Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 08 Mar 2021
Oral Answers to Questions
" I recently had the pleasure of meeting Peter Duffy, a British 94-year-old who has lived in Canada since 1980 and who also served this country as a world war two pilot. Peter’s British pals who live just 500 metres away over the border in the US get the full …..."Craig Whittaker - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 04 Mar 2019
Social Security
"You don’t know the meaning of the word...."Craig Whittaker - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 30 Jan 2017
Jobcentre Plus Offices: Closure
"I support the rationalisation and modernisation of any service, but Brighouse is the largest township within the Calder Valley, so relocating our jobcentre uphill and down dale out of the constituency will be a disaster to the long-term unemployed who rely on it for job advice and training. Will my …..."Craig Whittaker - View Speech
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Written Question
Thursday 21st July 2016
Asked by:
Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support young people with (a) disabilities and (b) long-term health conditions to find permanent employment.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
We are committed to halving the disability employment gap between disabled and non disabled people and have introduced a number of measures to further the support available to young people with disabilities, and long-term health conditions.
A Taskforce, led by Paul Maynard MP, has been looking at issues around apprenticeships for people with learning difficulties or disabilities. On 11 July the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and the Department for Education published their response to the task force accepting all their recommendations including adjustments in English and maths requirements for those with learning disabilities. The publication can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeships-improving-access-for-people-with-learning-disabilities.
This Department has also developed a portal for young people with disabilities and health conditions to signpost them to available support. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-and-support-for-young-disabled-people-to-find-and-stay-in-work/help-and-support-for-young-disabled-people-to-find-and-stay-in-work.
Young disabled people and those with health conditions may also be supported by DWP’s specialist disability employment programmes such as Work Programme, Work Choice, Specialist Employment Support and Access to Work, subject to meeting eligibility criteria. Access to Work can provide support for young people participating on Traineeships or Supported Internships as well as those in work including apprenticeships. In 2015/16 Access to Work supported 2,830 young people aged 16-24, An increase of 12.7% over the previous year and the highest number since 2007/08 (beginning of our current records).
In addition, we have expanded Access to Work’s Mental Health Support Service to conduct a two-year trial of targeted support for apprentices with mental health conditions.
Written Question
Tuesday 21st June 2016
Asked by:
Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to support women and men who want to remain in employment after reaching state pension age.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
This Government believes that there are huge benefits to working longer including keeping active, boosting financial prospects and a better quality of life.
The Government has taken several steps to support people who want to remain in employment after State Pension age. In the last Parliament, this included:
- Removing the Default Retirement age, enabling older people to remain in employment and retire when the time is right for them.
- Extending the right to request flexible working, enabling all employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service to agree a working pattern which suits them and their employer.
- Maintaining the exemption from paying National Insurance contributions to those over State Pension age, unless they are self-employed and are paying Class 4 contributions.
- Appointing a Business Champion for Older Workers, who produced a report and worked with employers to explore the benefits of fuller working lives.
In this Parliament, we are working in partnership with employers to improve the retention, retraining and recruitment of people aged 50 and over, by:
- Publishing a new, Employer-led National Strategy setting out our vision for older workers, later this year.
- Reviewing the availability of Advanced Learner Loans and the Higher Education student support package, which contribute to the costs of study for all ages, including those beyond the State Pension age.
- Minister for Pensions attended meetings and events with businesses to promote the Fuller Working Lives agenda and encourage employers to overcome age discrimination.
Written Question
Tuesday 8th December 2015
Asked by:
Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Atos assessments are carried out effectively for personal independence payment applications.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department has a number of mechanisms available to monitor and challenge Atos performance in carrying out assessments for Personal Independence Payment. These include a range of Management Information to inform performance against contractual Service Level Agreements relating to, for example, time taken to process claims and the quality of the assessment reports produced.
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 09 Jul 2015
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation
"Having worked in retail for 30 years before coming to this place, I regularly saw good, hard-working people who wanted to work extra hours being prohibited from doing so because of the loss of tax credits. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the announcements yesterday on reforms of tax credits …..."Craig Whittaker - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 25 Jun 2015
Child Poverty
"Poverty levels are at their lowest since the mid-1980s. That is good news, and it shows that work actually does pay, but does my right hon. Friend agree that the current poverty measure is out of date, and that we need a measure that highlights the root causes of poverty?..."Craig Whittaker - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 18 Nov 2013
Oral Answers to Questions
"With regard to discretionary housing payment, under a recent freedom of information request it has been established that Calderdale’s budget is almost £384,000 and under the same FOI we learned that in the first six months of the spare room subsidy Labour-run Calderdale has struggled to spend around £24,000. Does …..."Craig Whittaker - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 01 Feb 2012
Unemployment (Halifax)
"I thank the hon. Lady for securing this debate. My constituency is also in the Calderdale district, and like her, we are all concerned about unemployment, although I think that the figure of 20% may be a little far-fetched. As MPs, we must do all we can promote the area …..."Craig Whittaker - View Speech
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