Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Monday 28th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

Yes, I will, and if the hon. Gentleman would like to send me the details of that case, I will pay particular attention to it.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

May I thank my right hon. Friend for his Department’s swift adoption of the Löfstedt review’s recommendations today? Does he agree that when introduced they will have the capacity not only to reduce the burden of red tape on organisations, but to improve their understanding of health and safety and therefore its effectiveness?

[Chris Grayling]

I agree absolutely with my hon. Friend. I pay tribute to him and the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Andrew Miller), who took part in the panel working with the TUC, the British Chambers of Commerce, John Armitt, who runs the Olympic Delivery Authority, and Professor Löfstedt himself, for putting together a report that gives a really good blueprint for the future of health and safety regulation that will ease the burden on business without endangering life and limb in the workplace—the core purpose of health and safety laws.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for drawing our attention to the Housing Futures Network research. What she did not quote was the fact that a quarter of respondents said that they were likely to downsize, which presumably means making better use of the housing stock, while 29% said that they would be either quite likely or very likely to move into work or increase their hours, which is a positive response. There are real issues about rent arrears; we are working closely with social landlords to assist, but there will be positive impacts from these policies, which also need to be borne in mind.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Hard-working families in my constituency often see families on housing benefit receiving more than they themselves receive as a result of going out to work. Can my hon. Friend confirm that as a result of the new measures it will always pay to work?

[Steve Webb]

My hon. Friend will be aware that we have a range of policies to ensure that it pays to work, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's universal credit being central among them. The caps on housing benefit and the limit to the 30th percentile in the private sector are also designed to level the playing field between those in low-paid work and those on benefit.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Monday 13th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

I think what I said in Committee was that there would be some savings but that they were modest. The principle of a six-month qualifying period was not intended to deny disabled people help in the short term. That help currently comes mainly but not exclusively from means-tested support, with the personal independence payment starting when costs become a burden to people, regardless of their income. That is why it is not means-tested.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Will the six-month qualifying period allow for special cases, such as people with a terminal illness, who might not survive six months?

[Maria Miller]

I can absolutely assure my hon. Friend that that will be the case and that we will carry forward that provision from disability living allowance.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

6. What steps he is taking to reduce the level of benefit fraud.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

We are taking all necessary measures to try to clamp down on benefit fraud—we are using the latest technology—and we regard this as a key area for progress. The introduction of the universal credit, which will provide better flows of information around the Department, will make it easier to reduce fraud.

[Andrew Bridgen]

Can my right hon. Friend confirm that his Department is not only sharing data with other Departments but using the services of credit rating agencies to detect fraudulent claims? Such claims not only unfairly burden the taxpayer but unfairly tarnish those in genuine need of help.

[Chris Grayling]

I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. The Welfare Reform Bill improves the flow of information and data sharing within the public sector. I can also confirm that we are now working closely with credit reference agencies—he will understand if I do not give too many details, as I do not want to give the fraudsters advance notice of what is coming.

Welfare Reform Bill

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Wednesday 9th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

I welcome not only the Bill but the fact that the coalition Government have recognised the importance of dealing with the huge financial and social failures of the current welfare system. Within 10 months of being in government, we are introducing a Bill that Labour Members and the previous Government shirked for 13 years. Because of the Opposition’s lack of will, we have the lamentable situation whereby welfare spending, which was £64 billion in 1997, is projected to be £109 billion this year, and 1.5 million people have spent most of the past decade on out-of-work benefits.

I have to say that I agree with the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who stated in 1997:

“We have reached the limits of the public’s willingness simply to fund an unreformed welfare system through ever higher taxes”.

If that was true in 1997, with the golden economic legacy that the previous Labour Government were bequeathed but went on to squander, one can only surmise that, 13 years later, we are well over the limit of the public’s acceptance of welfare spending. We all know what, or rather who, were the roadblocks to reform: the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown), together with his protégés, the current leader of the Labour party and the current shadow Chancellor. How do we know this? Again, Mr Blair provides the answer in his memoirs when he states, with regard to welfare reform:

“I kept saying to Gordon, quite apart from the fact that both sets of proposals are manifestly right in themselves, if we don't do them, a future Tory government will”.

So here we are, as a Conservative-led coalition Government announcing the biggest and most overdue shake-up of the welfare system since the 1940s. We are replacing the previous Prime Minister’s micro-managed, command, dirigiste benefits system, which has created a benefits culture that is expensive, inefficient and bureaucratic—and, perversely, provides a major disincentive to work—with a system that will ensure that work pays and no one is better off remaining on benefits when offered a job. The universal credit will provide a more logical, efficient, secure and fair benefits system that will demonstrate and reinforce the value of being in work. All Members, and our constituents, should be aware that because of the transitional arrangements no one on benefits will be worse off as a result of the introduction of the universal credit.

