Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Metcalfe and Mel Stride

Monday 13th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

The hon. Lady’s question is best directed to the Department for Business and Trade rather than DWP, as it relates to employment legislation and regulation. However, I am pleased to tell her that we have our 50PLUS champions, work champions in our jobcentres, the Midlife MOT and many other measures that are there to help exactly the people she describes.

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

2. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of AI on the functioning of the welfare system.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mel Stride)]

We have a number of projects that use artificial intelligence within the Department to drive performance, efficiency and the service we provide to our customers. One important point to bear in mind is that we never replace a human when it comes to judgments relating to a claim or an appeal.

[Stephen Metcalfe]

Will my right hon. Friend tell the House what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the use of AI in fraud protection? How will his Department ensure that appropriate safety measures are in place?

[Mel Stride]

Let me take the second of my hon. Friend’s points first. As I have outlined, there is always human intervention when it is appropriate. None the less, he is quite right to raise the issue of fraud and error. We have seen a reduction in the Department over the past year of some 10% across the benefit system, and much of that has been driven by machine learning and data analytics.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Metcalfe and Mel Stride

Monday 19th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

16. What proportion of the population is economically inactive.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mel Stride)]

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics indicates that some 21% of the working-age population are economically inactive.

[Stephen Metcalfe]

As my right hon. Friend will be aware, the staff at Basildon Jobcentre Plus are doing incredible work to help people back into work. That has led to a local inactivity rate that is 12.6% below the UK average. Events such as its large employer-unemployed connection event, bringing together organisations with hundreds of jobseekers, are leading to really meaningful job opportunities. Can my right hon. Friend tell the House what else the Government are doing to get people off out-of-work benefits?

[Mel Stride]

May I first commend my hon. Friend for all the good work he is doing locally? The 12.6% figure for economic inactivity is extremely low and is a great tribute to the work he has just referred to. Other things we are doing include: the provision of job interventions for over-50s who have retired early; the childcare provision I referred to for parents with childcare duties; and a great deal of work on how we better facilitate getting the long-term sick and disabled back into the labour market.