UK Parliament / Open data

Welfare Reform Bill

Debate on bills on Wednesday, 9 March 2011, in the House of Commons, led by Iain Duncan Smith. The answering member was Liam Byrne.
Welfare Reform Bill. Second reading debate. Amendment negatived on division (244 votes to 317). Second reading agreed to on division (308 votes to 20). Programme motion on proceedings in Public Bill Committee, on Report, Third Reading and any other proceedings, agreed to on question. Queen's recommendation signified. Money resolution agreed to on question. [Relevant documents: The oral evidence taken on 26 January and 9 February 2011 by the Work and Pensions Committee on the White Paper on Universal Credit, and the written evidence received, HC 743.]
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
524 c919-1029 
Session
2010-12
Department
Department for Work and Pensions
Legislative stage
Second reading
Procedure
Programme motions
Money resolutions
Queen's recommendation
Reasoned amendments
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Welfare Reform Bill. Explanatory notes also published (Bill 154-EN).
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Bills
House of Commons
White paper on universal credit. Evidence 9 February 2011. (Vote)
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons
White paper on universal credit. Evidence 26 January 2011. (Vote)
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 524 c948 (Link to this contribution) Order. A lot of Members wish to participate in the debate, and we have introduced a six-minute time ...
Damian Hinds | 524 c1007-8 (Link to this contribution) As some hon. Members are still waiting to speak, I shall strive for brevity. We are, of course, deba...

Show all contributions (262)
William Bain | 524 c1006-7 (Link to this contribution) If Members look at the details of what is being spent on the Work programme, they will see it does n...
Lord Grayling | 524 c1006 (Link to this contribution) It is very important to deal with this point head on. That is absolutely not the case: every single ...
William Bain | 524 c1005-6 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to be called to speak in this debate. With more than 2.5 million people unemployed...
Speaker | 524 c1000 (Link to this contribution) Order. Just before I call the next speaker, may I point out that 14 Members are trying to catch the ...
Brandon Lewis | 524 c1000-2 (Link to this contribution) I should like to thank the Secretary of State for the assurances that he gave to cancer sufferers an...
Naomi Long | 524 c1004 (Link to this contribution) Another potential benefit of removing the limit on the number of hours that can be worked by claiman...
Stephen Lloyd | 524 c1004-5 (Link to this contribution) I agree with every word that the hon. Lady said. How are we to help people back into work when they...
Mark Durkan | 524 c1002-3 (Link to this contribution) Unfortunately, unlike the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis), I am not in a position to ...
Stephen Lloyd | 524 c1003-4 (Link to this contribution) Given the breadth of the Bill, I intend to focus on the work aspects. The right hon. Member for Cro...
Sarah Newton | 524 c998 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful for that question, and the answer is absolutely not at all. A great number of peo...
Anne Begg | 524 c997 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady believe that anyone who receives any welfare benefit is by definition welfare-dep...
Stephen Lloyd | 524 c999 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman see nothing untoward about more than 5,000 families in the UK receiving more...
Mark Lazarowicz | 524 c998-9 (Link to this contribution) Like many hon. Members on both sides of the House, many of my constituents and many organisations ha...
Mark Lazarowicz | 524 c999-1000 (Link to this contribution) In each case, we have to look at the circumstances of the individuals concerned. However, the idea p...
Andrew Bridgen | 524 c994-5 (Link to this contribution) I welcome not only the Bill but the fact that the coalition Government have recognised the importanc...
Mark Lazarowicz | 524 c995 (Link to this contribution) The fact that such an obviously ultra-loyal Government Member has been getting such messages from hi...
Andrew Bridgen | 524 c995 (Link to this contribution) The Labour party had 13 years to do something. Thirteen years ago, the right hon. Member for Birkenh...
Lord Blunkett | 524 c995-7 (Link to this contribution) This has been an interesting and instructive four and a half hours. There have been some excellent c...
Sarah Newton | 524 c997 (Link to this contribution) Thank you for calling me to speak this afternoon, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a great pleasure and h...
