Oral Answers to Questions
Taiwo Owatemi Excerpts(1 year, 2 months ago)
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Mel Stride
We of course look at particularly targeting harder-hit pensioners through pension credit, and the Pensions Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott), has done a huge amount to promote that. But we are always open to receiving further ideas and having discussions, and if the hon. Gentleman would like to come forward with further ideas, we will certainly look at them.
Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab)
I have been contacted many times each month by parents left seriously out of pocket by their ex-spouses’ failure to pay child maintenance owed. What steps are the Government taking to ensure parents are able to receive their child maintenance on time so that many families are not left subjected to coercive control by their ex-spouses or left out of pocket?
Mims Davies
I thank the hon. Lady for making those points. Child maintenance payments keep about 160,000 children out of poverty each year and are absolutely vital. They play a key role in ensuring both parents play their part in supporting their children whether or not they live with them. If the hon. Lady has particular cases or interests, I am happy to meet her.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation
Taiwo Owatemi Excerpts(1 year, 7 months ago)
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Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab)
I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton) on her brilliant maiden speech. She has done both her family and her constituents proud, and it is an honour to have her in the House.
Yesterday, I listened carefully to the Chancellor’s Budget. As with every Budget, there were announcements that I welcomed, and some where I thought opportunities were missed and the Government could, and should, have gone further. First, I welcome the Government’s suicide prevention support for those with poor mental health, which is vital for our communities. However, there was no additional funding announced to better support NHS services, so I am concerned that the measures that are needed to prevent people from falling into further mental health difficulties in the first place are missing. Prevention is always better than cure, and I am afraid that this Government do not seem to recognise that.
After years of substandard housing, I also welcome the Government’s additional funding for our veterans. These brave men and women have put their lives on the line to protect us and keep us safe, so the very least that we can do is provide them with good accommodation and a place to call home.
This Budget was a chance for the Government to unlock Britain’s promise and potential, but instead, they decided to continue papering over the cracks of 13 years of economic failure. My constituents in Coventry North West are being failed by a Conservative party unprepared to take the necessary bold steps to boost employment for everyone across the UK—not simply creating more jobs in the capital, but delivering for communities across the country. Coventry has seen a spike in the out-of-work benefit claimant count across all age ranges in the past month, and has an overall unemployment rate that is significantly higher than not only the national average, but the regional trend, making it all too clear that this Government are failing to reach groups in my city who need support. I am talking about the young, without whose economic input any growth remains merely a mirage. Without fundamental reforms to jobcentres, support for community groups and active engagement with employers, the Government look set to waste an entire generation of talent, to the severe detriment of us all.
Earlier this year, the further education college in Coventry was forced to stop offering new apprenticeships. That college told me that it found it almost impossible to recruit staff to teach the courses, and instead was having to rely on agency staff. That is just one instance of a wider trend: the Government talk about breaking down barriers to work, but up and down the country, they are still failing the next generation on getting them the skills needed to prosper in the workplace of the future. That is having a disastrous effect on businesses in Coventry, which are crying out for skilled workers. It is even more heartbreaking when I talk to young people in my constituency: they consistently tell me how desperate they are for training, yet because of long-term underfunding and a failure of leadership, they miss out on those opportunities, and vacancies continue to be at a record high.
The Chancellor should have taken the opportunity of yesterday’s Budget to reassess the apprenticeship levy and its scope. For there to be any substantial increase in employment, the Government should support training costs, shorter apprenticeship courses and a wider range of apprenticeships. Getting people into work as quickly as possible must be a priority. In government, Labour will localise employment support, because we know that people embedded in their communities know what is needed in their areas. That is only right: no longer should politicians and civil servants in Westminster make employment decisions for places they know little about. My constituents must be allowed to control their own future.
The reality is that Britain has been falling behind since 2010. The UK has grown more slowly than its peers. Productivity has grown by a paltry 0.4%—the second slowest rate in the G7—with wages lower now than they were in 2010, and because of this crippling economic mismanagement, the Government have consistently failed to invest in our workforce.
