Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Sweeney Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

I congratulate my hon. Friend, who is a great champion of his constituents, and he works very well with the local jobcentre. He is absolutely right: what Citizens Advice is providing is a huge amount of experience; it is an independent organisation with a national footprint. I absolutely agree that the last thing the vulnerable need is political point scoring. What they want is support, and that is what they are getting under universal credit.

[Mr Paul Sweeney (Glasgow North East) (Lab/Co-op)]

What assessment has the Minister made of the closure of six jobcentres across Glasgow—

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

Seven.

[Mr Sweeney]

Seven jobcentres in Glasgow. What assessment has he made of those closures as universal credit rolls out this month?

[Alok Sharma]

As the hon. Gentleman will know, we have reconfigured our estate. One of the reasons that has happened is that we had over-provision of space— 20% more than we needed—and we now have jobcentres that are actually delivering. At the end of the day, one of the reasons for this is that we have much lower levels of unemployment than in 2010. I hope that is something the hon. Gentleman welcomes.