Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to (a) make work pay and (b) stop long term dependency on Universal Credit.

Through our Make Work Pay reforms – and the increases we made in April to the National Living and Minimum Wages – we are working to put more money into the pockets of working people and ensure that work remains a reliable route to financial security.

Our Universal Credit Bill also tackles the perverse incentives in the UC system that drive people into dependency by rebalancing the core payment and health top up to better encourage those who can work to enter or return to employment.