Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Iain Duncan Smith

Monday 13th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)]

13. What assessment he has made of recent trends in the award of discretionary housing payments.

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

Figures published in December show that in the first half of the financial year 2013-14 the average committed spend by local authorities was 40% of their allocated budget. Against those who had said that they were overspending, in fact it turns out that the vast majority are not.

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[Mr Duncan Smith]

Yes, I can. The reality, as my hon. Friend says, is that last year about £11 million in underspends was returned to the Department. It is interesting to note the claims made by some in this House. The hon. Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell) said that the money in her area was fast running out. It turns out that, at the six-month cut, only 28% of discretionary housing payment has actually been used. In Nottingham South, only 33% has been used. The hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey) said that too much had been spent in Birmingham, Erdington, but only 47% has been used. Discretionary housing payments are there to be used to help those in the most difficult circumstances. Councils should get on and use them.

[Dr Thérèse Coffey]

My right hon. Friend may not be aware that Suffolk Coastal has used 60% of its budget after nine months and Waveney has used half its budget. Does he agree that that shows that discretionary budgets are working and that it is wrong to try to make political capital out of potentially very difficult human circumstances?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

It does. The reality is that about 71% have spent less than half of their discretionary budgets by the half-way cut of the year, and politicians should always be careful about using individual cases and making political capital out of what are often human tragedies.

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Iain Duncan Smith

Friday 22nd March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

It is despite the fact that he knows nobody trusts him with the economy, which is why he looks more and more like an angry Mr Potato Head. It really is appalling and the idea that the alternative to the Chancellor is the shadow Chancellor is, frankly, enough to make one leave the country.

[Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)]

The list of initiatives that my right hon. Friend has read out illustrates that this Government are part of the aspiration nation, wanting people to own their own homes. That is one of the greatest things to which people aspire, and it is fantastic that we are doing everything we can to help the construction industry and help people achieve that dream.

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on arriving at a really good statement: the aspiration nation. She is absolutely right, and the fact that she has come across it herself is testament to her brilliance on the Back Benches. This is about an aspiration nation, and the alternative—as somebody just remarked to me—is Mr Potato Head to infinity and beyond on borrowing. That is about the end of it.

The Budget also includes further measures, which I want to go through because some are really good.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Iain Duncan Smith

Monday 18th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)]

T7. Before the election, one of the policies that resonated most with my constituents was the Conservative plan to eliminate the couple penalty—the absurdity whereby people can be better off splitting up as a family than staying together. Can my right hon. Friend assure me that that penalty will be erased completely in the next few years, and that there will be no unintended consequences of any other policies that we might be putting forward?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I must say that this remains a target for us, which is—[Interruption.] It is all very well for the Opposition to laugh: they are the ones who created the couple penalty. They could not care less whether people had to split up because of their benefits bills; the disincentives were all there and they created them. We will do our level best to eradicate them.