argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Universal Credit Roll-out — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend. I know that all Members of the House want to ensure that universal credit works for all claimants. It is helping people into work and is built on sound principles, unlike the legacy system, which trapped people and locked them into unemployment. Now we are helping people into work, but we have to listen, learn and adjust where we can, as we have done in the past, with a £1.5 billion package this year. We are still adjusting, learning and helping the most vulnerable.
Universal Credit Roll-out — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: The Secretary of State recently admitted that groups such as lone parents will be £2,400 a year worse off under universal credit. How is the Department going to support such lone parents when their transitional protection ends, as it very soon will?
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): When we came into office in 2010—and then in 2015 and 2017—it was really important for the country to take difficult decisions about what we needed to do to ensure that the benefit was sustainable and affordable, because it had grown by over 60% under Labour. We still have to ensure that the benefit is sustainable and affordable, and that we support the most vulnerable, and that is what this Conservative Government are doing.
Universal Credit Roll-out — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: The Secretary of State recently admitted that groups such as lone parents will be £2,400 a year worse off under universal credit. How is the Department going to support such lone parents when their transitional protection ends, as it very soon will?
Nigel John Mills (Conservative, Centre-right): When we move people over, it is vital that we get them on to the right amount of benefit at the right time, so will the Secretary of State agree to put in place some targets for accurate performance, and to delay the roll-out if those targets are not achieved?
Universal Credit Roll-out — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: The Secretary of State recently admitted that groups such as lone parents will be £2,400 a year worse off under universal credit. How is the Department going to support such lone parents when their transitional protection ends, as it very soon will?
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): We all agree on the founding, sound principles of this benefit, which is helping more people into work. It will give extra money to the most vulnerable. One million more disabled people will get, on average, £110 more a week. We will also be helping the 700,000 people who were getting the incorrect amount of benefit, plus we will be bringing in transitional protection to help them. If the hon. Gentleman wanted to reverse this, what would he do for those most vulnerable people?
Universal Credit Roll-out — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Questions: The Secretary of State recently admitted that groups such as lone parents will be £2,400 a year worse off under universal credit. How is the Department going to support such lone parents when their transitional protection ends, as it very soon will?
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for that. Of course I want to thank not just Haywards Heath jobcentre but all the jobcentres across the country, who are saying that this is now enabling them, for the very first time, to help people into work. We know that that is the case, as we have record numbers of people getting into work— 3.4 million more than in 2010.
Universal Credit Roll-out — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: The Secretary of State recently admitted that groups such as lone parents will be £2,400 a year worse off under universal credit. How is the Department going to support such lone parents when their transitional protection ends, as it very soon will?
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have said both on TV and in the House, we took difficult decisions, as did the country, in 2015-16 because we had a benefits system that had grown by over 60% under Labour. Now it is on a sustainable footing and is fair to the taxpayer and fair to the claimant. One million more disabled people will be getting, on average, £110 more a month, and 700,000 who were not getting their full amount of benefit now will. There will be transitional protection. We are listening, we are learning, and we will adapt and change as need be.
Universal Credit Roll-out — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: The Secretary of State recently admitted that groups such as lone parents will be £2,400 a year worse off under universal credit. How is the Department going to support such lone parents when their transitional protection ends, as it very soon will?
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I have to say that that is some of the worst scaremongering I have ever heard. At the last Budget and this year, we put in another £1.5 billion when we knew that we had to provide more support. I announced in June that we would be helping another half a million disabled people on the severe disability premium. I have agreed to do more for kinship carers and the most vulnerable 18 to 21-year-olds. We are also agreeing to work with Citizens Advice—an independent and trusted organisation—to help people to get on to the benefit. When we hear what we need to do, we will do it.
Job Creation — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): Employment in the UK has increased by more than 3.3 million since 2010 and is currently at a near record high of 32.4 million. Since 2010, the UK has created more jobs than France, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Norway combined.
