All 1 Debates between Rachel Reeves and Mike Penning

DWP: Performance

Debate between Rachel Reeves and Mike Penning
Monday 30th June 2014

(10 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Rachel Reeves Portrait Rachel Reeves
- Hansard - -

I will give way; I haven’t had any letters from this one either.

Mike Penning Portrait Mike Penning
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

This one! The shadow Secretary of State should look behind her, and she will see many, many of her colleagues nodding when I say that I have written personally, and dealt with cases personally, and when there was a mistake, I admitted there was a mistake, so the generalisation she has just made about party political bias is fundamentally wrong.

Rachel Reeves Portrait Rachel Reeves
- Hansard - -

The Minister for disabled people has never replied to the letters I have sent to the Department for Work and Pensions about people in my constituency. I have given two examples today. [Interruption.] He says he has; can the right hon. Gentleman stand up and say he has ever replied to a letter from me?

Mike Penning Portrait Mike Penning
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Letters from a Privy Counsellor, which the right hon. Lady is, will be responded to by the Secretary of State. [Interruption.] Well, if you’re not a Privy Counsellor, it would be me responding, but look around behind you—I apologise for the “yous”, Madam Deputy Speaker—and see that I have responded in depth to colleagues. They may not have liked the reply, but I have done that, and if the hon. Lady had written to me directly, I would have replied.

Rachel Reeves Portrait Rachel Reeves
- Hansard - -

Maybe the letters got lost in the post, but I have never received a letter from the Minister for disabled people.