Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Fell Excerpts

Monday 13th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

The approach we are taking with our call for evidence is to try to find a system in which the fit note approach is improved, and part of that must mean getting treatment to people earlier rather than later. That is exactly why my right hon. Friend the Chancellor came forward with 400,000 additional talking therapies within the NHS for exactly that purpose.

[Simon Fell (Barrow and Furness) (Con)]

May I put on record my thanks to Barrow jobcentre and to the central DWP team for the work they have been doing to support the community through the Team Barrow project? I was also delighted to find out that we are going to be a WorkWell pilot area in south Cumbria. Could my right hon. Friend outline the difference that will make to local small and medium-sized enterprises and to people looking to get into the jobs market?

[Mel Stride]

It will intervene at a very early stage of the health journey for those falling out of work and going into long-term sickness and disability benefits. We want to stop that journey by helping people and, through WorkWell, bringing together healthcare assistants and work coach assistants to make sure that we retain people in work or, if they are not far from the labour market, bring them into employment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Fell Excerpts

Monday 5th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Western (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

9. What estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of economic inactivity due to ill health.

[Simon Fell (Barrow and Furness) (Con)]

11. What steps his Department is taking to reduce labour inactivity.

[Antony Higginbotham (Burnley) (Con)]

21. What steps his Department is taking to reduce labour inactivity.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mel Stride]

On NHS waiting lists, there has been progress, in that the two-year waiting lists have almost been entirely dispensed with and those of 18 months have been very substantially reduced. Our Department recognises that work is part of the solution to improving people’s health, which is why we are putting forward the WorkWell service, bringing together medical input and work coach input; fit note reform to help at an earlier stage of the journey; and the reforms to the work coach assessment. All those things are moving towards getting more people into work, which is good for their health.

[Simon Fell]

In Barrow and Furness, an estimated 4,000 people who could be contributing to the labour market are not doing so. I am incredibly grateful to my right hon. Friend and his team, in the Barrow jobcentre and centrally, who, alongside Team Barrow, have worked with local employers and skills providers to help get those people back into our incredibly tight labour market. Will he pass my thanks on to those teams? May I also encourage him to visit to see their good work?

[Mel Stride]

I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting all the good work that has gone on in his constituency. I believe he opened a jobcentre only as recently as 30 January in his constituency. He is a doughty campaigner for and supporter of employment in his patch. He asks whether I will visit his constituency. I would certainly like to consider that, but my hon. Friend the Employment Minister might also visit, because she just said she was particularly keen to do so.

Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Bill

Simon Fell Excerpts

Friday 3rd March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Simon Fell]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Sally-Ann Hart) on bringing forward this important Bill and getting it to Third Reading. This is a really important issue. I think we have all had cases in our constituency surgeries—we have heard it from Members already—where people have brought the most horrific issues to us. It ranks as one of the top issues. The stories we hear about coercive control and the impact it has on people’s mental health and their ability to look after their children are profound. The steps in the Bill will go a long way to making the world a little bit better for people who are in some of the most difficult circumstances we see as constituency MPs.

Coercive control and financial abuse are just terrible; they are draining. They have impacts far beyond simple pounds and pence. We have all seen that impact, mainly on women and children, when abusers have made it difficult for their former partners by using money as a means of control. Of course, the majority of separated parents do the right thing—they pay their bills and support their children financially—but we see time and again that it is the few bad apples who really make life difficult. They are a reason to look again at the system and at reform.

It is fair to say that, until reasonably recently, financial abuse had been under-recognised as a form of domestic abuse. We need to recognise that predominantly female victims are cut off from sources of money by their partners as a form of control. Some 2.4 million people in England and Wales are estimated to have suffered some form of domestic abuse. In the UK, some reports estimate that one in eight adults—5.9 million people—have experienced economic abuse of some kind in their lifetime from a partner or family member. The majority of those—4.2 million—are women. It leaves them with no money for basic essentials such as food and clothing, and has a massive impact on children, who are the real victims but often overlooked. Having spoken to Citizens Advice in Barrow and in Ulverston, and the fantastic Women’s Community Matters in Barrow, I know just how much this matters and how much time it takes third-sector organisations to help to pick up the pieces and to support people who genuinely do not know where to turn, which is often why they end up with us.

