Speeches by Dixon.

“The topic of road safety is personal to me, as I lost my grandfather in a car accident. It was before I was born, and my grandmother, who raised me for some of the time, lived with lifelong disability. Tragically, the equivalent of three jumbo jets’ worth of people are killed on our roads every year. Road Safety Week i…”

“I am very fortunate to represent the beautiful villages across the Shipley constituency, including Baildon, Menston, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Wilsden, Harden, Cullingworth and Eldwick. These communities are thriving because they have village halls; churches, like Wesleys in Baildon; post offices, like the community post o…”

“Many of my constituents have assets in the West Yorkshire Pension Fund, which manages more than £19 million. I am concerned, however, that some of the fund’s investments are concentrated in sectors that cause harm, such as the fossil fuel industry. Does the Minister agree that the West Yorkshire Pension Fund could inve…”

“My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about the number of pop-up shops and illegal traders on the high street. I am running a petition about the antisocial use of fireworks; does she agree that more needs to be done to stop their illegal sale in pop-up shops?”

“4. What steps she is taking with pension providers to help increase regional economic growth.”

“I am very proud that the Government have supported Ukraine through the provision of drones. I recently visited Radio Design, a company in Saltaire in my constituency that is at the cutting edge of radio frequency, which is essential for fighting the rapidly developing threat from drones. Can the Minister assure me that…”

“And that is the main outsourced provider?”

“This question may be more for Barbara than for you, Helen. The DWP has gone through a lot of staff changes, but changing a job title to “coach” does not necessarily change how the person behaves. Obviously, in the past, there was a much more rules-based, compliance-driven conditionality than the one we see in “Pathways…”

“Your commitment is to extend this to outsourced providers. Can you say anything more about how the modernisation programme and culture change is impacting on outsourced providers? Everything we have heard so far sounds as if it is all about your internal, directly employed staff. But clearly clients deal with outsource…”

“So it is feeding through in productivity?”

“Is that reflected in retention? What are your retention rates?”

“Yes, please.”

“We have talked about health transformation, but the other major programme that we discussed when you appeared before us before, or that you told us about, was your service modernisation programme. This relates to the point about customer experience but also to culture change. You briefly touched on this issue right at …”

“But of those that go to appeal, 70% to 80% are upheld in favour of the claimant.”

“The number who succeed on appeal suggests to me that there may be problems with the health assessment not getting it right first time, if the recommendations are then overturned on appeal.”

“The outsourcing of the PIP health assessment has been mentioned; are you confident in the quality of those health assessments?”

“I am sure that some of the people who participate and feed into the Timms review will voice some of the things that both Rachel and I have said about their experience. If improvements can be made, that will be most welcome, but I am sure that more improvements will be desired as we go through the co-production phase.”

“Sorry to have diverted to customer service and the timeliness of phone calls; we were talking about the timeliness of making a claim and the process from start to finish. With the work of the Timms review starting imminently, do you anticipate there being further changes to the PIP process that you will need to incorpo…”

“If it does show the right decision first time, that is not only a cost saving, but a huge reduction in anxiety for claimants who have to go through quite an adversarial appeal process. On people advising you about a change in circumstances, I think part of the reason is that they just do not get through to you. I have …”

“Is there evidence for that?”