"I am short of time, so if the hon. Lady will forgive me, I will come back to her if there is time.
Turning to free school meals, we have extended the availability of free meals since 2010, going much further than Labour. The Conservative-led coalition extended free meals to …..." Damian Hinds - View Speech
"I cannot. No child who is receiving free meals now or who gained them during the roll-out of universal credit will lose their entitlement during the roll-out, even if family earnings rise above the threshold, as my hon. Friends the Members for Nuneaton (Mr Jones) and for Harborough (Neil O’Brien) …..." Damian Hinds - View Speech
"I hope my hon. Friend will forgive me if I do not; we are very short of time. As my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield) reminded us in her unique style, the Government are committed to tackling injustices, removing barriers and widening opportunity. Because of the strong …..." Damian Hinds - View Speech
"I already confirmed that we would have this period to reflect concerns and to allow the bed-in.
Our approach is working, including through advances in education, ensuring everyone can get the best start, unprecedented investment in childcare to support career choices and household budgets and universal credit, helping people into …..." Damian Hinds - View Speech
"My hon. Friend has indeed been a great campaigner and a great champion for apprenticeships. Apprenticeships—including the 620 starts in Wealden in 2016-17—are one of the key policies that have contributed to our successful labour market, in which employment now stands at 75%...." Damian Hinds - View Speech
"We absolutely accept that of course young people with learning difficulties need additional assistance and additional understanding of conditions and so on, which is why we have very much focused on providing that in jobcentres to make sure that they get the support they deserve...." Damian Hinds - View Speech
"The Department does not forecast numbers of sanctions that will be applied. We do not want sanctions to be incurred, but they do play an important part in reasonable conditionality...." Damian Hinds - View Speech
"I gently remind the hon. Gentleman that when I say that sanctions are considered to be a part of reasonable conditionality, it was also the approach that was taken up fully by the previous Labour Government. With regard to universal credit over Christmas, we have in place—as we do every …..." Damian Hinds - View Speech
"I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s question. I have written to him today on this specific case. I do not know whether the response has yet come to hand following his question on Thursday, but I am happy to meet him and discuss it in detail. I understand that there was …..." Damian Hinds - View Speech