

15. What steps he is taking to help ensure value for money in public spending.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Laura Trott)]

My hon. Friend is rightly very focused on making sure that every single pound of taxpayers’ money is spent wisely, and I can assure him that the Government share that goal. In June, the previous Chief Secretary to the Treasury launched the public sector productivity programme, and we will provide an update at the autumn statement.

[Marco Longhi]

Estimates show that the public sector today is 7.5% less productive than in the environment just before covid. Does the Minister agree that this could possibly be down to a continued more liberal working from home ethic? How much is this costing the taxpayer?

[Laura Trott]

My hon. Friend is right that public sector productivity must be improved. That is exactly what the review is looking at and what we will address. I look forward to talking to him more about it in due course.

[Alex Cunningham]

I welcome the fact that the taxpayer has spent hundreds of millions of pounds on remediation work at the Teesworks site in Redcar. I do not welcome the fact that the assets, including 90% of the operating company and tens of millions of pounds of scrap, have been handed over by the Tees Valley Mayor to two private companies, whose owners are laughing all the way to the bank. Is that really good value for taxpayers’ money?

[Laura Trott]

I think these claims have been addressed by the Mayor, and I will not have anything further to say about them.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Shanks (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab)]

17. Whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Scotland on the impact of increases in the cost of living on the Scottish economy.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Laura Trott)]

We have announced UK-wide support for households, including cost of living payments, the energy price guarantee and the energy bills support scheme. Taken together, support for households is worth £94 billion and is among the largest packages in Europe.

[Michael Shanks]

The Institute for Fiscal Studies recently reported that wages in Scotland have risen by 1.5% since 2015, compared with 5% in England. In the face of a cost of living crisis brought about by the Conservative party’s disastrous mini-Budget, wages simply are not keeping up with the cost of living. What can the Minister commit the Government to doing next to help make work pay? Will she, for example, support Labour’s new deal for working people?

[Laura Trott]

I was pleased to see this morning’s figures, which show that wages are going ahead of inflation. This is very good news and I hope it spreads to Scotland.

[Luke Pollard (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Lab/Co-op)]

18. Whether he plans to change the tax status of non-domiciled residents in the UK.