Universal Credit

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

No.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

Fraud, error and overpayment led to £2.8 billion being wasted during the introduction of tax credits by the previous Government. Has my right hon. Friend made an assessment of how much has been lost during the phased introduction of universal credit to fraud, error and overpayment?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

There is no money lost to fraud, error and overpayment under the universal credit system. As we roll it out, the system itself will save a huge amount in fraud and error on the current system, which is a mess. The level of overpayments and clawbacks of tax credits every single year is a scandal; the scandal is that the policy and the programme left to us by the Opposition, which has been failing every year, is costing huge sums of money.

Housing Benefit

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Tuesday 12th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

It is an anti-family policy as well as an anti-disabled people policy.

The average hit per household is £14 a week, or £720 a year. It might not sound much to members of the Cabinet, but it is more than the cost of a daily school meal. It is almost the entire cost of feeding a growing child for a year, or equivalent to someone losing all their child benefit for a second child.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

Does the hon. Lady honestly think that the founders of the welfare state intended it to be used by single people to live in two, three or four-bedroom houses while families are living in overcrowded flats?

[Rachel Reeves]

When a Labour Government introduced the welfare state it was a safety net for some of the most vulnerable people. The 400,000 disabled people who are going to be hit by the bedroom tax are exactly the people who Beveridge’s and Clement Attlee’s welfare state were designed to protect—and shame on you for taking that safety net away.

Many of the people affected by the bedroom tax have nowhere else to go and no choice but to take the financial hit, making impossible choices between feeding their children, paying the gas and electricity bills, and paying the rent.

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[Stephen Twigg]

I listened carefully to what the Minister said, and it seemed to me that he was saying exactly that. I should appreciate an answer to my hon. Friend’s question from the Minister. If the needs of the lady in my constituency whom I have just mentioned are the same in January and there is no longer any money left in the pot in Liverpool, will the Government come up with the additional funds that are needed to ensure that those discretionary payments continue?

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Stephen Twigg]

I have given way twice, so I shall not do so again.

I have also noticed a perverse effect of this policy on the constituents who come to see me. Often now, people who have been on the social housing waiting list for some time and who are entitled to a larger home are reluctant to move to a larger home. That is sometimes because they would have to pay more. However, I am meeting families who would not be subject to the bedroom tax but who are nervous of taking the larger property because they think their situation might change in the future—they might lose their job and therefore have to go on to housing benefit, or their sons or daughters might move away and suddenly they have spare bedrooms.

The result of this is not just a general increase in the number of empty properties, but, in particular, an increase in the number of empty larger properties. Liverpool Mutual Homes has had a brilliant programme over recent years of improving its properties so the standard is very high, yet it is finding it very difficult to fill those properties. In April last year LMH had just 18 vacant three-bedroom properties; that number has now trebled to 54. How can that be right, and in the name of dealing with overcrowding how can it make any sense to have an increase in the number of empty larger family properties in Liverpool and other communities around the country?

We heard earlier from the hon. Member for South Derbyshire about leadership. The Opposition are showing real leadership. This is an enormous issue in the city of Liverpool, in my constituency and across Merseyside. It is directly affecting families and communities across my constituency.

The Prime Minister said at last year’s Conservative party conference:

“Conservative methods are not just good for the strong and the successful but the best way to help the poor, and the weak, and the vulnerable.”

Where is the social justice in the bedroom tax? There is no justice. Where is the compassion we used to hear about from this Government? There is no compassion.

The promises we have heard—the words of the Minister today, the words of the Prime Minister last year—ring very hollow in my constituency, not just to those affected by the bedroom tax, but to others who care about the communities in which they live. This is a tax that hits the poor, the weak and the vulnerable. It is a symbol of the social injustice for which we know the Conservative party stands. I urge colleagues on both sides of the House, including the Liberal Democrats, to vote with us tonight against this cruel, unjust, unworkable bedroom tax.

