Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Wednesday 25th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Gordon Henderson—not here.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

6. For what proportion of participants in the Work programme in Scotland job outcome payments have been made to providers of that programme.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Monday 26th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We shall squeeze in one more. I call Sheila Gilmore.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

18. What recent assessment he has made of the reasons for changes in the number of employment and support allowance claimants.

Points of Order

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Monday 23rd June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

My appetite for hearing hon. and right hon. Members ask questions is insatiable. I would happily run the session on for longer, but I am afraid that it is not within my power. Not only is the hon. Gentleman here every day during working hours, but I sometimes fondly imagine that he probably sleeps here as well; I do not know. He knows that his request is unfortunately beyond my powers, but he has made his point with his usual alacrity, and it is on the record.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. During Question Time, the disability Minister, the Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, the right hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning), stated that he had inherited the current backlog in ESA claims from the previous Government. How can we put on record the fact that his predecessor told the Work and Pensions Committee that a small backlog in 2011 was going to be eliminated by the summer of 2011? The two statements clearly cannot be consistent.

[Mr Speaker]

The evidence is that the hon. Lady has found her own salvation. She asked how it could be done and at the same time she did it. It is on the record, and we will leave it there.

amendment of the law

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Tuesday 25th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

For the avoidance of doubt, I should just say that I was happy to see the Secretary of State looking happy.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State will be aware that, for very many people, the average level of savings is in the hundreds, not the thousands. Do the Government regret abolishing the savings gateway as one of the first measures they took on coming into government?

Points of Order

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Wednesday 26th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We are grateful to the Attorney-General. I was simply going to advise the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Baron) that these matters can of course always be the subject of further questioning. I know from experience that he is as tenacious in the Chamber as I have found him to be on the tennis court over the years, so I see no reason why he will not pursue these matters if he is so inclined.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Have you received any notice from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions that he intends to come to the House to make a statement on his Department’s decision to suspend reassessments of employment and support allowance claimants because his assessors cannot cope with the volume? His Ministers made no mention of that during oral questions on Monday, despite knowing that it had happened. Many applicants are faced with unacceptable delays and want to know what is happening.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Tuesday 28th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

Of course, 0.7% is lower than 0.8% in the previous quarter, but leaving that aside—[Interruption.] With construction—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) should go and lie down in a dark room. Take a tablet and restore your health—I am very anxious about your condition, and I suspect that the House will be too.

[Sheila Gilmore]

Construction is down as well, but to return to the question—[Interruption.] Well, the Chancellor did not return to it. Support through tax credits and child care tax credits has been crucial for many women going into self-employment for the first time. Proposed universal credit rules will make it a lot more difficult for self-employed people. Will the Chancellor speak to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to help him to get this right for women entrepreneurs?

Cost of Living

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Wednesday 27th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sheila Gilmore]

Time is very limited, so I will not take any interventions. During that period, economic growth has gone backwards and we have found ourselves in a position of stagnation—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Member for Braintree (Mr Newmark) should calm down, relax, and lower the temperature. He should not get too excited; there is no need.

[Sheila Gilmore]

That stagnation is why so many of our constituents are suffering so much. I was astonished by some of the comments made this afternoon. The hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) managed to suggest that unemployment was not down to the recession but down to the entire period of the Labour Government. In fact, when the global financial crisis hit in 2008, unemployment was a little over 5% at 1.6 million, but by the end of 2009 it had risen by 1 million to 2.5 million. The cause of that rising unemployment, so suddenly and over such a short period, was the economic recession, not the Labour Government. Such rewriting of history is constantly going on. Recently, however, that rewriting seems not just to be about what caused the recession, but tries to read back to the Labour Government and put things into that period that were not the case.

The stock answer from the Government on what they have done to help people in the cost of living crisis is to talk about the increase in the tax threshold. The problem with that policy is that it unduly helps those who are already better off, and does not help those with the lowest income levels in our communities. Two thirds of the billions of pounds that have been spent on raising the tax threshold has gone to people in the top half of the income scale, because the policy benefits people on higher incomes as much—if not more—as those on lower incomes.

What has been the quid pro quo? There have been cuts to benefit payments and tax credits, which has cancelled out the rise in the tax threshold for those at the lower end of the income scale. Not only have those paying no tax not benefited, but those at the bottom end who have apparently benefited a little have had that cancelled out. That is what we must all remember. Those with the lowest earnings have not benefited from the policy. Both Government parties constantly say that the tax threshold is being raised because they want to help the lowest earners. In fact, that policy has not benefited the lowest earners, because in order to pay for it—it is very expensive—there have been constant cuts to people’s benefits.

