Speeches by Dixon.

“I will leave it there in terms of controls.”

“I have one more question, which is in this area of controls. I have been made aware of an issue around the work capability and people notifying that they are in work, where that is not triggering a reassessment. Is that something, in terms of overpayments, that is covered in these figures?”

“I would like to stick with universal credit and ask Vikki about some of the controls, which are set out in the annual report, with claims of some £25 billion prevented. It seems that the largest amount there is in the downward adjustments to current or past entitlement. Can you say a little more about what controls are…”

“I appreciate that you cannot go into too much detail on individual controls because we do not want to tell people out there where your weaknesses are. On the other hand, this Committee needs to try to judge value for money. There is a very significant amount of public money going in, through the Budget, to DWP to tackl…”

“Q13. This week I met my constituents, Mike and Sue. Their autistic son Jimmy was imprisoned as a young man. The judge recommended a sentence of two and a half years. Jimmy is now in his 40s. He has been in prison for nearly 20 years on an indeterminate sentence for public protection. His doctors say that he is safe and…”

“I represent a constituency on the other side of the Pennines. Does my hon. Friend agree that this investment in transport in the north, linking across the Pennines to great cities like Leeds and Bradford and delivering on Northern Powerhouse Rail in full, including a station in Bradford, is necessary?”

“Last week, I went to Shipley college in my constituency and met some of the students. They asked what the Labour Government were going to do to provide them with training and employment opportunities. Does my hon. Friend agree that giving free training to SMEs to take on apprentices will help to deliver better opportun…”

“My hon. Friend speaks with passion about child poverty. The fact that we have so many children in poverty is clearly a legacy of Tory economic mismanagement. Does my hon. Friend agree that the removal of the two-child benefit cap is a victory for compassion, justice and evidence-based policymaking?”

“I thank the Minister for the reassurance that householders affected by faulty work will be getting an audit and that there will be remedies. Can he confirm when those letters will be going out, if they have not already, and whether they will be from Ofgem?”

“I commend the work of local organisations such as Beat the Cold and the charity Groundwork. I also hope that the Minister will say how he can help support those efforts locally. Another local project that I would like to pay tribute to is Saltaire Retrofit Reimagined. It is a community-led home retrofit initiative supp…”

“My hon. Friend makes the point very well, and I absolutely agree that poor housing is part of a public health emergency. Young and old alike suffer from cold and damp homes. At the extreme, cold homes kill. It has been estimated that they contributed to 5,000 excess winter deaths among older people in 2022-23. For me, …”

“It is vital that people in all types of tenure and even low-income households—indeed, everybody—can access modifications that could save them money on their bills. Poor-quality housing particularly traps households in fuel poverty, because people need to spend a fortune to keep warm. Data from Friends of the Earth show…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the impact of home insulation on energy bills. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. Across the country, 12 million households are in fuel poverty, with almost 5 million of them spending over 20% of their income on energy. Like many other people across th…”

“I absolutely agree that home insulation is essential in tackling not only rising energy bills but climate change. I hope the Minister will confirm the Government’s ambition to upgrade 5 million homes by the end of the current Parliament; it is a fantastic goal that will reduce energy bills. We are also expanding the wa…”

“I commend the Minister on her fantastic closing remarks. I emphasise the points made by my hon. Friends—[Interruption.]”

“I thank the Minister for his response. Given what we know about carer burnout and the need for short breaks, and given the data that suggests local authority funding cuts have resulted in less support being available, will there be work between the NHS—with its increased budget—and local authorities to look at how we c…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered inequalities faced by unpaid carers. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. First, I will note my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am chair of the all-party parliamentary group on carers, which is supported by Carers UK—an organisati…”

“Apologies, Chair, but at the start of this part of the hearing I should have declared that I am an officer of the all-party parliamentary group on patient safety.”

“I thank all Members who have spoken in the debate, especially my hon. Friends the Members for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume) and for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) for sharing their moving personal stories and for all they do as parent carers. I also thank the right hon. Member for Daventry (Stuart And…”

“Perhaps, then, you can have a go at it, Samantha. The whole purpose of this hearing is to bear down on harm, claims and legal costs. In your answers, you have told us about a lot of things that you say are being done. Will they make a difference?”