The CMS already has safeguards in place for victims of domestic abuse. For instance, it ensures that there is no unwanted contact between parents, and provides information on how parents can set up a bank account with centralised sort codes so that they cannot be traced. We all acknowledge that any situation where former partners have to co-operate is going to be difficult, particularly when there has been domestic abuse. That is why the proposals in the Bill matter so much. They give victims of domestic abuse the choice to use collect and pay so that they can decide what is best for their personal circumstances. It gives them the freedom to avoid having to transact with the other parent where that is difficult and may lead to bad results. Hopefully, it will make them feel as safe as possible while using the Child Maintenance Service, particularly if the relationship with their former partner was abusive, and will protect them from ongoing coercion and abuse in financial arrangements.

Dozens of constituents have spoken to me during constituency surgeries about their issues and the abuse that they have been through. They have told me about the challenges not just for them but for their children, which affect their mental health, and the fragile relationships that they are trying to rebuild after separation and divorce. The Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye is an important step to helping them. I am sure that they will recognise that. This hidden abuse is hurtful and hateful. I am incredibly grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing the Bill forward, and I am glad to lend it my full support.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Fell Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[David Rutley]

I thank the hon. Member—another good Cheshire MP—for his question. We are working hard to make the right decisions first time, every time. All health professionals undertaking assessments on behalf of the Department must be registered practitioners who have also met requirements around training and competence. We are working hard to make sure that we can further improve the quality of those assessments with clinical coaching and monthly performance meetings.

[Simon Fell (Barrow and Furness) (Con)]

6. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed closure of her Department’s office based in Phoenix House in Barrow-in-Furness on the ability of her Department to deliver specialist services in that area.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Guy Opperman)]

The Department’s priority will be to retain, retrain and redeploy colleagues either within the Department for Work and Pensions or within other Government Departments in the area, and with no reduction in the overall services people receive.

[Simon Fell]

The plan to close Phoenix House in Barrow will result in more than 40 specialist jobs leaving the area. This matters because the people there are the only team in the country able to deal with the really complicated industrial disablement benefits that they process. Only recently, largely due to our industrial heritage in Barrow, we were confirmed as having the highest rate of mesothelioma in the UK. The team at Phoenix House help not just Barrow residents but people across the UK with such complex diseases. I have written at length to the Secretary of State about this, with detailed testimonies from charities, service users, staff members and third-party organisations that want to keep the centre open. Will my hon. Friend meet me to discuss how we can find a way to make this work?

[Guy Opperman]

My hon. Friend is a doughty campaigner for his constituency and for the wider area, and the jobs that he is concerned with, and I give him great credit for that. I am not the responsible Minister, and I know that that letter has only recently arrived into the Department, but I will ensure very definitely that the Minister in respect of this particular decision will meet him in the near weeks so that there can be a proper discussion in respect of the situation for impacted staff.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Fell Excerpts

Monday 7th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mims Davies]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this issue. Universal credit now has an identifier to help us enhance support for all our claimants who may have a veteran background. Many people do not declare that background and can be working with us for a long time before they recognise that it needs to be understood. Some 83% of veterans are employed within six months, but we need to do better and make sure that all are supported.

[Simon Fell (Barrow and Furness) (Con)]

7. What support her Department is providing to young jobseekers.

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

Young people claiming universal credit and searching for work are supported through our boosted DWP youth offer. This includes new, dedicated support from youth employability work coaches. Despite the challenges of covid-19, the DWP has opened over 160 new, specialised youth hubs across Great Britain. These innovative and vital interventions contributed to over 130,000 young people starting kickstart roles and, most importantly, to a record low youth unemployment level.

[Simon Fell]

I thank my hon. Friend for her answer. Last week I was fortunate enough to visit the jobcentre in Barrow. It is rare to meet such a dedicated and enthusiastic bunch of people, and they have really been empowered to do their job, working with young people, using the kickstart scheme, and making sure that young people are prepared and have the clothes they need to get to interviews and get to work. It is absolutely fantastic to see. With that in mind, could I invite my hon. Friend to Barrow to see the good work they are doing and hear more about the route into work that they are planning for young people in the future?

