"I almost always agree with my hon. Friend, so the answer is yes. He also provides me with an opportunity to clarify a point that has not been covered in the last hour or so: the payment will continue not to be exportable for those not resident in the UK.
"I almost always agree with my hon. Friend, so the answer is yes. He also provides me with an opportunity to clarify a point that has not been covered in the last hour or so: the payment will not be exportable for those not resident in the UK...." Torsten Bell - View Speech
"I can reassure the hon. Member that there will be an increase in the Northern Ireland Executive’s funding through the annually managed expenditure forecasting process. This will be confirmed at the autumn Budget in the usual way. More importantly to pensioners in Northern Ireland, he will be aware that in …..." Torsten Bell - View Speech
"Our priority at the moment is to extend eligibility for the winter fuel payment, as the hon. Member and I have discussed on a number of occasions, but obviously that sits within a wider set of support. He will have seen the extension to the warm home discount announced in …..." Torsten Bell - View Speech
"As so often, my hon. Friend says it all. We have seen record investment in the Scottish Government’s budget, but we do not see waiting lists falling in Scotland, as they are in England and Wales...." Torsten Bell - View Speech
"The hon. Lady is right to highlight the question of pensioners’ living standards, and we are taking action right the way across the board to deal with that. She will have seen the increases in the state pension in April. We have seen nearly 60,000 extra awards for pension credit …..." Torsten Bell - View Speech
"My hon. Friend makes an important point that is generally relevant to financial services regulation: we want the availability of credit for people, but we want it done safely. That is exactly what the changes are about. As I was saying, debt can quickly mount up when people take out …..." Torsten Bell - View Speech
"I thank Members for their comments. Let me try to do justice to their questions in turn.
The core question raised by my hon. Friend the Member for North East Hertfordshire and both Opposition spokespersons was about merchant-offered credit. First, we do not see huge evidence of that happening. As …..." Torsten Bell - View Speech