The cost of living crisis is hitting people particularly hard because incomes have been squeezed during the past 13 years of Conservative government. In my constituency, ordinary families, disabled people and pensioners are facing difficult choices. Mums are skipping meals so that their children do not. Families are struggling to buy new school shoes and uniform for their children. Older people are hesitating to put the heating on because they are worried about the costs. That is a damning indictment of this Government’s economic failure.
With men earning £162 more per week and £3 more per hour than the women in my city, helping women get back to work and making sure they are paid their fair share is central to the long-term health of the economy. Currently, one in five women in their 50s is caring for an older, sick or disabled relative, rendering them economically inactive, and yet there has been nothing from the Government to tackle the care crisis that would help my constituents get back to work. Only a Labour Government will do what is necessary: uplift skills across the country, invest in apprenticeships, localise employment support and finally get Britain back to work.
I want to make three points on childcare, which is a major issue affecting families in my constituency. I have gone through the details of the Budget, and it is clear to me that the announcement failed to meet the needs of families in my constituency. First, families need immediate support to meet their childcare needs, not a mere promise that they should hold on until 2026. Secondly, the number of early years settings available is decreasing every year, and some families are having to wait as long as 18 months to secure a place for their child so are unable to fully utilise the support available.
Thirdly, early years centres such as Georgie Porgies Pre-School in my constituency need urgent help to keep their doors open. Many of these centres will want to offer the additional hours that the Chancellor announced but are financially struggling. What they wanted to hear from the Chancellor’s Budget was a plan to update the current childcare operating system, an increase in line with inflation of payments per child, per hour, and a scrapping or a reduction of business rates. None of that was announced yesterday, and yet again, special educational needs and disability schools have been neglected, with no announcement on how we will support settings such as Springfield House in Solihull that provide respite care for families in my constituency. It seems that the Government continue to neglect those with the greatest needs.
Cost of Living Increases: Pensioners
Taiwo Owatemi Excerpts(2 years, 7 months ago)
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Beth Winter (Cynon Valley) (Lab)
I rise to speak in favour of the motion, which clearly highlights the fact that older people and pensioners are really at the sharp end of the Tory cost of living crisis, and that they urgently need Government assistance. There are 2.1 million pensioners living in poverty, and there has been an increase in older people’s poverty from 13% to 18%, according to most recent data.
We also know that pensioners are more likely to live in fuel poverty. Age UK reported that, by October of this year, pensioners could be using up to 20% of their income on fuel.
Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab)
My hon. Friend is making an excellent point on the impact of energy bills on pensioners. Pensioners in my constituency of Coventry North West are having to spend twice as much on their energy bills compared with those under 30. Does she agree that this Conservative Government need to do much more to support pensioners to weather the storm of this horrible cost of living crisis?
Beth Winter
I fully agree with my hon. Friend. Indeed, this Government have an absolutely appalling record. It is financial punishment for older people. I never cease to make reference to the fact that behind these statistics are real people. In my constituency in Cynon Valley, older people are disproportionately affected by the cost of living crisis. We have an older housing stock—terraced housing—and high levels of health inequality.
To add insult to injury, two of the campaigns I am involved with in my constituency show that older people are being short-changed by billions of pounds. I refer to the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign and the Mineworkers Pension Scheme. I thank in particular Mi Morgan and her husband in Cilfynydd in my constituency, who work tirelessly on the Mineworkers Pension Scheme campaign, and Dilys Jouvenat, who leads the WASPI campaign back home in Cynon Valley.
People who have helped all their lives to build this country and their communities are suffering, and this Government are not responding to their needs. The cost of living crisis is driven by the Tories’ betrayal of their manifesto pledge to maintain the triple lock and by the regressive tax increases on working pensioners. Perhaps most importantly, it is being driven by inflation outstripping salaries, social security and pension payments, and all that is happening on the Tory Government’s watch.
On national insurance, under the Chancellor’s plans, around 1.3 million working pensioners will be asked to pay the health and social care levy through national insurance. Labour is calling on the Government to halt their poorly-thought-through tax rises, particularly when there are people with broader shoulders who could take the burden that must be borne.