Lord Grayling | 524 c1022 (Link to this contribution) No. This is an important set of reforms and I commend the Bill to the House. Question put, That th...
Lord Grayling | 524 c1021-2 (Link to this contribution) No, I am not going to give way. Before I conclude, let me briefly touch on a couple of points raise...
Stephen Timms | 524 c1019 (Link to this contribution) There certainly are problems. The Government have made much of marginal deduction rates and the impa...
Stephen Timms | 524 c1016-9 (Link to this contribution) We have had a good debate. The Bill contains one good idea and presents us with two serious problems...
Priti Patel | 524 c1015-6 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and his entire ministerial team on bringi...
Speaker | 524 c1015 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am extremely grateful to the hon. Lady.
Sheila Gilmore | 524 c1016 (Link to this contribution) Having sat here all afternoon listening to the debate, I see a substantial difference in attitude be...
Steve Baker | 524 c1011 (Link to this contribution) I hear the right hon. Lady, as have Ministers, but as I have so little time, I hope she will forgive...
Kate Green | 524 c1011-2 (Link to this contribution) Time is tight, so I shall mention a small number of issues which have not yet come up specifically i...
Charlie Elphicke | 524 c1013 (Link to this contribution) Government Members are all aware that behind the Bill stands the financial destiny and future of mil...
Debbie Abrahams | 524 c1013-5 (Link to this contribution) I shall be brief, as I know that other Members still wish to speak. We have heard useful contributio...
David Lammy | 524 c1008-10 (Link to this contribution) I approached this debate hoping that all of us in this House recognise the importance of the dignity...
Steve Baker | 524 c1010-1 (Link to this contribution) I rise in support of the Government, very conscious that a large number of people will have legitima...
Anne McGuire | 524 c1011 (Link to this contribution) On flexibility, does the hon. Gentleman recognise that the 300-odd regulations defining what is mean...
Baroness Bray of Coln | 524 c947 (Link to this contribution) I was recently talking to some constituents in Acton, and I discovered that these proposals for chan...
Liam Byrne | 524 c946-7 (Link to this contribution) Not at all. The point that we are making is about the way in which this reform has been adopted and ...
Sajid Javid | 524 c946 (Link to this contribution) At the last election, the Labour party manifesto contained a pledge to reform housing benefit to ens...
Liam Byrne | 524 c946 (Link to this contribution) That is the evidence from the Mayor of London and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local G...
Alison Seabeck | 524 c946 (Link to this contribution) Before I ask my question, I need to draw the House's attention to the entry in the Register of Membe...
Liam Byrne | 524 c946 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment, but I want to make this point first. Clause 68 puts into the Secretary...
Liam Byrne | 524 c947-8 (Link to this contribution) I will take a couple more interventions in a moment. I want to put on record my thanks to the score...
Liam Byrne | 524 c947 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Lady will have set out, with equal eloquence, the view of the Mayor of Londo...
Jim Shannon | 524 c947 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Oliver Heald | 524 c948-9 (Link to this contribution) Yes, it is in the Bill. The sanctions are about making the Work programme work. It will not work wit...
Oliver Heald | 524 c950 (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend for that. One encouraging development is that many of the proposals in ...
Lord Grayling | 524 c950 (Link to this contribution) This will provide my hon. Friend with an extra minute to conclude his remarks. We very much welcome ...
Oliver Heald | 524 c948 (Link to this contribution) I welcome this opportunity to support the Bill, which will bring about probably the biggest change i...
Oliver Heald | 524 c948 (Link to this contribution) At the moment, it takes 45 minutes in a jobcentre to work out whether someone will be better off in ...
Charlie Elphicke | 524 c950 (Link to this contribution) With housing benefit rising 45% in recent years, does my hon. Friend agree that it is a matter for s...
Oliver Heald | 524 c950 (Link to this contribution) Yes, absolutely right. It is important to bear down on that through the sort of changes now proposed...
Anne Begg | 524 c950-1 (Link to this contribution) This is huge Bill with a huge amount in it, so it is impossible to cover it all in a six-minute spee...