At the extreme end, those who say there has been no change should look around their towns and cities. I have never seen so many quick lenders, payday lenders, and companies such as BrightHouse spring up in such a short period. It was not happening before. Food banks are new in my lifetime—they were something I read about in the history books of the 1930s. One of the Prime Minister’s favourite statements about food banks is, “But usage of food banks went up tenfold under a Labour Government.” The problem with that arithmetic is that 10 times a very small number is still a very small number—from 4,000 in 2005 when the Trussell Trust started up, to 40,000 in 2010. Last year, that figure rose to 347,000, and in the first six months of this year, it has risen to 350,000. That very big number is down to the policies of this Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Tuesday 12th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Sheila Gilmore to ask her question, lastly and very briefly.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

In May, the now Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Mrs Grant), announced a new pilot in which tribunal judges would give detailed explanations to the Department for Work and Pensions of their reasons for allowing employment and support allowance appeals. When can we expect an evaluation of that pilot?

Pensions Bill

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Tuesday 29th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

New clause 6—State pension entitlement for women born between 6 April 1951 and 5 April 1953

‘(1) Women born between 6 April 1951 and 5 April 1953 have the right to choose to receive their state pension and associated benefits under the new state pension system, set out in Part 1, from its introduction.

(2) The Government must ensure information about the full range of entitlements under the old state pension rules and the new state pension is available to allow women in subsection (1) to make a comparison of total weekly income.

(3) The responsibility for making a choice under subsection (1) lies fully with the individual.’.

New clause 8—Review in relation to women born on or after 6 April 1951

‘(1) The Secretary of State shall conduct a review to determine whether all women born on or after 6 April 1951 should be included within the scope of the new state pension arrangements established by this Act.

(2) The Secretary of State must prepare and publish a report on the review within six months of Royal Assent of this Act and must lay a copy of the report before Parliament.’.

New clause 13—Pensionable age: differential effect in England, Wales and Scotland

‘Part 2 of this Act shall not come into force until the Secretary of State has laid a report before both Houses of Parliament containing an assessment of the differential effect and impact of the pensionable age in England, Wales and Scotland due to varying levels of life expectancy and gross value added.’.

Amendment 1, page 10, line 1, leave out clause 20.

Amendment 35, page 11, line 34, clause 24, leave out ‘An’ and insert

‘With the consent of the trustees, an’.

Government amendments 2 and 3.

Amendment 37, page 11, line 40, clause 24, at end insert—

‘(c) a scheme in respect of any of its terms which relate to persons protected under the terms of—

(i) the Electricity (Protected Persons) (England and Wales) Pension Regulations 1990;

(ii) the Electricity (Protected Persons) (Scotland) Pension Regulations 1990;

(iii) the Electricity (Protected Persons) (Northern Ireland) Pension Regulations 1992;

(iv) the Railway Pensions (Protection and Designation of Schemes) Order 1984;

(v) the London Transport Pensions Arrangements Order 2000;

(vi) the Coal Industry (Protected Persons) Pensions Regulations 1994; or

(vii) the nuclear industry employees protected by Schedule 8 of the Energy Act 2004.’.

Government amendment 4.

Amendment 36, page 12, line 10, clause 24, at end insert—

‘“trustees or managers” has the meaning given in section 178 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 and regulations made thereunder.’.

Government amendments 14 to 20.

Amendment 34, page 79, line 5, schedule 14, leave out paragraph 11.

Government amendments 21 to 24.

[Sheila Gilmore]

One of the issues that has come up in the course of all the debate about the single-tier pension is the decision that the Government have taken to bring to an abrupt end to the provisions that previously existed for women in particular—I shall talk primarily about women, although men could be in this position—to be able to derive a pension or years towards a pension from the contributions of their spouse. That dates back to a different world. When the state pension system was set up in the post-war period, there was an assumption that the standard pattern for married people was that one person, normally the man, would be the main breadwinner, and the woman would spend considerable periods out of the labour force, and perhaps not even work at all after marriage. Indeed, although they were about to go, there were still marriage bars on certain types of employment, so time out of employment was not just a question of choice; it was sometimes a question of necessity.

Things have changed and, although it can still be a necessity, for many women the amount of time out of employment can be very short. The arrangement in the original proposals was that a woman could receive a derived pension from her husband’s contributions—currently approximately 60% of the full state pension—or receive benefit if she was widowed or divorced. For someone widowed after retirement who was receiving only the 60% pension—sometimes referred to as the married couples pension when both bits are put together—it would be increased to a full single person’s pension, regardless of whether she had made contributions during her working life. For those who are divorced, there is currently provision in the system to inherit and carry over a spouse’s contribution record if it is better than one’s own. That can be beneficial to women, and some men, in building up a pension record.