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Monday 14th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Lorraine Fullbrook (South Ribble) (Con)]

3. What assessment he has made of the effect of the expansion of the new enterprise allowance on young entrepreneurs.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

7. What assessment he has made of the effect of the expansion of the new enterprise allowance on young entrepreneurs.

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[Mr Duncan Smith]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The example she gives is one of many that prove the programme is working. The scheme was due to end in September 2013, but now, as a result of its success, referrals will extend to 2014. More than 54,000 have taken up the mentoring offer and there is an extra £35 million for an additional 60,000 mentoring places. I hope my hon. Friend, and all hon. Members, will ensure that many more people know about the scheme and have the same opportunity as her constituent.

[Stephen Mosley]

Last month, I organised a small business fair in Chester. We had the support of the local provider, Blue Orchid, which seems to be doing an excellent job of helping people to start businesses in Cheshire. There are a large number of providers across the country. What assessment has my right hon. Friend made of their effectiveness?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

For the most part they provide a good service to all constituents and have been successful in all parts of the country. They operate within Jobcentre Plus districts and are monitored locally. If there are concerns, they are raised with the Jobcentre Plus. Their monthly management information flow gives us a very good overview of the scheme. In the north-west, my hon. Friend’s region, 8,000 have started working with a mentor and 4,420 have started claiming the weekly allowance—a big success.

Romanians and Bulgarians (Benefits)

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Tuesday 5th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

It has been a problem for some time—this is the point I am trying to make—that the open door comes through on the tax credit system, whereas self-employed people have been able to make that claim. This is the Big Issue seller question that has been going around—I am very positive about The Big Issue, by the way; this is just about who we pay to do that. The reality is that universal credit opens up an opportunity for us to tighten up those measures, and we will tighten up hugely on access through universal credit for legitimately self-employed people who are unable to declare any kind of income that we might recognise as real.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

There is always a danger, when we are discussing a problem such as this, that we give the impression that all immigrants are coming to this country for our benefits system. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the vast majority of eastern European immigrants into the UK are coming here to work and to contribute to our society, and that they should be welcomed?

Housing Benefit (Under-occupancy Penalty)

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Wednesday 27th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Jessica Morden]

I agree with my hon. Friend’s excellent and powerful point.

According to the Trussell Trust, the huge increase in the use of food banks is due in no small part to the benefit changes. Some 42% of those who turn up for their three-day supply of food are not able to balance their budgets because of benefit delays, mistakes, sanctions or reviews. Front-line professionals have to give a reason for a referral to a food bank and problems with welfare are increasingly being cited.

With food inflation above 4% and increases in energy and petrol costs, it will be impossible for many people on low incomes to absorb the additional housing costs. Rent arrears will increase and housing associations might struggle to deal with that. The Welsh Tenants Federation estimates that 10% of tenants are already in debt to their social landlord and that a rent increase on top of those rent arrears could result in 4,000 people presenting themselves as homeless. Newport city council in my area estimates that there will be a 5% increase in homelessness next year.

The Government’s answer to those who cannot move is that the discretionary housing payment will deal with all the issues. Newport is getting £343,000 of discretionary housing payment and Monmouthshire £121,000.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

The hon. Lady is portraying a bleak picture, but as we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North West (Greg Mulholland), Labour did exactly the same thing in 2008 when it introduced the local housing allowance in the private sector. Any of us could have stood up then and said exactly the same things that Opposition Members are saying now. Why did Labour introduce that policy in 2008?

[Jessica Morden]

It did not work like that. We are debating a policy that will come in in April. As Members have explained, it will be applied retrospectively to people who have been living in their houses for decades. Government Members have forfeited the right to make such interventions because they have given tax cuts to millionaires.

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[Jane Ellison]

With all due respect, that was not in any sense a response to the challenge I made to Opposition Members.

[Stephen Mosley]

It might help my hon. Friend if I quote something that the shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions wrote earlier last year when he said that

“housing benefit alone is costing the UK over £20 billion a year. That is simply too high. Beveridge would have wanted determined action from government to get communities working once again, not least to bring down that benefits bill to help pay down the national debt…He would have wanted reform that was tough-minded, and asked everyone to work hard to find a job.”