Having supported the aims of the Bill, let me move on to the some of the specifics. I have been contacted by a number of constituents regarding the replacement of the mobility aspect of the disability living allowance with the personal independence payment. I am reassured by the Secretary of State’s remarks on this part of the Bill, when he said that DLA and its mobility component will continue and will be reviewed at a future time. However, the Government need to do as much as possible to reassure those who are severely disabled and unable to work that they will be protected and not lose their entitlement. I have had constituents saying that they fear they will lose their social interaction and effectively become prisoners in their own home. Those genuinely disabled people must be informed that these changes will be to their advantage.

[Mark Lazarowicz]

The fact that such an obviously ultra-loyal Government Member has been getting such messages from his constituents suggests that things are not all right on the Government Benches. Does he agree that that is another reason why a bit more consultation and time to consider the proposals would be better than the rushed way in which they are being brought forward?

[Andrew Bridgen]

The Labour party had 13 years to do something. Thirteen years ago, the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) was asked to think the unthinkable; he did so, and then was promptly removed from office. That shows Labour’s commitment to welfare reform. There will be plenty of time for consultation, and I can promise that plenty of Government Members will be fighting for the rights of these vulnerable constituents.

The detection of fraudulent claimants is key to the success of this Bill. It is inexcusable that the current system is costing the taxpayer in excess of £5.2 billion a year because of welfare error and welfare fraud. There could be a role for credit rating firms in helping to identify households where there is reasonable evidence that a fraudulent claim is perhaps being made. This can be achieved with greater data sharing across Government Departments, and with the credit rating agencies, to ensure that the widest possible range of data are available. We also need to ensure that fraud is indentified at the earliest point of the process; again, the credit rating agencies can play a role. I welcome the development of the single investigation service and the three-strike rule in the Bill. We will see a reduction in fraud only if false claimants have a serious fear of being caught, and of facing a penalty if they are caught.

In conclusion, the Bill gives our country the chance to reverse a benefits culture that has become a huge black hole sucking in large numbers of people and huge amounts of taxpayers’ money. The Bill will release millions of people from the misery of welfare dependency and break the intergenerational cycle of worklessness, which costs this country so much not only financially but socially. The Secretary of State deserves great credit for his relentless work over many years on this issue. The successful passage of the Bill will make welfare a floor on which people can build, rather than a ceiling that it is impossible for them to break through.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Monday 10th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the decision maker will have access to all the medical records of any individual involved in that sort of process.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

5. What recent progress he has made on the introduction of the enterprise allowance.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

I am pleased to say that last week we announced that the new enterprise allowance would expand to become a nationwide scheme from next autumn. It will first be launched in Merseyside in about three weeks’ time, and it will be rolled out across those parts of the country that have a particular unemployment challenge from spring onwards.

[Andrew Bridgen]

I welcome the fact that the enterprise allowance scheme, which had such a positive effect in the 1980s, is being reinstated. However, I have a concern about the eligibility criteria: one has to have been unemployed for six months or more to be eligible. The National Audit Office noted in the 1980s that the longer someone spent on unemployment benefit before going into self-employment, the less successful that tended to be. Given that, will the Minister consider reducing that time and allowing people who have been unemployed for less than six months to go on to the scheme?

[Chris Grayling]

I would very much like to improve the support that we provide, but obviously we have to do that in the context of the finances that we have inherited from the Opposition. The big difference that the new scheme will make is that it will also take advantage of the expertise of existing business people. I hope that my hon. Friend, who has a strong track record in business, will look to become a mentor for one of the new business people. That is an important difference from the previous scheme; the new scheme offers both financial and practical support, and not just financial support.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Monday 22nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I do not accept that point. We recognise that it is critical to create those jobs and we expect them to be created as the economy grows. The big problem with creating jobs under the previous Government was that 70% of all the jobs created in 15 years went to people from overseas and not from the UK. The big issue for us is getting people in the UK ready and able to do that work, which the Minister with responsibility for employment, the Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling), is busy doing through the Work programme.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

The Opposition seem convinced that the introduction of the universal credit will be dogged by IT difficulties. Does that not reflect their lamentable experience in this area? What reassurance can the Secretary of State give us that we will succeed where the previous Government failed so badly?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

The previous Government had problems with IT development, as did lots of Governments—both sides accept that. To be fair, I have spoken to the shadow Minister, the right hon. Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms), who has been very positive about general developments. In his time, the development of the employment and support allowance computer was a very positive development, for which I compliment him. That is a very good example of the scale of computer development that we can undertake with the universal credit.

