Speeches by Baxter.

“Good morning. Thank you for coming this morning. The household support fund is funded until the end of March 2026. You have quite articulately explained the importance of it. Can you perhaps talk a little bit more about the impact if that funding is not continued?”

“If I can just have a very quick follow-up—I am conscious of time: when you were talking about the perception of jobcentres, and you did not say it but perhaps the Department itself, do you think that rebranding that you alluded to earlier to rename jobcentres as Living Well centres, albeit that is your term, or somethi…”

“What risks do you see in combining career support with jobcentre services?”

“I welcome my right hon. Friend’s commitment to improving the experience of people going through the assessment process, as I am regularly shocked by some of the experiences of my constituents. Can he say a little more about how he will improve claimant experience, particularly for the most vulnerable claimants?”

“Last week, I was alerted to the fact that one of my constituents, Owen Haggerty, a serving Royal Navy officer, had been detained in a jail in Bahrain. I immediately made contact with colleagues in the relevant Departments, but much to my surprise, no one would engage with me to inform me of his welfare or the current s…”

“Juliet is right. If you have that lower income before retirement, at whichever stage, it is going to impact on your retirement and the pension that you have in retirement. What is the solution?”

“Our fiscal rules were designed to ensure that we did not repeat the damaging austerity of the Conservative party, which harmed my constituents so much. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is only because of those fiscal rules that the OBR has today confirmed that people in Paisley and Renfrewshire South will be, on…”

“One very quick one: how effective are models like the Older People’s Commissioner in Wales and Northern Ireland? Is that a model that that you think would be helpful?”

“This issue about ensuring people have adequate incomes in the lead-up to retirement is obviously particularly important. Juliet and Matt, your 2024 research found that households looking for work or unable to work were much less likely than pensioners to meet the minimum income standard. Is that differential justified?”

“Thank you for that. I did have a question on how you produced the estimates of the amount unclaimed, but I think you have answered that. Would you like to see the Government produce official estimates of the amounts unclaimed?”

“Thank you. To David, following the change in winter fuel payment eligibility, pensioner organisations have expressed particular concern about two groups of pensioners, the first being eligible non-recipients of pension credit, as well as those just above the pension credit level. To what extent has this change affected…”

“Good morning, everybody. My first question is to Dr Purdam. Your research has suggested that older pensioners, particularly women, think that people like them cannot influence policy. Are they right on that and, if so, what is needed to ensure their rights and interests are reflected in policymaking?”

“What do we need to do to make sure that their interests are better reflected in policymaking? What is the answer to that issue that you have described?”

“To everybody on the panel: in 2022 our predecessor Committee called for the establishment of a new body to build and maintain an evidence base, explain the trade-offs in different policies and report regularly on progress in pensions adequacy. The Government at the time said that was not needed because there was alread…”

“Thank you. Perhaps, bearing in mind the time constraints, you would be able to provide those examples to us in writing.”

“I am conscious of time, but to what extent do we know what needs to be done to improve the take-up of the attendance allowance, and how do the issues needing to be addressed there differ from those for means-tested benefits?”

“T3. I declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on cats. The Animal Welfare Committee’s report in September highlighted an urgent need for further regulation around the breeding of cats, after it uncovered the deeply concerning trend in demand for cats and other animals that are bred with ex…”

“PIP is a devolved benefit, known as the adult disability payment in Scotland. Can my right hon. Friend assure me that she will work with partners, including the Scottish Government, to ensure that disabled people across the whole UK get the support they need?”

“My constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for East Renfrewshire (Blair McDougall), must have been reading my notes earlier. I will raise the same issue again, though, because I do not believe we can say enough about the 19,546 children stolen from Ukraine. The humanitarian research lab at Yale University, wh…”

“I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s dad. He would be extremely proud of her, and of the speech that she is making.”