Does my hon. Friend agree with the shadow Secretary of State?

[Jane Ellison]

I agree with my hon. Friend and that point underlines the problem of the official Opposition on this issue. To date, the Labour party has voted against something like £83 billion of deficit reduction measures. As we move closer to the next general election, there comes a point where, to be credible, Members must start to say what they would do.

State Pension Reform

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Monday 14th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

I would certainly warmly welcome all-party support. I have tried to approach the issue in as constructive a way as I can, because we want an element of stability in the pension system. I am not convinced that levying national insurance contribution on working pensioners is the way forward. Clearly, what we want is some flexibility in retirement. We want to get away from this cliff edge where people are either working or retired. We are interested in a model of phased retirement, partial drawing of pensions, deferring retirement and part-time work. As soon as we say, “You are either working or retired; you pay national insurance or you do not”, we get back to the cliff-edge model that we are trying to move away from.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

I welcome this statement, which will reduce the complexity of the pensions system, reduce means-testing and reduce the uncertainty for future pensioners. Will the Minister say whether it will also reduce administration costs within the Department for Work and Pensions?

[Steve Webb]

It will indeed. To give a flavour of the scale, at the moment nearly half of all pensioners are entitled to some sort of means-tested benefit. That is an extraordinary and absurd situation. If I tell the hon. Gentleman that by the time the system is fully implemented, we will be down to one in 20 pensioners being entitled to pension credit, that provides an example of the scale of the change we are bringing in.

Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Ian Mearns]

I could not agree more. My surgery in Gateshead is regularly populated by people with similar problems. This is a society that Government Members do not understand. In the whole town, the average income of a household is not much more than £20,000 a year. That is the income for the whole household, not for an individual.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

Surely the way to help people on incomes of just above £20,000 is to reduce the amount of tax that they have to pay. What the hon. Gentleman is proposing is to tax them with one hand and give part of it back with the other. The way to solve the problem is to do what the coalition Government are doing and remove them from tax altogether.

[Ian Mearns]

What is shocking for low-income families is the impact of VAT on their real income. Rises in VAT and other taxes of that nature have a disproportionate impact on people on lower incomes.

Remploy

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Monday 10th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Esther McVey]

What we are in favour of is getting as many disabled people as possible—there are 6.9 million disabled people of working age—into mainstream work. If anything will help with that journey for those people, we will be in favour of it.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

Last year, the Remploy factories made a £70 million loss. I listened carefully to the shadow Secretary of State and he gave no indication of how that loss could be made up. Has my hon. Friend the Minister received any representations from Opposition Members on how that £70 million gap can be filled?

[Esther McVey]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. No, I have heard no ideas on how that gap would be filled—it would be another spending commitment from the Opposition requiring more money. They have lots of things they oppose but no ideas about what they would actually do.

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Monday 10th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

This Government are doing more to help unemployed young people back to work than was ever done by the previous one. I remind him that his Government left us with rising youth unemployment. They took all those who were unemployed for over 10 months and put them on a course. When those who were unemployed came off the course, they went back to zero, and therefore were never registered. We have a better record than they had.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

2. What steps he is taking to prevent fraudulent universal credit claims.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)]

We are investing £400 million in the next four years to reduce fraud and error as part of a joint operation with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Cabinet Office. We are already making progress, and universal credit will enable even greater strides to be made. At the autumn statement, the inclusion of universal credit in the baseline—a critical moment—means we now anticipate savings from fraud, error and overpayments to be roughly £2.2 billion per year.

[Stephen Mosley]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s response. Any money defrauded from the taxpayer is money taken from those who are most in need. Does he agree that universal credit is one way in which the Government are cracking down on those who are abusing the system?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

That is absolutely true. We were left with a series of benefits that too often were riddled with fraud and error. Not all of this is about fraud. Many people are receiving overpayments or underpayments when they should be receiving the correct amount. Too often with tax credits, people are chased at the end of the year, without their realising that they had received the wrong money in the first place. Universal credit will be kinder in the sense that it will be adjusted each month. It will help us save huge sums—some studies state £2.2 billion per year.