Job Creation — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): That is precisely why we brought in universal credit, which made sure that people could work each hour they wanted to work and were not trapped by barriers to work, such as the 16-hour rule. We know that there are now 113 million more hours that people can work and that there will be more than 200,000 more jobs that people can go for.
Job Creation — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for her question. I know how important youth employment is to her, and I know that she has visited her local jobcentre. She is quite right in saying that since 2010, youth unemployment is down by 48%. I remember when we brought in work experience, the Opposition were saying how awful it was and that it was slave labour and people did not want to do it—how wrong they were and have proved to be. We will be bringing more schemes forward, to make sure that we have record low unemployment for young people. That is what this party is about—youth and the future.
Job Creation — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Macroeconomics
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said earlier, I will not say exactly what I have been saying in private conversations, but the hon. Lady can be sure that I will be championing our claimants and making sure that what we do is fair to claimants and the taxpayer.
Job Creation — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman will be pleased to know that the number of people on zero-hours contracts this year has dropped by 100,000, and full-time and permanent work accounts for 75% of employment. We are creating real jobs and real growth in this economy.
Contracted-out Health Assessments — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What recent assessment she has made of the (a) accuracy and (b) efficiency of contracted-out health assessments for employment and support allowance and personal independence payment.
Sarah Louise Newton (Conservative, Centre-right): Let us not forget that behind every statistic is a person. That is why I focus on the claimant satisfaction survey data. Overall the customer satisfaction rate is positive, with 87% for PIP and over 90% for the work capability assessment in ESA. We continually look at how we can improve accuracy in our processes.
Contracted-out Health Assessments — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What recent assessment she has made of the (a) accuracy and (b) efficiency of contracted-out health assessments for employment and support allowance and personal independence payment.
Sarah Louise Newton (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for bringing up those specific cases, and of course I would be happy to meet her to look into them. Actually, of all the millions of people who have been assessed for PIP, only 9% have appealed those decisions, and 4% have been upheld, mostly because at that point, more medical information is brought forward. One person’s mistake is one too many, and that is why we are constantly improving the process.
Transition to Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): Claimants are entitled to benefits from the moment of making a successful claim. The first payment under universal credit is made five weeks after the claim date, and all subsequent payments are made monthly thereafter. The five-week wait has no savings implications for the Exchequer.
Transition to Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Gregory William Hands (Conservative, Centre-right): One certain way in which universal credit is helping the public purse is by getting more people into work. Can my hon. Friend confirm that universal credit is forecast to help an additional 200,000 people find work in the coming months?
Transition to Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): I met the Trussell Trust last week and had a very constructive discussion. [Interruption.] I had a very constructive discussion. What I would say to the hon. Lady is that, when it comes to food banks, as she knows, the all-party group on hunger put out a very good report and said there were complex reasons for the use of food banks. You cannot put it down to any one reason.
Transition to Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): Five hundred and thirty households presently receive universal credit in the Kettering constituency, but with the roll-out this Wednesday up to 7,700 households could be affected. Can the Minister assure me and my constituents that Kettering jobcentre is ready for the change?
Transition to Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): I go up and down the country to jobcentres, and they invariably tell me they are having a good experience. They are learning from the past. What I think my hon. Friend will find is that his jobcentre is absolutely prepared for this further roll-out.
Universal Credit: Blind and Partially Sighted People — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): There is extensive engagement with the various organisations, and the Department is working hard to ensure there is full support for the disabled claimant, whether that is through the severe disability premium or our recently announced universal support fund.
Universal Credit: Scotland — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): We have over 1,600 work coaches across 84 jobcentres in Scotland, who are trained to offer support and advice to claimants. As the Secretary of State pointed out earlier, we have a brand-new partnership with Citizens Advice Scotland.
