Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Work and Pensions
Stephanie Peacock
Main Page: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)Department Debates - View all Stephanie Peacock's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out
Stephanie Peacock Excerpts(4 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Will Quince
I thank my right hon. Friend for his helpful question and for all the work that he did while at the Department. He, like me, believes that work should always pay, and that we need a welfare system that helps people into work. My mind is full of ideas on how we can improve universal credit, and if he would like to help me in persuading the Treasury to get behind those, I would very much welcome that.
Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)
Barnsley food bank gave out over 4,000 food parcels to people in crisis in a year. The Minister appears to be in complete denial. Why will the Government not accept that the increase in food bank use has a direct link to policies such as universal credit, and that it is about time it was scrapped?
Will Quince
I thank the hon. Lady for her question. I could not disagree more, but I do agree with her that I do not want to see anybody feeling that they have no choice but to visit a food bank. I want to better understand this issue, which is why I visit food banks. I meet food bank organisations and other organisations that help to tackle food insecurity. I would be happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss this further. There is a huge amount of ongoing work.