Glenda Jackson | 524 c952 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend, and other members of the Work and Pensions Committee, will be aware that one of the ...
Anne Begg | 524 c952 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. We heard on Monday, in Burnley, that the appeal process can take anything from a year to 18 ...
Harriett Baldwin | 524 c951 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady, who is such a marvellous Chair of the Select Committee, for giving way. Does ...
Anne Begg | 524 c951-2 (Link to this contribution) I hope that they will be addressed in Committee, but the problem is that there are still too many un...
Jenny Willott | 524 c953-4 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Bill, especially the introduction of the universal credit system. It is a huge improve...
Speaker | 524 c954 (Link to this contribution) Order. Time is up. I call Mr Tom Clarke.
Lord Grayling | 524 c952 (Link to this contribution) At present, the appeal process takes 17 weeks on average. A year or more is absolutely not the norm....
Anne Begg | 524 c952-3 (Link to this contribution) Interestingly enough, a constituent of mine is having to wait for six months. I thought that that wa...
Lord Grayling | 524 c955 (Link to this contribution) It might be helpful to put on the record that we have been very clear that we intend mobility provis...
Anne Begg | 524 c956 (Link to this contribution) It is, perhaps, worth putting the record straight on DLA. This afternoon, the impression has been gi...
Tom Clarke | 524 c956 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has considerable knowledge of these important matters. Even to...
David Evennett | 524 c957-8 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on a Bill that will radically reform our welf...
Fiona O'Donnell | 524 c958 (Link to this contribution) On the subject of inaccurate information, a duty press officer from the Department for Work and Pens...
David Evennett | 524 c958-9 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Lady's point and we have had some clarity from the Secretary of State already ...
Julie Elliott | 524 c959-60 (Link to this contribution) No, not at the moment, although I might in a minute. As I said earlier, I want to focus my remarks ...
Tom Clarke | 524 c955-6 (Link to this contribution) So in place of the clear threats we had from no lesser a person than the Prime Minister and in the f...
Jim Shannon | 524 c960 (Link to this contribution) At the beginning of her remarks the hon. Lady said that reform is necessary, which we all accept. Ho...
Teresa Pearce | 524 c967-9 (Link to this contribution) All Members agree that the welfare system needs reform, and I welcome attempts to simplify the benef...
Malcolm Wicks | 524 c965-6 (Link to this contribution) Of course, which is why the Labour Government, under the former Secretary of State for Work and Pens...
Paul Uppal | 524 c966-7 (Link to this contribution) It is an honour to follow the right hon. Member for Croydon North (Malcolm Wicks). I very much share...
Malcolm Wicks | 524 c964-5 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow my Blairite colleague opposite. May I say, by way of introduction, that I...
Mark Tami | 524 c962-3 (Link to this contribution) I recognise that a lot of Members want to take part in the debate, and I want to make just a few poi...
Chris Skidmore | 524 c963-4 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Bill, which marks a point at which we can send out this message: we cannot continue to...
Julie Elliott | 524 c960-1 (Link to this contribution) I totally agree with the hon. Gentleman. Reform is about making the benefit fit the individual need....
Tracey Crouch | 524 c961-2 (Link to this contribution) May I begin by congratulating the Government on introducing the Bill? I firmly believe that its prop...
Ian Jnr Paisley | 524 c973 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman acknowledge that in Northern Ireland there is over £700 million in unclaimed...
Jonathan Reynolds | 524 c973-4 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point; I am pleased that he has been able to put it on the record...
Jonathan Reynolds | 524 c972 (Link to this contribution) I will, because I believe that I could not give way to the hon. Gentleman on Second Reading of the H...
Stephen Lloyd | 524 c972 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman. On the future jobs fund, does he agree that the percentage of people who...
Jonathan Reynolds | 524 c972-3 (Link to this contribution) When I looked into this, anticipating such an intervention, I found that it is difficult to get prec...
Mel Stride | 524 c973 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman explain what progress was made under the last Government, given that the num...
George Hollingbery | 524 c969-71 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton South West (Paul Uppal), who made a com...
