Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: I warmly welcome the latest fall in unemployment, particularly the 52% reduction since 2010 in my constituency. Will the Minister please endorse the work of Motiv-8 South West, which supports young people into employment and training, and continue to do all that he can to help those who are still struggling to find employment?; Some of my constituents have also raised concerns about changes to their personal independence payments. Will the Minister assure me that claimants will not see any reduction in their PIPs and that the changes are to ensure that help is targeted to those most in need?; Last week, the Scottish Government wrote to the UK Government to express concern over how universal credit is pushing people into more hardship and debt. I also understand that the SNP-led Midlothian Council has written to the Minister to ask for a complete and immediate halt to the full service roll-out of universal credit, which is having an appalling impact on people across my constituency and a further knock-on impact on council resources. When will the Minister realise that the changes being pushed through are punishing some of the most vulnerable people in society? Will he heed warnings from the Scottish Government and others across Scotland that the process should be stopped now?; I put it to my hon. Friend the Minister that, although no MP wants a DWP office closure, there may nevertheless be significant advantages if the King’s Lynn DWP office were to co-locate with the borough council, as there would be synergies, for example, on housing benefit. We could then create a public service centre of excellence for the borough council, the clinical commissioning group and the DWP.; My constituent obtained a court order granting him custody of his two sons, and they were handed over to his care. He informed the DWP but was denied tax credits because, although a letter had been sent to his former wife, she had not responded. During that time, the tax credits were still being paid to her, and it took four months and my intervention to ensure that my constituent received the tax credits to which both he and his young sons are entitled. Will the Minister review the process to ensure that that does not happen any longer so that people do not have to depend on food banks and the kindness of relatives?; Has any of the team seen today’s news about the one-hour-a-month contract offered by Santander bank? Will the Minister guarantee that under no circumstances will any job like that ever be advertised in a jobcentre in this country?; Some 17% of the working-age population suffer from a disability. With labour shortage an issue in my constituency, I have committed to signing up 30 employers to be Disability Confident organisations. Given that I am meeting my chamber of commerce this week, does the Minister have a recruitment message for its members?
Penelope Mary Mordaunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend not only for signing up to be a Disability Confident employer himself but for accepting that challenge, as many Members on both sides of the House have. If every Member of this House accepted the challenge, we would sign up enough employers to reach a quarter of the working population of the UK. I thank him for his leadership in that and wish him well on his visit to his chamber of commerce.