Speeches by Baxter.

“How do you know that they are abroad, as opposed to a vulnerable claimant who is not able to engage?”

“Turning to benefit underpayments, I think we were all quite shocked at the extent of underpayments identified by the NAO. Those underpayment rates were highest for those with disability or incapacity benefits. What is your understanding of why people do not report a worsening of their health conditions, and what are yo…”

“Thank you. In December, you wrote to the Public Accounts Committee about pension credit processing, saying that you “expect to see throughput improve further through the next quarter”. Can you tell us how you are speeding up the process and what your target waiting time is for new claims to be processed?”

“The Committee recently heard about the complexity of pension credit claims preventing some people from applying. What is the Department doing to try to simplify the claims process—in particular through automation, for example—to try to help those who are entitled to take up assistance?”

“It was just to ask what steps you have taken to resolve the dispute with the Public and Commercial Services Union.”

“I understood there was a dispute with DWP in some areas.”

“Yes.”

“Obviously, G4S provide services to DWP.”

“It will impact on the Department, though, if it is not, so I am just wondering if there is anything else the Department can do to try to facilitate a resolution.”

“This question is to Neil particularly. Last January, you told us that DWP no longer suspended benefit payments when the claimant has co-operated with the fraud review process, but we understand that the enhanced review team might still suspend payments. Can you explain what safeguards you have in place to ensure that v…”

“I will ask a similar question to the one that I asked the previous panel, which is about the compensation scheme that the Government have said would cost £10.5 billion. They say that cannot be justified in the circumstances and that a scheme based on individual circumstances would take many years and thousands of staff…”

“I should declare before I go on that I know Sue Ferns because we used to work for the same organisation. It is helpful, Sue, that you have said that one of the lessons from the gender pensions gap and the report that was published is that the report should be published more regularly and that there should be targets. H…”

“How frequently would you expect to see the publication of a report on the gender pensions gap?”

“Thank you for taking the time to come to see us today. I want to turn to the issue of communication because a lot of the discussion has focused on letters and whether sending letters at an earlier stage would have had a material impact. What is your view on that?”

“Given the information age in which we live, are there better ways of communicating that might be different from or in addition to hard copy letters sent by snail mail?”

“Playing devil’s advocate, given what you have said about the campaign being “vague”, might women have done any other questioning of the Government at the time?”

“Going on to the PHSO’s approach to remedy, the Government have argued that a compensation scheme costing up to £10.5 billion cannot be justified in the circumstances and that a scheme based on individual circumstances would take many years and require thousands of staff to process. What is your view about that dilemma?”

“I was trying to pull out the tension between a blanket compensation approach and something individualised, which might be long and difficult. Do you have any thoughts on the two? They are quite different.”

“I welcome the announcement of the new grain verification scheme, which will help track stolen grain from occupied Ukrainian territories. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is an important UK contribution given Ukraine’s role as a major agricultural producer, which gives it a critical position in global food secu…”

“I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement. The news of a possible deal is very welcome indeed, and I associate myself with the hopes of colleagues across this House that the hostages will be released and returned, and that humanitarian aid will flood into Gaza as soon as possible. We know that the only way to ensu…”