Jonathan Reynolds | 524 c971-2 (Link to this contribution) These debates about our welfare system or, as I should say, heeding the comments of my right hon. Fr...
Stephen Lloyd | 524 c972 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Yvonne Fovargue | 524 c975-6 (Link to this contribution) Like many other Members, I welcome the concept of simplicity in the welfare system—of which I have e...
Sajid Javid | 524 c974-5 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Bill, and the excellent and thoughtful contributions that we have heard from all parts...
Yvonne Fovargue | 524 c976-7 (Link to this contribution) I totally agree with the hon. Gentleman, and I have evidence that some lone parents will not be able...
Ian Jnr Paisley | 524 c977 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate what the hon. Lady says about people who are able-bodied and who can work working their...
Harriett Baldwin | 524 c977 (Link to this contribution) This is a profoundly important Bill. It is born out of the Secretary of State's deep passion for hel...
Naomi Long | 524 c978 (Link to this contribution) I acknowledge what the hon. Lady says about the Bill giving the Chancellor the freedom to do that, b...
Harriett Baldwin | 524 c977-8 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman knows, there are many provisions in our welfare system for exactly that sort o...
Stephen Timms | 524 c979 (Link to this contribution) That feature of the proposals will mean that, as a fine simply for having £16,000 in the bank, peopl...
Harriett Baldwin | 524 c978 (Link to this contribution) I think that we have heard the Secretary of State put that on the record on a number of occasions. ...
Harriett Baldwin | 524 c979 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman probably also supports the proposition that I should continue to receive ch...
Anne McGuire | 524 c980 (Link to this contribution) I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend. I believe that this is one of the issues causing the gre...
Mark Lazarowicz | 524 c980 (Link to this contribution) Like my right hon. Friend, I have received representations from many constituents who have a similar...
Anne McGuire | 524 c979-80 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to follow the hon. Member for West Worcestershire (Harriett Baldwin). In June last ye...
John Leech | 524 c981-2 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to this important debate on the future of the b...
Maria Miller | 524 c980 (Link to this contribution) I just wanted to clarify that these measures do not affect children.
Anne McGuire | 524 c980 (Link to this contribution) If the Minister is going to clarify what the Secretary of State said earlier, I would be delighted t...
Ian Jnr Paisley | 524 c982 (Link to this contribution) I agree with much of what the hon. Gentleman has said. Does he believe that linking benefits to the ...
John Leech | 524 c983-4 (Link to this contribution) Yes, that is true, and it might lead to people being forced to go into private rented accommodation ...
Geraint Davies | 524 c984 (Link to this contribution) I shall come on to the reforms. The deficit was the price paid to avoid a depression, and the Gover...
Steve Baker | 524 c984 (Link to this contribution) I share the hon. Gentleman's sense that the banking system is responsible for the greatest injustice...
Mark Lazarowicz | 524 c983 (Link to this contribution) Another possible circumstance could arise where people who have been in work all their lives and hav...
John Leech | 524 c982-3 (Link to this contribution) I was just coming to that. Yes, I do think it is unfair. The Bill proposes that from April 2013 the...
Geraint Davies | 524 c985 (Link to this contribution) The Bill will cost around £4 billion to implement, and save some £18 billion by taking from the poor...
Oliver Heald | 524 c984 (Link to this contribution) That is a nice soundbite, but the policy will cost the taxpayer money. The hon. Gentleman seems to t...
Chris Williamson | 524 c986 (Link to this contribution) Would the hon. Gentleman care to comment on the fact that his Government are cutting 1 million jobs ...
Julian Sturdy | 524 c985-6 (Link to this contribution) It is a privilege to speak in this debate, and I strongly suspect that our exchanges in the House ar...
Eilidh Whiteford | 524 c991 (Link to this contribution) As someone who represents a constituency that was part of the work capability assessment pilot, one ...
Naomi Long | 524 c991 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate, because this issue will have profound implic...
Jackie Doyle-Price | 524 c989-91 (Link to this contribution) I am very proud of the measures before us. The Bill is one of the most important pieces of legislati...
