Found: SW1A 0AA XXX@parliament.uk +44 (0)20 XXXX XXXX Social: @houseofcommons parliament.uk RT HON LIZ KENDALL

Found: 30th percentile of local rents in April 2020.141 In October 2024, alongside the Autumn Budget, Liz Kendall

Found: Rachel Reeves: On the final package, when the Secretary of State, Liz Kendall, set out the welfare reforms

Found: I think Liz Kendall understands that.

Found: As Liz Kendall mentioned a couple of weeks ago, 300,000 people a year are falling out of the labour

Found: THE RT HON LIZ KENDALL MP

Found: Its okay when the person making these decisions [Liz Kendall] that often severely affect people’s lives

Found: RT HON LIZ KENDALL MP Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Caxton House Tothill

Found: proposals in a statement to the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall

Found: Presented by Secretary Liz Kendall supported by the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer

Found: Presented by Secretary Liz Kendall supported by the Prime Minister, the Chancell or of the Exchequer

Found: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall MP, introduced the 116 -page Bill on Wednesday

Found: Hon Liz Kendall MP, said:  As part of our Plan for Change we are fixing the broken welfare system –

Found: Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said:     With almost a million young people neither earning

Found: Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: Our ironclad commitment to the Triple Lock gives pensioners

Found: Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has unveiled the first of nine trailblazer programmes in Barnsley

Found: THE RT HON LIZ KENDALL MP

Found: State letter to the First Minister of Wales The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall

Found: Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall, said:    We must do far more to help people stay

Found: Speaking in Parliament today, Liz Kendall announced a sweeping package of reforms to overhaul the system

Found: Building on the biggest employment reforms for a generation, Liz Kendall is due to announce radical welfare

Found: disability benefits ............................................ 196 1 Ministerial Foreword Liz Kendall

Found: and disability benefits ................................ ..... 75 1 Ministerial Foreword Liz Kendall

Found: Eich cyf/Your ref Ein cyf/Our ref Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Found: THE RT HON LIZ KENDALL MP

<p>That's absolutely the case and I've heard learning disabled and autistic people say that, and we've seen that through Engage to Change. I listened very carefully to your 90-second statement, which made that clear, in Autism Awareness Month, as well.</p>
<p>I also have got concerns that I want to raise about people with mental health diagnoses, but also in this case. We cannot stigmatise people with mental health conditions and I am concerned about some of the language in the Green Paper on those individuals with mental health conditions. Where someone has a mental health condition, there could be an underlying undiagnosed cause. So, people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s could be undiagnosed autistic and therefore suffering from mental health conditions as a result of that. Now, if the level that they have to reach in order to qualify for a PIP is raised, yet they have an underlying condition, I would like the UK Government to consider that those PIPs cannot be removed, or any support be removed, until they've gone through the diagnostic process, however long that takes. That'll be part of what I'll be feeding back in my response to the Green Paper.</p>
<p>Chris Evans, MP for Caerphilly, and I will be issuing a joint response to the Green Paper; I've read through it. We are happy to take Liz Kendall at her word when she said in the letter to the First Minister that the Green Paper is the beginning of the conversation and not the end point. I'm willing to take that as an opportunity to recommend these changes to the Government's paper, both from my lived experience, but also listening to those constituents who've contacted me and other stakeholders in my constituency and beyond, who have these experiences and know what is needed to change, both to help them <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and to mitigate the consequences of what's been announced.</span></p>