[Mims Davies]

I thank my hon. Friend for such warm, generous feedback. That work happens up and down the land in our jobcentres and I hear similar good news stories every day. I invite those on the Opposition Front Bench to actually step into a jobcentre, see what is really going on, meet the kickstarters and see what this has meant to their lives. In fact, at BAE, not far from my hon. Friend’s constituency, one young man has moved into an apprenticeship and is now inspiring people through our youth hubs to do exactly the same by talking about his work journey.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Fell Excerpts

Monday 13th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mims Davies]

The hon. Gentleman will be pleased to know that the Department has been working on that challenge for some time. On 4 October a new sector-based work academy will commence on that in Truro, in the midlands a pilot scheme has been working directly with Eddie Stobart, and our flexible support fund helps people to go into that sector. Cross-Government work is going on, and we are key to that. We have the people who are keen to be part of this issue, and the programmes to match.

[Simon Fell (Barrow and Furness) (Con)]

5. What recent assessment she has made of the effect of the uplift to the standard allowance of universal credit on supporting people into work.

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

Throughout the pandemic our jobcentres have remained open to support the most vulnerable claimants, as well as those who have been impacted. No assessment has been made of the temporary measure due to the pandemic. Our plan for jobs continues to ensure that people receive tailored Jobcentre Plus support to help them find the work they need and, crucially, to develop their skills.

[Simon Fell]

I thank my hon. Friend for her response. I pay tribute to the local team in Barrow and South Lakes for their hard work in helping people into jobs, and giving them the skills and experiences they need to get into the job market. Indeed, I am looking forward to opening Barrow youth hub on 30 September. That said, many of my constituents are concerned about the changes to universal credit and the potential cliff edge. Will the Minister explain what mitigations are in place to protect those who have concerns about their future?

[Mims Davies]

Youth hubs are crucial; we have heard about one in Darwen and one in Barrow. My hon. Friend will be aware that the DWP is focused on the multibillion-pound intervention that is our plan for jobs, which, crucially, will support people of all ages, with support for new skills and help to increase their hours, understand what their barriers are, and find that crucial new work. That includes youth hubs. My goal is to have 150 open by the end of the year, and the crucial new one in his constituency is part of that.

Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit

Simon Fell Excerpts

Monday 18th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Simon Fell (Barrow and Furness) (Con) [V]]

I am proud of the incredible package of support that has been put forward by the Government to assist families and those struggling during these times. It has been as unprecedented in its scope and reach as this pandemic has been challenging. Over £280 billion has been brought forward to support people’s jobs and incomes through this emergency, and the package has been praised by the IMF as

“one of the best examples of co-ordinated action globally”.

That support includes the topic of today’s debate. The uplift in universal credit amounts to £1,000 extra a year. My views on this are on the record. I am glad to stand with my colleagues in the Northern Research Group when we say that now is not the time to consider any reduction in the uplift in universal credit. This uplift was brought in to help people through the extreme challenges of the pandemic, and those challenges have not passed. Indeed, as furlough ends, we may be entering even more challenging times.

More and more people have been pushed into the category of just about managing, and more and more people are now using universal credit than ever before. Indeed, the system and its flexibility is the unsung hero of these times, providing a safety blanket for so many. The uplift is not a handout, but rather a genuine hand up to those who need it and are trying to do the right thing. Alongside the rest of the support package offered by this Government, it has been compassionately delivered in the face of an incredibly challenging backdrop.

We have to recognise why we are here. This pandemic has fundamentally shaken society and given us reason to look again at ourselves and how we help our neighbours. The community response to covid has been remarkable. In my own constituency, the energy and dedication of local community resilience groups is something to behold. We see that same energy again in the volunteers, doctors and staff who are supporting the vaccination effort.

For all that, the virus risks taking communities like mine backwards, and we simply cannot allow the impacts of it to stretch beyond health and entrench disadvantage as well. This is even more the case as we look to recovery and levelling up post pandemic. It is absolutely right that decisions on spending are taken at the Budget—this is the normal and appropriate way of doing things—but I gently ask my hon. and right hon. Friends to consider these views carefully. The uplift is making all the difference.

Yesterday, I received an email from a constituent who had never used universal credit before and told me that she had never expected to, but she called it life-saving. This Government have done so much to support families through this crisis, but we should remember that phrase and we should be unafraid, at the Budget, of maintaining the uplift while the effect of this pandemic is still being felt. Doing so will be in keeping with the agile and comprehensive support the Government have delivered to families since the start of this pandemic.