Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Hall Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

I do not recognise the hon. Lady’s description. I have been around jobcentres. I always make a point of speaking to work coaches, asking them about the way they impose sanctions and when. They always say to me that it is a last resort only done after a series of engagements. This is a personal choice that work coaches make. They have a lot of discretion and in my experience they are using it correctly.

[Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate) (Con)]

T8. How will the Government ensure that the roll-out of universal credit continues to support the benefits of being in work, while providing the required flexibility for people who are often moving through life-changing circumstances as we support them back into the workplace?

[Amber Rudd]

I am happy to say that that is exactly the aim of universal credit: to ensure that it helps people while they are in work, gives them the additional funds they may need, and ensures that the taper rate, the amount of tax they pay as they move into more employment or a higher level of pay, does not adversely affect their ambitions and their ability to earn more.

Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Hall Excerpts

Monday 5th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ms McVey]

I will indeed meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss that. Back in 2016, HMRC announced that move and transfer of jobs. It now seems that as many jobs were not needed for UC. I know that it wants to retain the staff and their skills and knowledge, but I will meet him to discuss the best way forward.

[Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate) (Con)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that universal credit is helping all those people who are stuck in a situation where they are only paid to work 16 hours a week and that it is fairer to those employees, the other employees in those businesses and taxpayers, who end up supporting the bill?

[Ms McVey]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. The reason we are making this significant change from the legacy system is to ensure that every hour of work counts. We will not have a situation where people are stuck not working or paying punitive rates of income tax of 90% and above if they take work after 16 hours. This is cutting-edge technology. The UK is leading the way on flexible benefits that accompany flexible working, which nowhere else has.

Universal Credit Roll-out

Luke Hall Excerpts

Wednesday 18th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate) (Con)]

I am grateful to have a chance to speak in a debate that has had well-informed contributions from Members on both sides of the House. Rather than going over all the arguments we have heard so far, I want to talk about a couple of personal examples I encountered in my previous career in retail, which show why this reform is so important in creating a system where it does pay to work. Retail is an industry where there are inflexible working hours and unpredictable amounts of overtime are often available; it is often dependent on the demand for the products in the store and so on.

Let me give a couple of examples that I saw during my time as a store manager in Lidl in my constituency: almost 10 years. As happens in many discount retailers, we often worked with a skeleton crew in the store—often as few as 12 members of staff. In such a situation, if one or two staff are limited to working 16 hours, it has a big knock-on impact. It does not just affect the individual who struggles to work the overtime, even though they want to; it has knock-on impacts for the business and means salaried employees, who might not be paid any overtime, still have to work late into the night because of the reduced flexibility that the current system offers. That is clearly not what it was designed to do, but it is one unintended detrimental consequence for the business and other employees.

I wish to make one other point about the unintended consequence of the current system for people who want to work more than 16 hours but are prevented from doing so. What they often do in these situations is end up hiding the hours that they work, through moving around holiday pay in the payroll system and even, as happens much more regularly than we might think, through store managers agreeing to pay other employees in the store; the money is received into their bank account and they then pay their friend, who can actually work the overtime but refrains from doing so because of the 16-hour limit. Another point to make on that is that the people who end up willing to be part of those trades are younger and often get paid by the retail business at a lower wage because of that. They therefore end up passing across the lower wage to the person who would work or lose out on money themselves because they transfer across to somebody else from the post-tax income.

One other point about the UC system is that because it offers support to people through the work coach system, it helps a lot of people in industries such as retail who are under-confident about the progress they can make in that role. When I started as a shelf stacker in Lidl at 18, I was lucky enough to have parents who pushed me to keep progressing through the ranks. A lot of people who are under-confident and do not have that support do not get that sort of help and encouragement to step up through the business. Often we get people who are reliable employees—

[Neil Coyle]

I am struggling to follow the point, because one of the biggest challenges of UC is that those with fluctuating incomes struggle to get a consistent payment in order to pay their arrears. Although the hon. Gentleman may have been successful in retail, he is going to struggle to sell this particular turkey to employees in my constituency.

[Luke Hall]

As I say, my experience for many years has been of a hugely detrimental experience for people who try to work over the 16 hours if they are pushed to do so. So I do not accept the point, because I think the work coaches genuinely help people with their confidence in order to move forward. I have seen real-life experiences of that in Tesco and Aldi in my constituency, where I have spoken to employees who receive that sort of support.

In the short time I have left, I should say that I am encouraged by the Secretary of State’s announcement of the cancellation of the helpline fees. That is surely a simple and right change to make so that people on low incomes who are struggling to find work do not have to pay those charges. I am pleased by the Secretary of State’s assurance that we will not move faster than we should, in order to be sure that the system can take into account any difficulties in moving forward. I look forward to supporting a system that is helping people to move into work faster and to stay in work for longer. Universal credit is helping more people to move into work.

Housing Benefits (18 to 21-year-olds)

Luke Hall Excerpts

Tuesday 7th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes]

The hon. Gentleman did not say how old his constituent is. It is really important that we are focusing support on those who need it most. When it comes to young people, we are obliging them to make the same sort of choices that his constituents who are in work for 16 hours or more a week are making.

[Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate) (Con)]

Will the Minister confirm that the Government are doing everything possible to prepare young people for the world of work, so that fewer young people are at risk of falling into a life on benefits?

[Caroline Nokes]

The Government are bringing forward the youth obligation in April, which is about making sure that young people who are not in work are undertaking the appropriate training or apprenticeship they need to put them in the best position to move into work.

Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Hall Excerpts

Monday 21st November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

We are spending more money on disability benefits, and we are doing more in terms of support, so I do not recognise the position that the hon. Lady outlines.

[Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate) (Con)]

23. The evidence is clear that work can be good for people’s health and particularly their mental health. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government should be working with GPs and healthcare professionals to support people with mental health issues to stay in work or to get back into work as soon as possible after leaving employment?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Yes, I do, which is why we have brought forward a Green Paper, and we will be consulting on it until February. In the meantime, where we can make progress and foster the local connections and relationships between employment support and healthcare professionals and others those individuals will need support from, we will do so, and the flexible support fund, which goes live in December, will do that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Hall Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Crabb]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People or I will be happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss that specific case. As for the broader principles behind the question, we are improving the PIP process, speeding up applications, decisions and appeals. If the hon. Gentleman has specific concerns, I would be happy to meet him to discuss them further.

[Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate) (Con)]

8. What steps he is taking to support people with disabilities and health conditions who are looking for work.

[Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury) (Con)]

15. What steps he is taking to support people with disabilities and health conditions who are looking for work.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People (Justin Tomlinson)]

This Government are committed to halving the disability employment gap. In the spending review we announced a real-terms spending increase on supporting disabled people into work. In the past two years, 365,000 disabled people have entered employment. Our forthcoming Green Paper will set out our plans to support more disabled people into work.

[Luke Hall]

Over 99% of vat-registered enterprises in my constituency are small and medium-sized enterprises. Will my hon. Friend update the House on what he is doing to help smaller businesses get the support they need to recruit people with disabilities and health conditions?

[Justin Tomlinson]

As someone who owned a small business for 10 years, I absolutely understand that point. We currently have three successful pilots, concentrating on a small employer offer and matching up those with a disability to the 45% of jobs that are available through SMEs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Hall Excerpts

Monday 9th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate) (Con)]

13. What steps he is taking to assist disabled young people into work.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People (Justin Tomlinson)]

Last year, Access to Work supported record numbers of young disabled people to start or retain work. In partnership with Volunteering Matters, the DWP has supported the implementation of job-shadowing work-placement opportunities for young disabled people. The programme encourages employers to see the many benefits of employing disabled talent.

[Luke Hall]

Will the Minister update the House on what action is being taken to help disabled people into work, specifically through apprenticeships?

[Justin Tomlinson]

Following my visit to Foxes in Bridgwater, where a staggering 45.6% of its young adults get into paid sustainable employment, I now recognise that vocational pathways are important for many young disabled people, especially those with learning disabilities. Therefore, I and the Minister for Skills have asked my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard) to lead a joint Department for Work and Pensions/Department for Business, Innovation and Skills taskforce to increase access to apprenticeships for young people with learning disabilities. In addition, in recognition of what the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) said, the taskforce will in future look at opportunities in apprenticeships for people with autism and other hidden impairments.

Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Hall Excerpts

Monday 1st February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

4. What contribution his Department plans to make to the strategy announced by the Prime Minister in January 2016 to ensure that people from all parts of society have equal life chances.

[Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate) (Con)]

11. What contribution his Department plans to make to the strategy announced by the Prime Minister in January 2016 to ensure that people from all parts of society have equal life chances.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)]

My Department is leading the development of the life chances strategy. The strategy marks our commitment to transforming children’s lives by tackling the root causes of poverty—worklessness, poor educational attainment, family breakdown, problem debt and addiction.

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I commend my hon. Friend on the huge amount of work that he does so tirelessly in his constituency, which I have seen at first hand when visiting projects with him. He is a huge champion for those who have difficulties getting back into work. As he knows, we have introduced the “Fit for Work” programme, which helps employees facing long-term sickness to get back into work sooner and helps employers to get people assessed properly, rather than allowing them to fall away and have difficulties, so that occupational health can look at them as well as their having a health assessment. That will introduce a new way of looking at people to keep them in work because, as the Department of Health now agrees, work is part of a health treatment and should not be seen as separate. The White Paper that I will bring forward shortly will talk about that.

[Luke Hall]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that family stability is hugely important to life chances? Will he update the House on what his Department is doing to strengthen family and relationship support services?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I fully agree with my hon. Friend. In the last Parliament, the Department did a huge amount to get better advice and support for those who are thinking about breaking up. We invested over £30 million in relationship support over the last Parliament, which meant that about 160,000 people had access to preventive support. As the Prime Minister announced recently, we are doubling the funding available over the next five years to £70 million. The life chances strategy includes the important aim of strengthening and stabilising family life.

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Luke Hall Excerpts

Thursday 9th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Leslie]

Let me pick who I want to give way to. I give way to the hon. Member for Thornbury and Yate.

[Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate) (Con)]

Alistair Darling used a very simple set of words. He said:

“Labour is in disarray”

and is

“paying the price of not having a credible economic policy.”

Does the hon. Gentleman agree?

[Chris Leslie]

I have not used those words. The hon. Gentleman is reporting words that have apparently been said.

I believe it is important that the Opposition today look at the spin and the headlines that the Chancellor created in his Budget yesterday. Less than 24 hours later, the Budget is beginning to unravel—[Interruption.] Have I said something wrong? The Budget is beginning to unravel and I will explain why, but in the spirit of magnanimity I want to explain that there are Budget measures that we welcome. The Budget fails to address the long-term challenges Britain faces—[Interruption.]