Pensions Triple Lock
Debate between Pat McFadden and Rosie Wrighting(2 days, 6 hours ago)
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Pat McFadden
It is important to appreciate that in the UK we have a dual system of a state pension and additional second pensions. We have a very healthy second pension system—trillions of pounds of investment—and it is important to look at pensioner incomes taking both those things into account. By that measure, we have a healthy pension system. Under the plans that we have announced today, the state pension will continue to rise each and every year.
Rosie Wrighting (Kettering) (Lab)
The British public deserve politicians who will be honest with them about what is necessary in order to rewrite the social contract to make it work. Does the Secretary of State therefore share my genuine disappointment that the Conservatives chose to come here today and play politics rather than get behind our plan when so many of them say in private that they know it is in the interests of the British people?
Pat McFadden
My hon. Friend is right. She knows that many MPs on the Conservative Benches agree with our position. However, their Front-Bench colleagues have chosen to adopt a different position, which is to talk about reducing the Department’s budget and then, when we make a decision to make it sustainable for the future, to run for the hills. That is what they have done today—everyone will have seen it—and it undermines everything else they say about savings in the DWP budget.
Youth Unemployment
Debate between Pat McFadden and Rosie Wrighting(6 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Pat McFadden
I have a lot of respect for the right hon. Gentleman; I walk past his picture every morning. He was responsible for a major reform to the welfare system with the introduction of universal credit, but after that his party stopped reforming the system. We are seeing the costs of that, particularly with what has happened in the last few years.
On the Work programme, I am happy to look at any successful programme to help people into work. We have more than one of these programmes in the Department, and they should all be evaluated. The right hon. Gentleman makes an important point; we need to get support to people to overcome the barriers to get into work. With regard to national insurance, as I have said, all these things are costs for business, but this is not a new problem. This is a deep-rooted, long-term problem, and we need new answers to it. That is why I have brought forward this package today.
Rosie Wrighting (Kettering) (Lab)
My generation has faced deep generational inequalities over the last decade. That did not happen by accident; it was the result of years of decision making in which the Conservatives chose austerity over investment into future generations. Nowhere is that clearer than in the fact that one in eight young people are not in education, employment or work—a generation lost. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that his Department and the Government are hearing directly from young people so that we can fully understand the barriers they face when entering work?
Pat McFadden
My hon. Friend is right. That ratio of 1:8 is too high, and it grew a lot in the last few years. She asks about discussions with young people, and she makes a really important point. When I talk to young people, they tell me that they want to work and make the most of themselves; they just need a platform that will help them. In every part of the programme that we have brought forward today, whether it is the apprenticeship changes, the help for the long-term unemployed, the short apprenticeship courses or the hiring bonus, the motivation that I have had is to give young people a platform on which to stand and take the next step in their lives.