Universal Credit: Scotland — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Stephen Charles Kerr (Conservative, Centre-right): Citizens Advice’s Stirling district is a superb independent source of advice, having published a plain English guide to universal credit. Does the Minister agree that independent advice on benefits is essential and that ensuring it is provided without political point scoring from the Scottish Government and local government will serve claimants better?
Universal Credit: Scotland — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my hon. Friend, who is a great champion of his constituents, and he works very well with the local jobcentre. He is absolutely right: what Citizens Advice is providing is a huge amount of experience; it is an independent organisation with a national footprint. I absolutely agree that the last thing the vulnerable need is political point scoring. What they want is support, and that is what they are getting under universal credit.
Universal Credit: Scotland — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman will know, we have reconfigured our estate. One of the reasons that has happened is that we had over-provision of space— 20% more than we needed—and we now have jobcentres that are actually delivering. At the end of the day, one of the reasons for this is that we have much lower levels of unemployment than in 2010. I hope that is something the hon. Gentleman welcomes.
Universal Credit: Scotland — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said, when I go to jobcentres, it is very clear to me that they are working extremely hard in engaging and in letting claimants know things ahead of time, and indeed in engaging with local Members of Parliament. I hope the hon. Lady has had a chance to visit her jobcentre. If she wants to have a detailed discussion about this, I am very happy to have a discussion with her after these oral questions.
Universal Credit: Household Debt — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): A truly memorable day Alongside the personalised and tailored support of universal credit, claimants have access to extended childcare support, increases in the personal tax allowance and the introduction of the national living wage. For those transferring from legacy benefits, there is an additional two weeks of housing benefit support.
Universal Credit: Household Debt — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman. Universal credit is designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly payments. It is far better that, through the personalised and tailored support of their individual work coach, claimants are able to be given the support to navigate that now and not on the first day of entering work.
Universal Credit: Household Debt — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Questions: Due to the massive backlog in universal credit appeals in Wolverhampton, what steps will the Minister take to ensure that my disabled constituents do not have to wait months on end without benefits for their court appeals?
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): This is an issue that has been raised and that is why additional judges have been recruited to the tribunal system to make sure that goes as quickly as possible. Through their individual work coach, people will get the tailored support as quickly as they can.
Universal Credit: Household Debt — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Questions: Due to the massive backlog in universal credit appeals in Wolverhampton, what steps will the Minister take to ensure that my disabled constituents do not have to wait months on end without benefits for their court appeals?; I also extend my congratulations to my hon. Friend. Does he agree that universal credit is not just about getting more people into work, but people currently working part-time working longer hours by getting rid of the disincentives they used to face on 16 hours and so on?
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his comments. That is absolutely key: with universal credit you will always be better off in work. UC removes the effective 90% tax rate of the legacy benefit and the cliff-edges of 16, 24 and 30 hours. It is a far simpler benefit, which is stopping the £2.4 billion-worth of benefits that were missed in claiming.
Universal Credit: Household Debt — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: Due to the massive backlog in universal credit appeals in Wolverhampton, what steps will the Minister take to ensure that my disabled constituents do not have to wait months on end without benefits for their court appeals?; I also extend my congratulations to my hon. Friend. Does he agree that universal credit is not just about getting more people into work, but people currently working part-time working longer hours by getting rid of the disincentives they used to face on 16 hours and so on?