John McDonnell | 524 c988-9 (Link to this contribution) I have sat through the debate and listened to the contributions and I will try to address some of th...
Julian Sturdy | 524 c987 (Link to this contribution) It is about changing aspiration, which is what the Bill does. As my hon. Friend the Member for Meon ...
Naomi Long | 524 c987 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman on the need to change the system to ensure that people do not aspire...
Julian Sturdy | 524 c986-7 (Link to this contribution) I agree that this Bill offers an important pathway back to work. We have to get more jobs in the pri...
Naomi Long | 524 c992-4 (Link to this contribution) I would like to confirm, on the first issue, that I am not making these points as a member of the La...
Lord Grayling | 524 c992 (Link to this contribution) It is important, as people are listening to this debate, that the actual situation is placed on the ...
Naomi Long | 524 c991-2 (Link to this contribution) That is a fundamental concern. One of my constituents recently came to Parliament, on behalf of the ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c931 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I do not agree with the right hon. Gentleman, because that is exactly what I was sa...
Liam Byrne | 524 c932 (Link to this contribution) This is an extremely important point. Is the Secretary of State saying that someone who is deaf-blin...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c932 (Link to this contribution) I am going to press on, because I think that I have dealt with the right hon. Lady's point. She may ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c931-2 (Link to this contribution) Wait a minute. The right hon. Lady has made a point and I am trying to respond to it. As this is not...
Anne McGuire | 524 c931 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is playing with words. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) is right....
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c931 (Link to this contribution) As I said to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), it is assumed straight away that this is ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c932 (Link to this contribution) I think, with respect to the right hon. Gentleman, that I have dealt with this point, and I am going...
Liam Byrne | 524 c932 (Link to this contribution) I am genuinely trying to be helpful to the Secretary of State. He says that his Bill is incomplete a...
Liam Byrne | 524 c935 (Link to this contribution) I not only listened carefully, but checked the transcript because I could not believe what the Secre...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c935 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman recall that I also said that notwithstanding the period of growth and ...
Liam Byrne | 524 c935 (Link to this contribution) The employment rate under the Labour Government reached a record high and there were 64 quarters of ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c932-3 (Link to this contribution) I say to the right hon. Gentleman, despite his best intentions, that the mess that the previous Gove...
Sheila Gilmore | 524 c933-4 (Link to this contribution) Why was it necessary to introduce provisions in the Bill before the consultation process has conclud...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c934 (Link to this contribution) The measures in the Bill set the framework for the details. We will obviously work through the detai...
Liam Byrne | 524 c934-5 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from ““That”” to the end of the Question and add:"““this Ho...
Geraint Davies | 524 c928 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman consider the example of a married couple who are at work and have five...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c928 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Gentleman's point and can, I hope, assure him that as the Bill progresses, and...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c928 (Link to this contribution) What we want from the Bill is to encourage people to get involved in the process—to help people to u...
Eilidh Whiteford | 524 c928 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c929 (Link to this contribution) In a second. I think that the hon. Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi) was slightly before...
Charlie Elphicke | 524 c928 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c928 (Link to this contribution) I am going to make a little progress, because I am conscious that we have a limit. Mr Speaker is loo...
Andy Slaughter | 524 c929 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c929 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly what we plan to do, but, because of the universal credit, we will have to be a littl...
Yasmin Qureshi | 524 c929 (Link to this contribution) I understand the Minister's explanation of the social fund, but a linked point is that thousands of ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c929 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Dr Whiteford) was before the hon. Gentleman, and ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c929 (Link to this contribution) The answer to the hon. Lady's question is that budgeting loans will still be available for those cas...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c930 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has made that point to me again and again. The key problem resulted from the changes ...
Annette Brooke | 524 c930 (Link to this contribution) There is a great deal of uncertainty about how children might be affected by the reforms to DLA. Is ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c930-1 (Link to this contribution) We are consulting on that. However, this is going to be done later on, so we will have plenty of tim...
Jim Shannon | 524 c931 (Link to this contribution) In relation to the indefinite awards, there is already a system in Northern Ireland place whereby pe...
