Speeches by Egan.

“Staying on the theme of fraud and error, we note that in the last financial year your target for savings was £1.7 billion but the Department delivered more than that, £2 billion. For the next year will those targets be more stretching?”

“Thank you. I have one more question, Chair. We understand the Department is working with the Home Office to access data about people leaving and entering the country. I know that when I went to my local jobcentre that is something that they were saying they really needed. HMRC recently experienced difficulties in relat…”

“Am I correct in saying that there is no intention to change it; it is always humans that will make the decision?”

“I will move us on to Universal Credit, the advances model: where people can get their Universal Credit before the five-week wait. The impact on protected characteristics has been assessed but because of the data there is only one protected characteristic, age, that is reported. Of the four outcomes that were assessed y…”

“Thank you. You started to answer some of my next question, which was focused around the targeted case reviews. The savings were £581 million; obviously, the aim is to save a lot more than that. Do you want to tell us more? You talked about ramping up that work. Can you tell us more about that and the confidence that yo…”

“That is a very important statistic to draw on and I understand the Department is developing and testing for more machine learning models. You have said that people will have that concern in their mind about fairness so can you tell us a bit more about the learning? I appreciate you cannot talk about the mechanics of th…”

“Thank you. To continue on the learning from the Department, I was surprised that the hit rate where fraud is detected was, our report says, 20%, which seemed high. Clearly, it is a very important area for the Department to focus on. Conversely, in 80% of the cases that get reviewed fraud is not being found. I wanted to…”

“Do you think a driver of that is because of the kind of financial rewards that came with the job brokers? For example, if you were offering more incentive to a job broker for someone who had been out of the labour market for a longer period of time or linked to a disability, that might create a different picture becaus…”

“Thank you, Becci. Would anyone else like to come in on that question?”

“Thank you very much, Chair. Becci, I will come to you first. I have a question about the Freud report, which was obviously a while back but introduced several recommendations, including something called the black-box delivery model. That promised greater innovation and efficiency for Welfare to Work services, and more …”

“Louise, I am going to keep you and the panel focused on that 2030, 2050 vision. We know that young people generally—not least those who are not in employment, education or training—are particularly vulnerable to labour market changes. With that crystal ball, we know there is massive change in the world of work and what…”

“I just wanted to follow up on the point about the Government’s skills and training offers that are available to people over 19. Are there particular examples that have proven to be beneficial?”

“Exactly, and I think people feel disrespected. I want to know more about your thoughts on that and on timescales, because obviously this will take time.”

“Secretary of State, you have spoken, I felt passionately, about some of the challenges facing the welfare state and talked about how Governments have had to address and change things to meet the challenges of the current time. One of the principles that you have spoken about is an element of contribution-based benefits…”

“This is a sensitive area, so I will be careful, but one of the things I was struck by on visits to my local jobcentre and from feedback is the increasing number of people using translation services. It is still a minority, but there is a real challenge that has been raised with us. The lack of availability of English l…”

“On the co-production model, Secretary of State, you are quite right to assert that it is the Government that make the final decisions. I do not necessarily need a comment from you on this, but I want to flag that there are so many good examples from local government of disabled people’s commissions that were genuinely …”

“Q8. Immigration is the No. 1 issue on the doorsteps of Bristol North East: most people will ask me about it. They want a firm but also fair approach, but they have been let down over many years. Controlling our borders and knowing who comes here is essential, not least to integration. What can the Prime Minister say to…”

“We will draw on those points, but first, what are the main barriers to employment for disabled people and those with long-term health conditions who want to and who are capable of work?”

“It is a very important point, because also that world, as Michelle highlighted, is changing so quickly when it comes to employment and needs.”

“Could someone from the panel highlight the variance in the regional inequalities that exist in the employment gap? Also, what other characteristics, beyond geography, are particularly associated with ill health-related economic inactivity?”