Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Webb Excerpts

Monday 22nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Paul Uppal (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

1. What recent assessment he has made of the effect of trends in longevity on his Department’s expenditure on pensions.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

Between 2004 and 2008, our estimates of life expectancy at pension age rose by more than a year. For those who reach pension age this year alone, that will add £6.5 billion to their expected pensions over their lifetimes.

[Paul Uppal]

Does not increasing longevity make even more urgent the Department’s plans to get more people saving for their old age?

[Steve Webb]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have taken forward plans introduced by the previous Government for automatic enrolment into workplace pensions, so that as people are working for longer, they can still retire on decent pensions, through more workplace saving.

[Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central) (Lab)]

Everybody recognises that increasing age has an impact on the funding of pension schemes, but does the Minister accept that there is a huge difference between a population such as the one that I represent, in which life expectancy is some 10 years less for males and roughly the same for women, and those populations with the highest life expectancy in the country? Simply increasing the state retirement age has an unfair impact on communities such as mine.

[Steve Webb]

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point, and it is one that we are aware of. However, he will be encouraged to learn that in the past decade, life expectancy for both manual workers and non-manual workers, for example, has risen by two years for men. Although there are still differences, both groups are seeing improvements in life expectancy.

[Mrs Anne McGuire (Stirling) (Lab)]

2. What steps his Department plans to take to assist employers to provide real-time pay data for universal credit computations.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Dugher (Barnsley East) (Lab)]

6. What estimate he has made of the likely effects on his Department’s expenditure on out-of-work benefit payments to residents of Barnsley East constituency of implementation of the changes announced in the comprehensive spending review.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

Although estimates of expenditure savings are not available at constituency level, the impact of the changes has been published at the UK-wide level on the website of Her Majesty’s Treasury.

[Michael Dugher]

Is the Minister aware of last week’s report by Professor Steve Fothergill of Sheffield Hallam university, which showed that in areas like my own, private sector employment is unlikely to rise significantly in the next few years? Is it not the case that unemployment will increase, as will benefit payments, in areas like my own, because of the ending of the future jobs fund, the ending of the working neighbourhoods fund and the massive cuts to the local authority, with consequent effects on local employment?

[Steve Webb]

The hon. Gentleman is right to stress the importance of private sector employment, which is why I looked at the situation in Barnsley East. I found that the year to March 2010 saw an increase in employment of more than 3,000. I therefore think that it is vital not to talk down economic growth, because the private sector is creating jobs, including in Barnsley East.

[Jenny Willott (Cardiff Central) (LD)]

7. What discussions he has had with representatives of the social care sector on the cost of mobility support for disabled people.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

The Government remain committed to involving disabled people when developing their policies, and I can tell my hon. Friend that we discussed the care homes measure with a number of disability organisations at the Department for Work and Pensions policy and strategy forum on 16 November.

[Jenny Willott]

We have already heard a number of concerns raised today about these particular proposals. I understand the Government’s rationale, but what consideration has been given to ensuring that residents in care homes who currently receive mobility disability living allowance will still be able to buy Motability cars, and scooters where appropriate, so that they can remain as independent as possible?

[Steve Webb]

My hon. Friend has raised an important facet of these changes, and I can assure her that the Department is already in discussions with Motability about how it might be handled.

[Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP)]

Have the proposals for disability living allowance been subject to an equality impact assessment, and if so, what has been the result?

[Steve Webb]

As the hon. Lady may be aware, when elements are included in primary legislation, statutory equality impact assessments are published at the time that the legislation is published—and will be available to the House.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

8. What recent progress his Department has made on delivering its Work programme.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr David Ward (Bradford East) (LD)]

18. What assessment he has made of the likely effects of his proposed reductions in housing benefit entitlement on jobseeker’s allowance claimants who have been unable to find work for more than 12 months.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

The detailed design of the measure is still being developed and we are carefully considering its impact. We will publish a full impact assessment to accompany the relevant legislation when it is introduced in Parliament.

[Mr Ward]

The proposal is obviously designed as a work incentive measure, but it could be argued that any claimant affected will represent a failure of the measure to get people back into work. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that anyone who is affected is genuinely unwilling to find work?

[Steve Webb]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. The key is to try to stop people being unemployed for 12 months. He will be aware that 90% of those who come on to JSA flow off before the end of 12 months. My right hon. Friend the Minister of State is bringing forward the Work programme, which will help the most hard-to-help groups before the end of the 12-month period to give them the maximum chance of not being in that position in the first place, which is our priority.

