Oral Answers to Questions

Scott Benton Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Justin Tomlinson]

As a Department, we have rightly put an additional £6.5 billion into welfare support, on top of the £500 million hardship fund provided to local authorities. I welcome the further additional £63 million to boost council welfare support so that no one goes without food and other basic necessities in the coming months.

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to promote employment opportunities as the economy reopens and the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to promote employment opportunities as the economy reopens and the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mims Davies)]

We have launched A Good Place to Start, a new labour market campaign that includes two key websites—Job help and Employer help—which provide additional information, tools and links to other sites, including DWP’s Find a job service, for current vacancies, and the Department for Education’s Skills Toolkit.

[Scott Benton]

My constituency currently has the highest claimant count in the whole UK, as the crisis has exposed the dependence of my local economy on tourism and insecure seasonal work. What steps is my hon. Friend taking to support those in communities such as Blackpool who are currently out of work to retrain and acquire the skills needed to find future employment?

[Mims Davies]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this important issue. I highlight the work that our staff in jobcentres are doing tirelessly to support people with their claims throughout the pandemic, and that work continues. Indeed, our work coaches have made more than a quarter of a million outbound customer-support calls each week, and they are also organising virtual job fairs. In Blackpool, they are working with the local authority on a virtual adult learning and education programme, hosted online and through Google Classroom. Upcoming from 4 July is a sector-based work academy for recruitment around the pleasure beach, and we are also training people through our mentoring circles. I encourage every Member in the House to contact their local jobcentre to find out about what we are already doing to support their local community.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Coffey]

The Government are absolutely committed to fulfilling their manifesto commitments. It is fair to say that we have some situations ahead of us, but it is something I am in discussions about. This is not about abandoning the triple lock in any way, but I assure the hon. Gentleman that there are some consequences—of which he may not be aware—if average earnings fall during this year. We may need to rectify things to make sure that aspects of the law that are already in place cannot be set aside.

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

Universal credit has supported millions of new claimants since March, many of whom will now be looking for new job opportunities as the economy reopens. Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the inherent strengths of universal credit is its flexibility in incentivising and rewarding employment?

[Will Quince]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question, and he is absolutely right. The amount paid in UC reflects as closely as possible the actual circumstances of a household during each monthly assessment period. This allows UC awards to be adjusted on a monthly basis, ensuring that if a claimant’s income falls, they do not have to wait several months for a rise in their UC. UC pays up to 85% of childcare costs to support working parents, compared with 70% in the legacy benefits system.