<p>I thank Sioned for pushing for this debate today; however, I am of the opinion that whatever is said here today will have little to no impact on UK Government policy. This is not a UK Government known for listening to the Labour cliques in the Welsh Government. Why should they pay any attention to what we say here today?</p>
<p>The pathways to work Green Paper is causing real and deep concern amongst those in receipt of health-related benefits across the length and breadth of Wales. According to the First Minister, the UK Government cuts to welfare will fall more heavily in Wales. This is just adding to the concerns for our disabled constituents, which will not be addressed by this debate today. We need greater clarity, not more noise. Surely we would be better off calling the Secretary of State for Wales to come to this Chamber to address concerns and thoroughly outline the UK Government's plans. After all, this is not legislation, it is a Green Paper, the start of the process, not the end. The Senedd and the representatives of the people of Wales should be able to feed their views into the process, but this is a reserved matter. We have no direct role in these UK reforms.</p>
<p>We on this side of the Chamber believe that it should remain that way. Unlike Plaid and many in the Labour group, Welsh Conservatives don't support devolution of welfare. If it was devolved, would you be doing anything different? I would like for Plaid and the Welsh Government to outline what steps they would take to ensure the long-term sustainability of the welfare system and to restore fairness. Doing nothing is not an option, the bill for health and related benefits for people of working age is set to rise to £71 billion a year by the end of the decade, far more than we spend on defending our nation. Something has to be done, and I congratulate the UK Government for finally realising this, but they are being disingenuous and hypocritical. Rachel Reeves has stated that designing a benefits system to save money is wrong. Liz Kendall has said that cutting disability support goes against the values of a decent society. According to Sir Keir Starmer, cutting disability benefits is unfair and unacceptable.</p>
<p>What we need is clear direction and, above all, assurances that disabled people will not be forced into poverty as a result of the UK Government's proposals. But these are questions that only the UK Government can address, so either the Welsh Government needs to be more forthcoming with their correspondence with the UK Ministers, or we need to be able to question the UK Government directly. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Diolch yn fawr.</span></p>

<p>Thanks very much. Listen, I've been one of the people who have been up to my neck in the COVID inquiry, and I can tell you there's nothing more transparent than the system we've just been through. We've spent millions of pounds, taken hours of lawyers' time, making sure that we give answers to those people who suffered during the pandemic. So, I don't think that there's a lack of transparency in relation to COVID. And as I've just mentioned, I have no problem at all in Liz Kendall publishing that letter, and I hope she'll do so this afternoon.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Look, I'm really pleased the UK Government has committed to invest an additional £1 billion a year to build towards a guarantee of personalised support when it comes to employment. I think that's really constructive. That's standing by people, that's following the kind of approach that we have in relation to youth unemployment. Now, the UK Government is going to be supporting the Welsh Government as we lead the design of a 'get Britain working' trailblazer, and that's going to be backed by £10 million of funding to explore how work, health and skills—how that skills support will be delivered by the Welsh and UK Governments, how we join that up to help people to move towards and into work. In the longer term, the UK Government has also committed to devolving non-Jobcentre Plus employment support funding to the Welsh Government, and the Secretary of State has offered to work with us on the impact of the welfare proposals on Wales. And whilst, of course, we'll work with them, this is a UK Government proposal, and they must take ownership of it, but I will take up the offer to meet Liz Kendall to work through this.</p>

<p>Diolch, Llywydd. My breath has been taken away. You said you’re going to speak up for disabled people in your answer to Cefin Campell, you said you’re going to listen to them. It doesn’t sound like you’re listening. As has already been highlighted to you, these cuts have been roundly criticised, condemned even by policy experts, by support organisations, and, most importantly, by disabled people themselves.</p>
<p>Though you won’t share it, and we haven’t had any light shone on that again today, whatever Liz Kendall said in her answer to you, we know what the impact will be on Wales: it will push thousands of disabled people and thousands of children into poverty. Since these misguided plans were first revealed, you and your Ministers have been asked time and again by Plaid Cymru to listen to those expert voices, to speak up for the disabled people in Wales, warned you of the dire consequences, especially for Wales. You kept saying, 'Oh, it’s not my responsibility'. It’s really disappointing. The Green Paper wasn’t even published in accessible formats. Did you ask Liz Kendall about that?</p>
<p>Contrary to statements, and you’re making them again, you’re saying that some of these planned changes, such as the tightening of PIP eligibility criteria, are up for consultation. It’s not. That is not in the consultation. Only the mitigations are. So, I’ll ask again: how many people in Wales will be pushed into poverty by Labour’s welfare cuts, how many children, what work is being done to address this added human and financial cost across your Government? Will you condemn the cuts—yes or no?</p>