[Glenda Jackson (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)]

There are already single parents in my constituency—not exclusively but in the majority female—who are experiencing serious difficulty in convincing employers that they must have flexible working to maintain their child care. What are the Government doing to ensure that employers are aware of their responsibility, given the draconian effects of the proposed reduction in JSA?

[Steve Webb]

The hon. Lady is right to point out the importance of a flexible jobs market. The good news is that a large proportion of the new jobs that are being created are part-time jobs that will be of particular benefit to lone parents. The Government will consult on the right to request flexible working in the coming year.

[Hywel Williams (Arfon) (PC)]

The number of job applicants and the number of posted job vacancies varies widely from constituency to constituency and country to country. Is it fair to apply a universal rule to all claimants when their ability to comply with that rule varies so widely?

[Steve Webb]

The hon. Gentleman will know that Jobcentre Plus advisers already have a good deal of discretion in how they respond to individuals to reflect individual circumstances. We are keen to see that measures such as the Work programme are tailored to the individual so that they can address the particular problems that they face. If those problems involve transport or a lack of very local job vacancies, they can be addressed through the Work programme.

[Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)]

19. What recent assessment he has made of the value for money delivered by the flexible new deal programme.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

T9. Is the Minister aware that his own Department’s statistics show that the impact of restricting local housing allowance to the 30th percentile in Glasgow is that 92% of recipients in one-bedroom properties will lose out by, on average, £7 per week? The Glasgow Housing Association told me on Friday that that is likely to lead to higher levels of rent arrears and lower levels of available investment for its properties. Does not that show how unfair and badly designed the proposals are?

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

I can only agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman on the manifesto on which he stood for election, which stated that we have to cap the rents that we are paying. His analysis assumes a static situation in which rents do not change. The Department puts more than £21 billion into the local housing allowance. If we changed the rules for that, we would change the market. We are trying to put pressure on rents so that they will go down, which will improve the situation.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

T6. The whole House will welcome the news that unemployment is on the decline and look forward to the introduction of the Government’s Work programme. However, my right hon. Friend will be aware of the particular issues facing the north-east. What steps is he taking to ensure that there is support in the meantime for those seeking employment in the region?

[Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North) (Lab)]

As the Secretary of State and his team develop their longer-term thinking on social security, including for state pensions, what emphasis and importance will they place on the contributory principle?

[Steve Webb]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his question. We believe that a link between what people put into the system and what they get out of it is important, and we are looking at ways of modernising that principle. He will know that the contributory principle, as it currently exists, was invented in the 1940s when the assumption was that men worked and women stayed at home. We live in a modern world and need to modernise the contributory principle.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

T7. What measures will be contained in the Work programme to ensure that the unemployed in rural areas get the help they need?

--- Later in debate ---

[Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

May I bring the Minister back to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North East (Mr Bain) about the cuts to housing benefit? The cuts to local housing allowance are the same cuts that will make people in Chesterfield up to £11 a week worse off. Will the Minister confirm that that was not in the Labour party manifesto and is nothing to do with the cap? Will he set the record straight?

[Steve Webb]

On the contrary. The Labour party manifesto said that people who were in work should not be in worse accommodation than people who are out of work. That implies the 30th percentile change, and that is what we have implemented.

[Dr John Pugh (Southport) (LD)]

What are the Government doing to prevent hardened drug addicts with consequent mental health issues claiming DLA in the normal way, which goes straight into their veins and up their noses? What are the Government doing to improve the situation and stop this waste of public money?

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State accept that the Government’s plans to accelerate the increase in pension age will come as a cruel blow to a whole generation of women in this country, because the financial reality of motherhood and family life makes it much harder for many women to build up a pension comparable to those of men? What provision is being made for women aged 54 to 59?

[Steve Webb]

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that no woman aged 59 or 58 is affected at all by the changes. However, we are equalising men’s and women’s state pension ages somewhat more rapidly. No one will be affected until 2016, and those who are most affected and who have the longest increase in working life will have a period beyond 2016, so they will have at least seven years’ notice of the change.

[Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)]

I warmly welcome the long-overdue review of the work capability assessment, but does the Minister agree that there are problems after the assessment, and that the time spent going through appeals and tribunals is far too long? What steps is his Department taking to rectify that?