Oral Answers to Questions

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Monday 19th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Newton]

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is just factually incorrect. We have seen the growth of many full-time jobs, and the number of zero-hours contracts is going down. Speaking as a woman who raised her family, I can tell him that part-time employment can be an extremely good option for many people in our labour market.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

16. What steps she is taking to ensure that the welfare system rewards people (a) moving into work and (b) extending their working hours.

[The Minister for Employment (Alok Sharma)]

I want to start by thanking my right hon. Friend for the engagement and support that she gives to her local jobcentre. As I have noted, we recently announced in the Budget a £1,000 increase in work allowances. We also have the single taper to ensure that claimants are better off working, and working more. Evidence also shows an increase in earnings for those in work and on universal credit by an average of £600 a year.

[Theresa Villiers]

Can the Minister confirm that claimants on universal credit are more likely to move into work and more likely to make progress towards longer hours in work under this system, compared with the old system that we inherited from Labour?

[Alok Sharma]

My right hon. Friend makes an important point. Under the legacy benefits system, around 1.4 million people spent almost a decade trapped on benefits instead of being helped into work, and much of that time was under the last Labour Government. Under universal credit, people get into work faster, they stay in work longer and, very importantly, they earn more.

Oral Answers to Questions

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Monday 13th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

We know that people on universal credit spend a great deal more time looking for work than others, and that they apply for a wider range of jobs and consider jobs that they may not have considered before. All that is part of why it involves significantly better labour market outcomes, and why people are more likely to be in work after six months than they were on the old benefits.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

16. What steps he is taking to ensure that the benefits system does not penalise people who wish to increase the number of hours they work.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr David Gauke)]

Universal credit is transforming and modernising the welfare state, ending complicated rules around employment hours and the cliff edges of the old system. Universal credit has a clear system of allowances and tapers to ensure that claimants know that they are always better off in work.

[Theresa Villiers]

Does the Secretary of State agree that one of the fundamental flaws of the system that we inherited from Labour is that people who wanted to work more than 16 hours a week could lose 90p of every pound that they earned?

Oral Answers to Questions

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Monday 20th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Andrew Rosindell—not here.

[Mrs Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

T9. Does the Minister agree that it was important to introduce the cap on out-of-work benefits to deal with the excesses of a system that used to see a single household being given £100,000 a year in housing benefit?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Welfare Delivery (Caroline Nokes)]

My right hon. Friend is right to point out that the benefit cap is working. It has brought about behavioural change, and evaluation of the current cap level has found that capped households are 41% more likely to go into work than similar, uncapped households. More than that, 38% of those capped said that they were doing more to find work, a third were submitting more applications and a fifth went to more interviews.