Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Owen and Thérèse Coffey

Monday 13th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dr Coffey]

My hon. Friend is so right; it has been a successful recruitment programme. We wanted to reintroduce the face-to-face interventions because we know that that direct intervention through our work coaches is the best way to help people identify roles that they are suitable for and consider the skills involved—they might want to change career. That is how we can guide them on our various jobs programmes and make sure they can start earning again.

[Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)]

T6. Some 11,000 people in my constituency are on UC, and it may come as news to Ministers but nearly 4,000 of those people are in work. More than 2,000 good jobs in Luton North are in aviation and they are under threat as furlough ends. When we look at this job cuts double whammy, it is hard not to conclude that the Conservatives are leaving Luton to fight this crisis on our own. Will the Minister tell the Chancellor to extend the furlough for aviation and to reverse this cut in UC?

[Dr Coffey]

The hon. Lady is wrong to suggest that our Government have not supported the people of Luton throughout this difficult time. The furlough scheme was unique; it was not introduced when many hundreds of thousands of people were made redundant after Labour’s financial crisis. We stepped in, putting more than £400 billion into Government spending overall to support the country during this time. I am conscious of that fact that some people will be concerned about the impact on aviation travel, which is why we have invested in various job schemes, including encouraging people to switch sectors, recognising that the skills they have are transferable.

Supporting Disadvantaged Families

Debate between Sarah Owen and Thérèse Coffey

Monday 9th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dr Coffey]

Indeed, my hon. Friend is right. Using councils is probably the best way because they have the variety of information that I referring to earlier, but we can also use social services and health visitors. This goes beyond just children at school, and we need to make sure that all the information is well considered, in the round, so that the children who need help this winter get it.

I am conscious that people have asked why this is going to a variety of councils in the upper tier. It is because those councils generally have a statutory duty towards children. However, the best councils I have seen are working together right across their counties to make sure they make full use of the levers of local government to help children, an aim we share in this House, along with our councillors up and down the country, regardless of what party they represent.

[Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)]

Nearly 4,000 children in Luton North and 8,000 children across the whole of Luton did not know where their next meal was coming from last half-term. Yet again, our wonderful community stepped up when the Government stepped back. When the Prime Minister chose to ignore Marcus Rashford’s campaign, it revealed a moral and compassion deficit that runs rife throughout his Government. Does the Minister agree that she should ensure that no child faces holiday hunger again, not just for the winter months but beyond this pandemic, and that she should start by paying workers a real living wage and ending in-work poverty?

[Dr Coffey]

The universal credit system is designed to ensure that people are better off working than not working, and this Government introduced the national living wage, which has seen a huge uplift for a lot of people. In addition, by raising the personal tax allowance to more than £12,000 we have lifted at least 4 million people out of paying tax altogether. So people’s take-home pay has risen thanks to the actions of this Government, and we will continue to support families. However, under the In-Work Progression Commission, I want to go further, and Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith is working on that because we want to make sure people can continue up the career ladder as well.