Housing Benefit

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Tuesday 9th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey]

I am referring to the UK as a whole, and I will go on to show how the current system has driven rents up. When councils make their rates available, landlords use them as a benchmark for the rents they charge, knowing that a proportion of tenants will be able to pay and will not contest the level. The recipients of housing benefit are happy to accept whatever a landlord asks for, because they know that the state will pay. That contrasts with the position of private tenants, paying rent out of their earned income, who will be keen to negotiate the best rent they can. These higher rents might be good for landlords, but that does nothing to help people who are not in work to find work. In fact, the reverse can apply, because it can discourage claimants from taking low-paid employment or from working longer hours, because if they do so, their benefit entitlement might be lost, and the mobility introduced by the sector might be reduced.

It is worthwhile remembering—sometimes the Labour party seems to forget—that the benefits paid to recipients come out of the taxes paid by hard-working families. A number of my hon. Friends have drawn attention to that. Often, they are the kind of people who look with envy at the kind of housing enjoyed by some recipients of housing benefit. The new system will make things fairer.

We have heard a great deal today about the effect on people living in London, and some Government Members could be excused for thinking that this is a London-only issue. In my constituency, however, a terraced house costs £550 per month to rent, so some of the sums spoken about, such as the family cap of £26,000—more than many people in my constituency earn in a year—are out of this world to the average resident in my constituency. They fail to understand why such sums should be made available.

Concern has also been expressed about the effect of the new rules on availability of properties for people in receipt of housing benefits. I believe that landlords will have to become more realistic in the rents they accept. They will have to accept a lower return than they enjoy now. My hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Laura Sandys) spoke about landlords enjoying a return of 12%. There is no reason residential landlords should receive a disproportionately higher rate of return at the expense of the state. In order to improve returns, those who are committed to this sector for the long term and who continue to acquire properties in the future will not be willing to pay capital prices at the level they have done previously. That will exert downward pressure on the price of housing, making housing more generally more affordable, and, as a side effect, benefiting many people struggling to make a start on the housing ladder.

Increasing the supply of housing more broadly will be another important factor as the coalition deals with the Labour party’s failure to build enough homes. Last year, fewer homes were completed than in any time for a generation, and today’s housing reforms need not be seen in isolation when it comes to providing support for those in need of housing.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

My hon. Friend should be aware that last year saw the lowest number of houses built since 1924.

[Mark Pawsey]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I spoke about a generation, but it is clearly two or three generations. Either way, we need to deliver more houses, as I think has been recognised by the Labour party, and the changes that the Government are introducing in the localism Bill will enable more houses to be built. It is that additional supply that will bring down prices for both rental and sale, giving occupiers a better deal. Progressive authorities, such as my local authority in Rugby, recognise the benefits of housing growth both for their local economies, by introducing new consumers into the area, and for the community as a whole, through the new homes bonus, which will enable the local authority to retain more council tax to develop new infrastructure.

I will draw my remarks to a conclusion because I know that other Members wish to speak. In my view, the housing benefit reform that the coalition is introducing is a necessary step in controlling the cost of the system of housing support to taxpayers, a saving that will yield £1.6 billion a year. In addition to that saving, the system being introduced will bring long-term benefits in the operation of the housing market.

--- Later in debate ---

[Caroline Flint]

rose—

[Andrew Bridgen]

rose—

[Andrew Bingham]

I will not give way, as I have nearly finished and many others are waiting to speak. [Interruption.] I can talk as long as anyone wants, but I am conscious that some Members have been in their places a long time and are waiting to speak.

It is wrong that hard-working families in my constituency and others who are living within tight budgets—

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Bingham]

Excuse me, but I do not like the word “demonised” any more than I like “punished” or “cleansing”. I do not like the language used by Opposition Members.

[Andrew Bridgen]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Andrew Bingham]

Yes, for the last time.

[Andrew Bridgen]

Does my hon. Friend believe that the increase in the housing benefit budget from £14 billion to £20 billion in the past five years is a sign of the success or the failure of the last Government’s policies?

[Andrew Bingham]

I think that “abject failure” is probably a better phrase.

I end by saying that it is wrong for families who work hard to see families on benefit living in houses that are beyond their wildest dreams.