Worst of all, the Tories have chosen to impose a real-terms cut to state pensions this April by sticking to last September’s rate of inflation, which was 3.1%. We know the rate of inflation is likely to be much higher than that. That is why last month in this Chamber I warned that the proposed pensioner up-rating order would increase the level of pensioner poverty in this country, and supported the Child Poverty Action Group, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and other organisations that called for a 6% increase—and indeed we need an even higher increase now, given the likely coming rise in inflation. The 3.1% increase in pensions is an absolute insult to older people in our country.
I will quicky refer to what is happening in Wales, where the Welsh Government are trying to take action. In their recent budget, they extended eligibility criteria for the winter fuel scheme to more people, which has been welcomed by groups such as the Bevan Foundation. The Older People’s Commissioner for Wales has announced an action plan: in addition to extending the eligibility criteria, she says we must maintain that for the second payment due later this year, and that we need a plan published for increasing the take-up of pension credit. Recently the Welsh Affairs Committee, on which I sit, published a report on the benefits system in Wales, noting that much greater awareness raising of people’s entitlements to benefits is needed, because a total of £1.7 billion in pension credit went unclaimed last year.
The UK Government must take urgent action. Some of the things they could do include increasing their financial offer to cushion the rise in energy bills through a windfall tax on those who can afford it, cutting VAT on energy bills and cutting the national insurance rise. The 3.1% rise in pensions, when the Bank of England is hinting that inflation may hit 10%, tells us all we need to know. The Chancellor must act this week. I urge hon. Members to support this motion.
Oral Answers to Questions
Taiwo Owatemi Excerpts(2 years, 9 months ago)
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Mims Davies
I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting that brilliant work. It is efforts such as those—the flexible support fund, the trust and empowerment that we have in our jobcentres, and working with the employer covenant on domestic abuse and getting people into work and back on their feet—that are changing lives every day, in Rugby and other local areas. I am delighted by DWP staff across the land, and proud of them.
Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab)
Dr Coffey
What I will say is that we continue to try to support pensioners through aspects of pension credit, but it was inaccurate to say that what was proposed was a statistical anomaly. That is why we took the steps we took, and that is why we will continue the debate later today.
Covid-19: Child Maintenance Service
Taiwo Owatemi Excerpts(3 years, 9 months ago)
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Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab) [V]
It is a pleasure to speak today, and I would like to thank the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw (Marion Fellows) for securing this necessary debate. The pandemic has had a detrimental impact on child maintenance payments to families in need. Despite the efforts of frontline Department for Work and Pensions staff to handle the increased demand for support, the disruption to the Child Maintenance Service due to the pandemic has been vast. It is increasingly concerning that the understaffing of the CMS has left families struggling. Lack of action on missed payments has left families pushed to the brink of poverty, unable to provide for their children. At a time when families have seen a decrease in their incomes across my constituency, it has been difficult for separated parents to support their children, especially with the ceasing of action to provide missed payments.
On top of this, it has emerged that some parents, when submitting evidence, are having trouble proving that they have lost their job and therefore their vital income. Many of them are unable to make their payments. This is a complete shame. The Government have yet another item to add to their growing list of failures and incompetence in handling services during this time, despite the efforts of the staff on the ground. I have heard testimonies of parents being told that their P45 does not provide evidence of their unemployment or their inability to make adequate child maintenance payments. I have heard from already struggling families in Coventry who have told me about the lack of enforcement, because of a pause in the programme at the start of the pandemic. That has meant that they have had little financial support to assist with the upbringing and wellbeing of these young families. I have been told about glitches in the system whereby the CMS has not been able to locate parents on the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs system, despite parents having used the system in the past. There have been failures after failures, and families are suffering and paying the price for ministerial incompetence.
Many of my constituents adversely affected by the management of the CMS want to do the right thing and they should not be punished further. They also want to know what plans are in place to rectify the faults in the system that allow delays in single parents updating their financial information and in reassessment so that they can begin receiving payments, which provides a lifeline for them. They also want to know what support is planned for families who are expecting reduced payments because of a loss of job and livelihood. My single parent constituents deserve better at a time like this, but it seems that with this Government the families simply come last. The process of child maintenance can already be distressing, so let us make things easier, not harder, for these families, who are already feeling the pinch from this relentless pandemic.