Oral Answers to Questions

Lucy Powell Excerpts

Monday 27th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

I completely agree with the right hon. Lady. She will have seen that the work and health Green Paper lays great stress on occupational health services. We have more than doubled the number of employment advisers in talking therapies to make sure that we can help people with the necessary support that will enable them to stay in work. We will need to do more of this important job in the future.

[Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

7. What progress the Government have made on the roll-out of universal credit.

[The Minister for Employment (Damian Hinds)]

The roll-out of universal credit continues to roll out to plan—[Laughter.] About a million claims have now been taken, and the full universal credit service for all claimant types is available in 53 jobcentres.

[Lucy Powell]

I shall not mention hon. Members’ ridicule of the Minister’s answer, but I want to raise another point about universal credit: the interaction between passported benefits and universal credit, and the progress on this that the Government are making. My constituents tell me that as they get into work and move through universal credit, they lose free school meals, bus passes for their children and entitlement to a free uniform, so they are much worse off in work than they would be if they were not in work.

[Damian Hinds]

We continue to work closely with partners and stakeholders to ensure that this service is a success. There are some questions about passported benefits and we continue to work through them.