Oral Answers to Questions

James Heappey Excerpts

Monday 19th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

7. What steps the Government have taken to support disabled people in Budget 2018.

[James Heappey (Wells) (Con)]

19. What steps the Government have taken to support disabled people in Budget 2018.

[The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (Sarah Newton)]

In the Budget, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced a £1,000 a year increase in the work allowances under universal credit, which will provide a £630 boost to working disabled people and families on low incomes. That is in addition to the additional support for claimants in receipt of severe disability premium announced in June.

[Sarah Newton]

I am delighted to echo my hon. Friend’s words. We are determined that every disabled person has the opportunity to fulfil their potential, and Disability Confident has helped many employers recruit and retain talented disabled people. The latest data indicates that there are now 3.9 million disabled people in work, which is an increase of 973,000 since 2013.

[James Heappey]

Somerset’s economy is characterised by tens of thousands of small businesses and start-ups. How many start-up loans have been granted to people with disabilities, and what steps is the Department taking to help to ensure that those with disabilities across the Wells constituency have the support that they need to start their own small business?

[Sarah Newton]

That is an excellent question. The new enterprise allowance supports people to set up a business, and a quarter of the 220,000 new entrepreneurs have a self-declared disability. The personal support package, the Work and Health programme and Access to Work all support self-employed disabled people. A record 33,860 people were supported through Access to Work this year, an increase of 13% on last year.

The Secretary of State’s Handling of Universal Credit

James Heappey Excerpts

Wednesday 11th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[James Heappey (Wells) (Con)]

I want to talk about three areas: the first relates to the motion and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State; the second is the experience in Somerset, where some of the first 15 councils to transition to universal credit nearly two years ago are located; and the third is about what might be left to do.

The speech of the hon. Member for Peterborough (Fiona Onasanya) was one of the more constructive to come from the Opposition Benches, but it is impossible to say that this is not a personal motion that confuses real issues around the roll-out of universal credit with an attack on the Secretary of State. I was in the House last week when she did apologise, and she has done the right thing since she initially spoke incorrectly.

The two district councils in my constituency, Sedgemoor District Council and Mendip District Council, transitioned to universal credit on 25 May 2016 and 27 July 2016 respectively, so the Wells constituency has a lot of experience of universal credit. To be honest, when it first arrived, that experience was not very good at all. A report produced by Sedgemoor District Council in January 2017, after about seven months of dealing with universal credit, said all the things that Opposition Members are saying now. People were being left without money for too long, which was reflected in my case load, and an awful lot of people came to see me for help. Local food banks said to me exactly what they have said to other colleagues and in the media: they were seeing a real uptick in referrals.

I would therefore never argue that the roll-out of universal credit has been smooth and that everything has gone swimmingly. However, now that we are two years into the process of Wells residents transferring to universal credit, things have massively improved. People are now transitioning much more smoothly. The number of people seeking my help because they have experienced difficulties has reduced significantly. Jobcentre Plus staff tell me that they see great merit in universal credit and think that it is achieving all the things that it should achieve to help people into work.

[Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is making a constructive, sensible point. Does he agree that the principle of universal credit must always be that it will pay to get people into work and to simplify what was an overcomplicated and over-bureaucratic system?

--- Later in debate ---

[James Heappey]

My hon. Friend is right. That is absolutely the principle of universal credit, and that is exactly what people in my constituency are experiencing now, because so much has been improved over the two years in which universal credit has been operating.

The Department for Work and Pensions is to be commended for how it has responded to feedback. The skills of DWP staff in call centres around the country, their understanding of the system and their ability to help our constituents when we go to them with casework are all much improved. Frankly, it is wrong to suggest that we should pause or stop something that is now well in train when so much has been learned and so many improvements have been made. That is why I am glad that the Government are keeping on course and maintaining the pace of delivery of universal credit.

Universal Credit

James Heappey Excerpts

Thursday 5th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ms McVey]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for mentioning my openness and the fact that I was willing, by myself, to come and apologise for using the wrong words. People who know me will always say about me that I am open, that I am straight and that I say it as it is, which I will do. Equally, if we need to make more changes, which I have done from the moment I got here—I did not seek leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal because I did not feel it would have been right; and I looked at the position of kinship carers and did not think it was right, so we changed it, as we did for the 18-to-21 group—I am more than happy to change things when we can, if we can.

[James Heappey (Wells) (Con)]

The NAO report notes that jobcentre staff have said that universal credit systems have “improved significantly” since they were first introduced. Will my right hon. Friend join me in thanking Sedgemoor District Council and other councils among the first tranche to adopt universal credit for the quality of the feedback they have given, which has allowed those improvements to be delivered?

[Ms McVey]

I thank my hon. Friend, because nobody can do this in isolation or by themselves. We need the local councils to be on board, we need the housing associations to be on board and we need MPs to be on board—we need everybody supporting the most vulnerable. I thank him for that comment, and he is quite correct.