Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mel Stride and Theresa Villiers

Monday 18th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

I am pleased that the hon. Lady raises Access to Work, because it is extremely effective. The grant can be there year in, year out and be up to a maximum of £66,000. Along with other approaches, it has very much led to our meeting our employment goal for disabled people in half the time that we set in 2017—over a million more disabled people were in work by 2022.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

What are the Government doing to use apprenticeships to help young people engage with the labour market, to tackle levels of economic inactivity and to give them the opportunities they need to get the careers that they want?

[Mel Stride]

My right hon. Friend raises economic inactivity, which is lower in our country than in the United States, France and Italy. It is below the average of the OECD, the G7 and the European Union. Apprenticeships play a very important part in producing those good figures, though there is of course always more to be done, not least through our approach of engaging extremely closely with employers, both at the national level and through our jobcentres.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mel Stride and Theresa Villiers

Monday 19th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

The hon. Lady raises an important point. The Government’s record under my stewardship at the DWP is a good one. In fact, since the fraud plan was published last May, fraud across the benefit system has reduced by some 10%, and across universal credit there has been a 13% drop. We expect to see those figures increasing through time. We are doing that through targeted case reviews—going through cases and looking for fraud and error—and I have another 1,000 people being recruited for that purpose. We are also using artificial intelligence, data analytics and machine learning to ensure that we catch up with the more sophisticated attacks on our system. There is evidence that we are making good headway.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

12. What steps he is taking to ensure that the benefits system incentivises work.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mel Stride)]

My right hon. Friend will be aware that, under universal credit, there is always the incentive to work. That operates through the taper, which we reduced in recent times from 63% to 55%, and we increased the work allowance by £500 in November 2021.

[Theresa Villiers]

At this time of rising prices, I feel certain that many of my constituents are worried about the high cost of childcare. Will the Secretary of State confirm that the changes to universal credit announced in the Budget will help people into work by giving them better up-front support with the cost of childcare?

Business of the House

Debate between Mel Stride and Theresa Villiers

Thursday 27th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

How nice to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker.

I thank the hon. Lady for her question and for raising the matter of the brimstone butterfly, about which I currently know absolutely nothing, but will shortly know a great deal. I would perhaps point her to an Adjournment debate, where an appropriate Minister could be brought to the House to listen to her proposals.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

Can we have a debate on the appalling plans being put forward by the Mayor of London and TfL to build tower blocks over the carparks at Cockfosters and High Barnet tube stations, so that I can express my constituents’ very strong opposition to these plans?

[Mel Stride]

My right hon. Friend does a great deal in her constituency, particularly on these issues. These are matters for the Mayor of London, as they relate to planning, but I would be very happy to facilitate a meeting between my right hon. Friend and the appropriate Minister if she would find that useful.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mel Stride and Theresa Villiers

Wednesday 20th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mel Stride)]

The UK promotes UK FDI throughout the world. In 2017, 76,000 new jobs were created in the UK as a consequence. There are 141 FDI projects in Scotland, creating about 4,000 jobs in Scotland.

[Theresa Villiers]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that one of the reasons behind record levels of foreign direct investment into Scotland is its place in the United Kingdom, the most successful political union in history?

[Mel Stride]

I agree entirely with that. Scotland benefits enormously through being part of what is the world’s fifth largest economy and one of the most dynamic and successful economies in the world.

Finance Bill

Debate between Mel Stride and Theresa Villiers

Tuesday 12th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

I think the hon. Lady will have heard my—[Interruption.] The shadow Chancellor has arrived: the troops are in place, so let the insurrection commence.

The Bill will make our tax system fairer in a number of ways, but I want to focus now on how it strengthens our position in tackling tax avoidance and evasion. This is a Government who have already announced more than 75 measures to tackle evasion and avoidance since 2010, and we have secured almost £160 billion in additional tax revenue over this period. We have driven forward international action and will continue to do so. We have published one of the first public registers of beneficial ownership. We have reduced the tax gap to one of the lowest in the world. This Finance Bill introduces new policies to tackle aggressive tax planning, avoidance and evasion. It continues to crack down on disguised remuneration schemes, it introduces a new penalty for those who enable tax avoidance, and it clamps down further on online VAT fraud.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

Is it not deeply regrettable that clauses in the previous Finance Bill that would have cracked down on billions of pounds worth of aggressive and abusive avoidance had to be dropped from the Bill because the Labour party would not support them?

[Mel Stride]

My right hon. Friend makes an extremely pertinent observation, as usual. We wanted this 650-page Bill to be considerably smaller so that more of it could be on the statute book already.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mel Stride and Theresa Villiers

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Villiers]

I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. Planning is already very much under way. The Government are committed to working closely with the PSNI and its partners to ensure that the policing and security operations around the G8 are a success.

[Mel Stride]

As we have heard, Londonderry will be the city of culture next year. Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating the divisional commander of the PSNI, Mr Stephen Martin, on the exemplary way in which he and his officers have countered the terrorist threat locally so that we can look forward to a full cultural programme next year in that city?

[Mrs Villiers]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in that. I met PSNI officers from Derry/Londonderry just a week or so ago. They do an incredibly good job in very difficult circumstances with great bravery and dedication. They are determined to continue community policing close to the community. They will not compromise on that, but delivering it in the face of a continuing terrorist threat, and continuing attempts to target and attack officers, is extremely difficult. I am only too happy to join him in congratulating the police in Derry/Londonderry on the job they do.