Other changes that have taken place include crediting certain types of contribution that are not entirely financial. As well as the credits people receive during periods of unemployment when they are claiming benefit, successive Governments have introduced credits for periods of child care and for caring for other relatives, and that can make up some gaps. There are still some people—a decreasing number, without a doubt—who will end up in a position where they do not build up sufficient contributions in their own right. If the right to obtain these so-called derived benefits is taken away, there will be a group of people, primarily women, who, post-2016 when the new arrangements come in, will have less than they would have expected to get before that date. They will be in a worse position than they would have been previously, and that will have all sorts of consequences.

People have reasonable expectations of the rules. Age UK gave an example of someone who had specifically asked the Department for Work and Pensions for advice on whether she should start making contributions relatively late in her working life. She was told not to do so, because she would not be able to work to receive nearly as much as she would be getting in any event. That advice was given in good faith and at the time she accepted it in good faith, but it is now too late for her to make up the difference.

The Government estimate that there are 40,000 women in this position. I am not sure whether there is certainty about that figure, because I do not know whether a full survey has been carried out. However, 40,000 is not a huge number. New clause 5 asks for a full review to ascertain how many women are in this position and what the cost would be of allowing them to continue to benefit from derived rights for a transition period—it would not be for ever.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Thursday 27th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

Q12. During a debate in the House last Thursday, the Minister of State acknowledged that investment in infrastructure and rolling stock for East Coast would be financed by the taxpayer, but that there would also be some private investment. Perhaps—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We do not need these constant sedentary interventions from the Minister of State. The message is clear and simple: be quiet, man.

[Sheila Gilmore]

What additional investment does the Secretary of State see privatisation bringing?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Tuesday 14th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

Is the Minister familiar with the universal jobmatch website created by one of his colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions? If he has looked at the nature of the jobs being advertised there, he will have seen that in my area, 57 out of 76 advertised shop vacancies were for one company, operating all over the east of Scotland, which wanted people to work on a self-employed basis, distributing catalogues and selling things from them—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do apologise to the hon. Lady, but we must press on. There is a lot to get through. We need short questions and brief answers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

9. What progress he has made in negotiations with the EU on a derogation from the ban on the import or manufacture of incandescent bulbs for those who suffer ill health as a result of exposure to low-energy lighting ahead of the review of legislation in 2014; and if he will make a statement.

[Mr Speaker]

I call a Minister to answer the question.

[The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr David Heath)]

I beg your pardon, Mr Speaker. I blame the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies) for distracting me. Why not?

There are no provisions allowing the European Commission or individual member states to create exemptions from regulation 244/2009, which phases out incandescent bulbs. However, we are pressing to ensure that EU policy and legislation take full account of the potential health implications of artificial lighting. We have successfully ensured that provisions for people with light-sensitive health conditions were included in a new eco-design regulation that sets minimum standards for directional lighting and light-emitting diodes.

Changes to the Budget

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Monday 11th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I did not hear a question about changes, but the hon. Member has registered his view with force and alacrity, and it is on the record so his constituents will hear it.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

The Minister started by saying that this was a Budget for families, so will he now consider another U-turn and restore the tax credits to working couples on low wages and low working hours?

Leveson Inquiry

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Wednesday 25th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. For the benefit not of the House, but of those who are listening to and interested in our proceedings, I make the factual observation that a request for a statement by the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport very properly comes from the shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, rather than from the shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

The very many people throughout the country who wrote to us when the responsibility for the decision was transferred to the Secretary of State will now feel that they were absolutely right and the Government were absolutely wrong. Can the Secretary of State explain why he is such a poor manager of his staff that he did not know what messages were going out under the authority of the special permission to communicate?

The Economy

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Tuesday 6th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

This debate is not about denying the deficit, and nor is it about never reducing public spending: it is about if and how we reduce the deficit and how we use public investment to grow the economy.

I intervened on the Chancellor earlier in this debate and asked the Chief Secretary to the Treasury a question at Question Time because they ignored an important part of the OBR report, which they have quoted extensively—indeed, the Chief Secretary is still ignoring this point. He argued that we do not have growth because the OBR discovered that the recession was deeper than previously thought. However, the OBR also said that the recovery had been quicker and stronger in 2009 than previously thought and that the decline in growth came in the latter part of 2010.