Tom Clarke | 524 c931 (Link to this contribution) Despite the right hon. Gentleman's assurances, I ask him to look again clause 83(2), which says:"““T...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c931 (Link to this contribution) Because it does not apply to everybody; it is very patchy. The honest truth is that no award we make...
Liam Byrne | 524 c941 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State accept that, on current figures, taking away the in-work benefits of peo...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c940 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c940 (Link to this contribution) May I remind the right hon. Gentleman that his system became completely absurd, because it allowed p...
Liam Byrne | 524 c940 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment, but first I want to tell the House what James Browne of the Institute f...
Grahame Morris | 524 c940 (Link to this contribution) Would my right hon. Friend care to comment on reports in today's papers that representatives of 30 c...
Liam Byrne | 524 c939 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right, and I am afraid it gets worse. The Secretary of State has made much of his ...
George Hollingbery | 524 c940 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman makes a persuasive case on the detail—clearly a lot of it remains to be fou...
Liam Byrne | 524 c940 (Link to this contribution) That is deeply concerning, and I will dwell on it in a moment.
Glenda Jackson | 524 c939 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend, but is there not a further black hole in the Governmen...
Liam Byrne | 524 c941-2 (Link to this contribution) I do not know what the hon. Lady's constituents are saying to her, but many in my constituency live ...
Baroness Bray of Coln | 524 c941 (Link to this contribution) Surely the right hon. Gentleman must recognise that tuition fees are not payable until such time as ...
Liam Byrne | 524 c941 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that the Secretary of State has still not provided an answer to my question—he still can...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c941 (Link to this contribution) I completely disagree with the right hon. Gentleman on that, but I want to challenge him to give an ...
Liam Byrne | 524 c941 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State needs to answer my question. The Minister of State told my right hon. Friend ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c941 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way, because he needs to answer my question?
Liam Byrne | 524 c941 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State can say that only because he is taking tax credits from so many families over...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c941 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman's figures are incorrect. When universal credit comes in, the figure is more...
Andy Slaughter | 524 c936 (Link to this contribution) Did my right hon. Friend notice that almost every time the Secretary of State was asked a question o...
Liam Byrne | 524 c935-6 (Link to this contribution) That was an extraordinary contribution. Of course we believe that extra help—for example, the future...
Charlie Elphicke | 524 c936 (Link to this contribution) I take issue with the right hon. Gentleman's statement that the Bill is a leap in the dark. We know ...
Liam Byrne | 524 c936 (Link to this contribution) The purpose of this House, when it gives new powers to the Executive, is to have at least some idea ...
Charlie Elphicke | 524 c936 (Link to this contribution) Of course there are quite a few people chasing each vacancy. As the right hon. Gentleman knows, the ...
Liam Byrne | 524 c936 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman intervene again and tell me how many of his constituents are chasing each va...
Liam Byrne | 524 c936 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that observation. I say gently that, with five people chasing every job in the eco...
Oliver Heald | 524 c935 (Link to this contribution) Is the right hon. Gentleman seriously saying that at a time when it is more difficult on the jobs fr...
Liam Byrne | 524 c935 (Link to this contribution) I want to move on to a second lesson before I give way. When we brought laws to this House to set n...
Liam Byrne | 524 c938 (Link to this contribution) That is an extremely sensible proposal, and perhaps the Minister of State, the right hon. Member for...
John McDonnell | 524 c937-8 (Link to this contribution) I oppose the Bill, and given any opportunity I will vote against it. As my hon. Friend the Member f...
Liam Byrne | 524 c937 (Link to this contribution) I do not think I should veer into a debate about immigration this afternoon, because you, Mr Deputy ...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 524 c937 (Link to this contribution) I fear that the right hon. Gentleman is going through the motions. He was a gifted and talented Chie...
Liam Byrne | 524 c938-9 (Link to this contribution) That is a challenge that I know well, representing the constituency that I do. I will say a little m...
David Lammy | 524 c938 (Link to this contribution) May I align myself with what my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) jus...