Ford UK (Duty of Care to Visteon Pensioners)

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Tuesday 4th December 2012 Westminster Hall

[James Duddridge (Rochford and Southend East) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Caton, for calling me to speak. It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Mike Freer) on securing this debate and on bringing to it his expertise, which was developed not only in his casework but in his time at Barclays bank, which is a period of time that I am very familiar with. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Basildon and East Thurrock (Stephen Metcalfe) for all the work that he has done on this issue. This debate demonstrates how, as a House, we can operate together, and how we can operate together regionally, with our friends in Wales working alongside our colleagues in Essex. I am also reminded of an Adjournment debate that took place back in 2009, when my hon. Friend’s predecessor, who is now Baroness Smith of Basildon, spoke very ably. Her father was actually a Visteon pensioner and I suspect that she maintains an interest in this matter.

Like other hon. Members, I have had several constituents raise this issue with me: more than five of them have done so formally; and I am sure that many more are concerned about it. I am particularly concerned about those people with deferred rights within the pension who perhaps have not looked closely at this issue, who are still of working age and who have little idea of how their Ford and Visteon pension has diminished over time.

The debate title rather summarises things; this is not a general debate on Visteon pensions, but a debate that is specifically about the duty of care of Ford UK to Visteon pensioners. As I understand it, a duty of care has the sole purpose of ensuring that a person, or in this case a company, adheres to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could potentially impinge on, or detrimentally impact, others. On that basis, I do not believe that Ford has carried out its duty of care well. There are two main issues Ford needs to address: why were employees actively encouraged to transfer their pensions in the statements my hon. Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green mentioned, and to what degree were those involved aware of the risk factors involved in establishing the group?

There has been a lot of discussion of the legal responsibilities, and reference has been made to the court case. The moral responsibilities have also been mentioned, initially by my hon. Friend the Member for Maldon (Mr Whittingdale), and subsequently by a number of other hon. Members. However, there is also a reputational issue, because one of the most valuable things an international conglomerate has is its reputation, and Ford’s is being damaged daily because it has not dealt with this matter.

My hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) mentioned the current board, and I had not appreciated how many of its members were around at the time. That raises questions about the board’s competence, and I very much hope that the matter is tabled at the next board meeting and that board members look not only at their financial, legal and moral obligations, but specifically at the real damage they are doing to Ford’s reputation.

A few years ago, I considered buying a Ford—I had not thought through the ethics of that in relation to my constituents. I would certainly not consider buying one now, and I would feel somewhat seedy driving around in one, given that that organisation does not treat its employees properly. It is hypocritical for a member of the Ford family to talk of a family when those he describes as its members have been so poorly treated—that is not acceptable. We need to be temperate in our language in the House of Commons, but I was sympathetic when my hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker) described Ford as a four-letter company behaving in a four-letter way. I am not sure quite which word he was referring to, given that I am a very naive and sheltered young man, but I am sure he will educate me later outside the Chamber.

The idea of bringing the employees and the trustees from Visteon and Ford into the House of Commons is excellent, and I urge the Minister to indicate to the Department for Work and Pensions and the Work and Pensions Committee that he would welcome an inquiry into Ford’s responsibility in relation to Visteon, because that could turn up the temperature. It would be fair to say that although the people from Ford who have come along to the meetings—not all of which I have been able to attend—have been very good, there is no point talking a good game and then not delivering. It is perfectly legitimate, therefore, for us to set out to damage the reputation of Ford until the company does the right thing.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

We have been aware of this case for several years, and Ford has had plenty of opportunity to put things right on its own. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is now time for Parliament to take action, whether by taking up his suggestion or by taking up any other suggestion the Minister might come up with?

[James Duddridge]

Absolutely. As with many cases that go on for a long time, it is only when we review them for meetings and for debates such as this that we realise quite how long they have gone on for. It has been an unacceptable period, and it is quite chilling when hon. Members say that the company is perhaps waiting for the bulk of those affected to die so that when it does settle, it will be cheaper. That is truly disgusting.