That is when the famous oil tanker that people have talked about threw out its anchors and started moving backwards. The 2009 recovery did not happen by accident or because the sun was shining; it happened because the previous Government took steps to stimulate the economy. Such steps can be taken. It is not true, as has been argued, that if we simply use Government money, we will never pay off the debt.

The National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations, has made a small but helpful suggestion. It says that if the Government put £1 billion towards shared-ownership housing, the housing association sector could put £8 billion towards it. That would grow 400,000 jobs and build the 66,000 shared-ownership houses that are hugely needed by many low-income families, and at the same time reduce spending on jobseeker’s allowance and housing benefit. Many who would live in shared-ownership houses would previously have lived in high-rent private sector housing, which causes the housing benefit bill, which the Government say they are worried about, to escalate.

That is just one small example. When we create jobs in that way, we create not just that one job. It is not a question of saying, “We spent all that money creating those jobs. Okay, those people will pay more tax and will not be on benefit, but that is not growing the economy.” Those people exist within local communities. If people have jobs and incomes, they will buy goods from other businesses.

It is no accident that many of the businesses in difficulty during the recession and after are related to the housing world. I know of one firm in Edinburgh that not only sold furniture but built it. The furniture-building side of the business has closed because the market has declined. People are not buying houses and they are not moving into new ones or redecorating, and they are not buying furniture.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It is the height of discourtesy for an hon. Gentleman, who has just made a speech in the debate and who is fortunate to have done so, then to sit there, wittering away at other Members, completely ignoring another hon. Member on her feet. That hon. Gentleman should be thoroughly ashamed of his behaviour.

[Sheila Gilmore]

The ongoing effect of creating construction jobs would ripple far beyond the jobs themselves. That is what we mean by investing to grow the economy. We will not always borrow money for such things, but if we borrow on a short-term basis, we would still be borrowing for a purpose. Borrowing is not always bad. Many Government Members and others bemoan the fact that small businesses cannot borrow to expand. The Government can quite legitimately borrow to grow the economy. That is what we should be doing, but we have not been doing it for the past 18 months.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Thursday 24th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Much has now been explained. We are very grateful to the Minister.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

3. What recent discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues on the introduction of mandatory reporting of carbon emissions by businesses.

Sentencing Reform/Legal Aid

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Tuesday 21st June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I gently and in a jocular fashion say to the Secretary of State that he should not be like a cruise ship in rotation? The House wishes to hear him. He swivels around, but it is helpful if he faces the House; I would be obliged to him if he did so.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State has made much of his desire to have alternative dispute resolution, which he considers to be better—in family law, for example. Presumably, he is thinking of mediation. Has he made any realistic assessment of the costs and of on whom those costs would fall? Will they fall on individuals or will there be some cost to his Department, which might undermine the reductions he hopes to achieve in legal aid?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Monday 13th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am much obliged to the Minister.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

15. What estimate he has made of the costs incurred by a disabled person in the three months following diagnosis of their disability.

Amendment of the Law

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sheila Gilmore]

No, I will not.

The private and public sectors are constantly interrelated, because public sector stimulus has kept the economy going since the recession began.

History has been rewritten, and I find it deeply perplexing and upsetting that the Liberals have been prepared to be complicit in that. I am not surprised that the hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) took us along the byways of Colchester becoming a city, because it was a diversionary tactic. He did not want to talk about his party’s real economic policy. It reminded me of when I was working from home—suddenly, cleaning the kitchen became quite attractive because I could not settle down to do the work that required a bit more effort. That is what is happening with a party that went into the election telling people that it would be downright dangerous to cut public spending too quickly. That is not just some sort of Labour notion, as the Conservatives seem to think. It was the policy of two of the parties that went into the election and that, together, won a majority of public support. It is not true that the public supported the financial disaster that the Conservatives are now wishing on us.

I said in a previous finance debate that the proof would be in the outcomes and that if the Conservative party was right and economic growth was driven by their policies, I would concede that, but so far we are seeing nothing of the sort. Our position would not be too far, too fast—

[Mr Speaker]

Order.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Wednesday 19th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There are far too many private conversations taking place in the Chamber, and far too much noise.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

8. What assessment he has made of the likely effects on the social enterprise sector of reductions in Government expenditure.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sheila Gilmore and John Bercow

Wednesday 27th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. As usual at this time, far too many private conversations are taking place in the Chamber. That is very unfair on the hon. Member asking the question and the Minister answering it. Let us have a bit of order, therefore.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

9. What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on the implications for cross-border students of the Government’s proposals for higher education funding.