Liam Byrne | 524 c937 (Link to this contribution) I would do no more than encourage the hon. Gentleman to look at the analysis of his noble Friend Lor...
David Evennett | 524 c937 (Link to this contribution) We are listening to the right hon. Gentleman with great interest, but is he not ashamed that althoug...
Liam Byrne | 524 c937 (Link to this contribution) I will avoid getting into an extended debate about macro-economic policy, although I would happily d...
Geraint Davies | 524 c936-7 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend accept that the deficit was the price paid to avoid a depression caused by...
Liam Byrne | 524 c942 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman.
Rehman Chishti | 524 c942 (Link to this contribution) Considering that the right hon. Gentleman agrees that it is absolutely right and proper to support f...
Liam Byrne | 524 c942 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman was in the Chamber when my hon. Friend the Member for Swans...
Liam Byrne | 524 c942 (Link to this contribution) I think the Secretary of State wanted to say a word about the encouragement that he will provide for...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c942-3 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman raises the issue of the self-employed. I made this point to him privately a...
Liam Byrne | 524 c943 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the Secretary of State can tell the House this afternoon when those proposals will be ready ...
Tom Clarke | 524 c943 (Link to this contribution) On the crucial issue of the mobility component for people in residential accommodation, when my righ...
Liam Byrne | 524 c943 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for my right hon. Friend's suggestion. The Secretary of State has £135 million scored ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c943-4 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman knows very well, because we had this conversation privately. As I assured h...
Liam Byrne | 524 c944 (Link to this contribution) I therefore look forward to the Government reflecting on this debate and perhaps giving slightly mor...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c944 (Link to this contribution) I am interested in what the right hon. Gentleman is saying. He is going on about the review and the ...
Liam Byrne | 524 c944 (Link to this contribution) The argument that the Secretary of State has rehearsed this afternoon is that the Bill will give him...
Liam Byrne | 524 c945 (Link to this contribution) There is a strong case for reform of DLA. The lobby groups agree with that, as do we, but we do not ...
Mark Durkan | 524 c945 (Link to this contribution) I support the crucial points that my right hon. Friend is making, but has he noted that the impact a...
Liam Byrne | 524 c944 (Link to this contribution) Everybody is in support of the reform of disability living allowance, but we have not said that £1 b...
Charlie Elphicke | 524 c945 (Link to this contribution) Would not one key reform be to ensure that those claiming the allowance are seen, to check that they...
Liam Byrne | 524 c945 (Link to this contribution) I am not aware of those estimates, and I hope that we will have a long and important debate about ca...
Liam Byrne | 524 c945-6 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. My final point is about the small question of whether the Bill will ac...
Steve McCabe | 524 c919 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way so early. I wondered whether, at the outset...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c919 (Link to this contribution) I think the report was in The Guardian. I do not know whether it is in The Daily Telegraph.
Steve McCabe | 524 c919 (Link to this contribution) The Telegraph too—you're famous.
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c919-20 (Link to this contribution) I read The Guardian; he reads the Telegraph. What can I say? Times really are changing. I have read...
Speaker | 524 c919 (Link to this contribution) I have selected the amendment in the name of the Leader of the Opposition.
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c919 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. The Bill before us today covers a number of...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c922 (Link to this contribution) With respect to the hon. Gentleman, it is not about where I choose for them to live. As with everybo...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c921-2 (Link to this contribution) I was coming to that, but I shall touch on it now; I may make some further comments later. The princ...
Andy Slaughter | 524 c922 (Link to this contribution) According to the right hon. Gentleman's Department, 70% of those affected by the benefit cap live in...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c920 (Link to this contribution) One second. Would the hon. Lady forgive me? I have been asked to answer a question and I shall try t...
Naomi Long | 524 c920 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way on that point?
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c921 (Link to this contribution) Forgive me; I want to make progress before I take more interventions, but I certainly will not shy a...
David Evennett | 524 c921 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with great interest to my right hon. Friend's speech. Can he give me some further det...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c920-1 (Link to this contribution) I would like to make a bit of progress, if the hon. Lady does not mind. I think I have been pretty g...