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): This is the reality, as it stands today: complex legacy benefits of £2.4 billion-worth of benefits not being claimed—an average of £285 a month. As the roll-out of universal credit continues, it will remain a test-and-learn process. Where we can see improvements—we have made many already—we will continue to make them.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): We are constantly improving universal credit in response to feedback and have implemented a wide-ranging package of improvements worth £1.5 billion, some of which my hon. Friend campaigned for. We will continue to do that when we need to.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Macroeconomics
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is always a good campaigner on these causes and we of course meet to discuss these matters. At the moment, the taper rate is 63%, as he says, but it was over 90% under the legacy system. We have dropped it considerably and when we can, when the economy is on a sounder footing, we will seek to drop it even further to make sure that work pays, which is something this Conservative Government do.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady raises a good question about what happened under the previous Labour Government—[Interruption.] Can I just put this on the record, Mr Speaker? Under the previous Labour Government—[Interruption.] Labour Members are huffing, puffing, tutting and shaking their heads, but the number of households where no one had ever worked doubled under Labour. That is where the problem started and we are changing that. It has been a quick change—to 3.4 million people in work—and we have to help those people now to get a higher income, which we are doing.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: The Secretary of State knows that one of the difficulties with trying to correlate the people on universal credit with those who go to food banks is that there is no precise data to compare the two. I know anecdotally that the number of foreigners claiming food bank vouchers is quite high. Is there a state at which we can, with the Trussell Trust, arrange to have data that tells us much more about who is going to food banks and what sort of help they need, including DWP people in their food banks?
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course we have to understand the underlying issues and problems and support people as best we can. I met the Trussell Trust and various poverty groups and we have talked about how we best support families. We believe that the best way to support a family out of poverty is by getting them into work—hence why I pointed out that, under the previous Labour Government, the number of households where no one ever worked doubled. This Government believe that work is the best way out of poverty and we will continue helping people.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Questions: The Secretary of State knows that one of the difficulties with trying to correlate the people on universal credit with those who go to food banks is that there is no precise data to compare the two. I know anecdotally that the number of foreigners claiming food bank vouchers is quite high. Is there a state at which we can, with the Trussell Trust, arrange to have data that tells us much more about who is going to food banks and what sort of help they need, including DWP people in their food banks?
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I have said that, under this benefit, what we sought to do was get more people into work, because that is the best way out of poverty, and that is what we have done. We are helping 1,000 people each and every day into work. We also said that we would make this benefit fair to the taxpayers, who are paying for it, and fair to those claimants, and that is what we are doing.
Benefits System: Claimants’ Needs — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Questions: Under the managed migration plans, are there any proposals for vulnerable people—particularly those with a mental health issue or a learning difficulty—to be guaranteed face-to-face and telephone support, as opposed to just online support?
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, absolutely. This is an important point, and that is why we have improved the training for all work coaches to identify as quickly as possible those who need that additional support. It is a really important and key part of UC.
Work: People with Disabilities — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Sarah Louise Newton (Conservative, Centre-right): We support disabled people into work through a wide range of initiatives, including our £500 million Work and Health programme and the £330 million personal support package, and Access to Work supported over 25,000 people last year. I had meetings all through the summer with our Work and Health Programme providers, including Reed in Partnership in Yorkshire, and I saw fantastic work being done to take a health and wellbeing approach to enable people back into work.
Work: People with Disabilities — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Sarah Louise Newton (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his question and for his fantastic leadership in his constituency. I am delighted to say that hundreds of employers are signing up every week to the Disability Confident scheme, with more than 8,300 having signed up in total, including well over 800 in his own constituency. Many Members have taken up the community challenge, and it is not too late for those who have not participated. I encourage everyone to help people to sign up to be disability confident.
Pensions Dashboard — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): An industry-led pensions dashboard, facilitated by Government, will harness industry innovation and provide an opportunity for the pensions industry to step up and take a leading role. We have engaged with the industry and are assessing the feasibility of a dashboard. We will report shortly on the findings.
Pensions Dashboard — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
David John Warburton (Conservative, Centre-right): Ten thousand of my constituents have been automatically enrolled on the pensions dashboard under this Government. Will the Minister confirm that this is one of many options for my constituents for receiving pensions information, and that the dashboard will remain firmly in place?
Pensions Dashboard — House of Commons, 2018-10-15
Topic: Labor
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. The dashboard will transform how his constituents keep track of their growing number of pensions. This, along with the Single Financial Guidance Body, which the Government set up last year, will provide free and impartial information and guidance to help people plan for their retirement.