Speech in Westminster Hall - Thu 10 Oct 2013 Work Programme
"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Mr Walker. It is also a pleasure to follow the Chair of the Select Committee, who has shown a great interest in this subject, as has her Committee. This is a weighty report, which I am sure the Department …..." Guto Bebb - View Speech
"That is a fair point. When people try to score political points on this issue, it is worth bearing in mind that the performance of the previous programmes was not as good as what we are seeing under the Work programme...." Guto Bebb - View Speech
"In view of the fact that we were looking to shake up the way we were supporting people into work, I am not sure there was any other way around that. The summary to the Select Committee report highlights the fact that it was an achievement on the part of …..." Guto Bebb - View Speech
"I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. One of the strengths of the Work programme in rural Wales is the fact that providers have been able to vary their targets for attracting people to self-employment. Originally, the significant targets for self-employment were given to providers in south Wales. However, statistics …..." Guto Bebb - View Speech
"That, indeed, is one of the recommendations that I would make to the Department. I have been a key advocate of the new enterprise allowance. A long time ago I was an adviser to people starting out on the old enterprise allowance scheme. There are still businesses in my constituency …..." Guto Bebb - View Speech
"According to House of Commons Library figures, 96,000 participants have completed 104 weeks, of which 54,000 have returned, meaning that 40,000 have gone into employment...." Guto Bebb - View Speech
"Does the shadow Minister accept that over the 13 years of the previous Administration, nothing whatever was done to improve the situation of the self-employed who depend on the state pension system?..." Guto Bebb - View Speech
"It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field). I welcome the Bill as warmly as he did in his initial comments, but I suspect that my comments will carry on being positive throughout.
"That is a very interesting comment. As I saw it, the previous Government dealt with the worst circumstances faced by some pensioners, but only by creating the view that the only way to deal with people in retirement was to ensure that the state could provide through a means-tested system. …..." Guto Bebb - View Speech
"They were certainly part of the platform that created the degree of confusion and complexity that has resulted in people not saving up for their retirement. Yes, there was a state system imposed on the British public by the previous Administration but in many ways that was at the expense, …..." Guto Bebb - View Speech