Andy Slaughter | 524 c921 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c925 (Link to this contribution) We are as one. I say that immediately, before I explain the position. The reality, for the Prime Mi...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c925-6 (Link to this contribution) I shall try to make progress, if hon. Members do not mind, because I have given way quite a lot on t...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c924 (Link to this contribution) The sanctions regime is about work being available. If work is not available, people cannot be expec...
Barry Sheerman | 524 c924 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is making a thoughtful speech, and I know him to be a thoughtful and caring...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c924 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman—although I am not sure: is he a right hon. Gentleman? [Interruption...
Tom Clarke | 524 c924-5 (Link to this contribution) Reflecting on what the Secretary of State has just said, does he recall that on several occasions, t...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c922-3 (Link to this contribution) I shall make a little more progress. May I confirm that we shall move from the universal credit mak...
Kate Green | 524 c923 (Link to this contribution) Can the right hon. Gentleman confirm that as a result of that further consideration, there will be n...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c923 (Link to this contribution) That is not our intention, and it is why we were are proceeding carefully and consulting about our p...
Hywel Williams | 524 c923 (Link to this contribution) The rate of worklessness and the availability of jobs vary from area to area. What account will the ...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 524 c927-8 (Link to this contribution) Was it not a moral catastrophe and economic madness when, under the previous Labour Government, regi...
Alison Seabeck | 524 c927 (Link to this contribution) On the right hon. Gentleman's point about housing benefits, what discussions has his Department had ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c927 (Link to this contribution) We have had, and continue to have, those discussions, and I understand the concern. There is a debat...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c926-7 (Link to this contribution) I think that I have dealt with that. There are other changes, including the consumer prices index ...
Sheila Gilmore | 524 c926 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Secretary of State for giving way. ESA is not given indefinitely, because there are cons...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c926 (Link to this contribution) I remind the hon. Lady that in the support group, the contributory element does not apply. It applie...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c926 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Lady, because she has been persistent.
Robert Flello | 524 c1019 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend accept that there is already a problem with contribution-based ESA, becaus...
Stephen Lloyd | 524 c965 (Link to this contribution) That is an important point. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that a key area in the Bill—within t...
Anne McGuire | 524 c980-1 (Link to this contribution) In that case, we can take the age forward and talk about a deaf-blind adult. Our case about people w...
Geraint Davies | 524 c984 (Link to this contribution) This is a mean-minded, ill-thought-out Bill that is not designed to promote fairness or help people ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 524 c932 (Link to this contribution) The detail of how that works will be looked at during the passage of the Bill. My point is that buil...
Eilidh Whiteford | 524 c929 (Link to this contribution) Returning to crisis loans, my greatest concern is that people who go for them will not be able to bu...
Liam Byrne | 524 c940 (Link to this contribution) The Opposition want welfare reform that sticks. When so many details are unclear, the danger is that...
Lord Grayling | 524 c1019-21 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to follow such a highly negative speech from the Opposition spokesman on an occasion when...
Tom Clarke | 524 c955 (Link to this contribution) I should begin by declaring an interest: I am co-chair, with Lord Rix, of the all-party group on lea...
Julie Elliott | 524 c959 (Link to this contribution) There have already been some excellent speeches in this debate on one of the most important issues t...
Jonathan Reynolds | 524 c973 (Link to this contribution) The benefits changed, so I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is not comparing like with like. If he ...
Ian Jnr Paisley | 524 c976 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady accept that there is a huge policy contradiction? The Government claim that they ...
Subjects
Disability
Disability living allowance
Care homes
Childcare
Disadvantaged
Cancer
Capital rules
Housing benefit
Employment
Eligibility
Incapacity benefit
Medical examinations
Maintenance
Low incomes
Private rented housing
Lone parents
Social security benefits
Social Fund
Reform
Welfare state
Self-employed
Sanctions
Uprating
Employment and support allowance
Personal independence payment
Universal credit
Legislation
Welfare Reform Bill 2010-12
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk
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