Speeches by Milne.

“Evan, we have already talked about the really big regional discrepancies in employment rates. The Government are going to devolve more power and responsibility down to local areas; do you think that will make a material impact on those differentials?”

“Thank you very much. We are going to have to move on because of time.”

“Good morning. There are four parts to this question, so I will share it between you. Michelle, the Government has quite rightly made reducing ill health-related economic inactivity a top priority. Out of 10, how are they doing so far?”

“We talk a lot about postcode lotteries. We do not want to create one. Conor, the Government says that it is reforms to welfare, which including the cut to UC health—”

“Thank you. I very much agree with you on the PIP comparison and we need to make sure that does not happen again.”

“We have touched on conditionality already. Basically, it is a question of how you get people back into work. Is it the carrot or the stick? What do you think of the proposals from the Government on conditionality? What impacts do you think they might have?”

“It is estimated that we would have to plant a forest twice the size of Greater London to cancel out all the extra emissions created by the expansions of Heathrow, Luton and Gatwick, next to my constituency of Horsham. Does the hon. Member think that that suggests the Government are entirely serious about meeting our ca…”

“Everyone accepts that we need to keep a handle on fraud, but the powers being taken in the Bill, including DWP access to people’s private bank accounts, go much further than anything we have seen in the past. Can we trust the DWP to exercise these sweeping new powers in a fair and responsible way? Unfortunately, past D…”

“This Bill’s support for domestic abuse survivors is very welcome, but it is only half the story. In Horsham, one of my constituents arrived at court to see her abuser stand trial, only to be told at the courthouse door that the case had been pulled due to a lack of capacity. That trial was delayed for two years, by whi…”

“Thank you. Do you think particular governance arrangements carry higher risks?”

“Over the course of this morning we have heard lots of ideas and suggestions for remedies and campaigns and so on, but it does feel as if there is no way through. The problem has not been solved over a long period. I am not feeling that I have heard anything today that suggests that the problem will be solved now. Yet p…”

“You will have heard the previous panel answer this question. How would you describe the respective roles of employers and trustees in decision making on discretionary payments and how has this changed over time?”

“That is as far as you are going to go. Okay, I will move on to another issue: surplus extraction. Our predecessor Committee concluded that strong governance would be essential to protect scheme benefits if surplus extraction was made easier. What assessment have you made of the strengths and weaknesses in governance ac…”

“You say all trustees have that obligation to all members and yet there is clearly a group of members, the pre-1997 pensioners, who were not treated fairly. I think we can all agree on that. How has that happened if that is the obligation and all trustees are subject to it?”

“Do you think that you have sufficient powers as a regulator to oversee decisions here and make the necessary interventions?”

“In cases where discretionary payments have been refused, are there, in your view, meaningful routes for scheme members to challenge decisions, bearing in mind what has happened over the last 20 years?”

“We know that successive Governments have ruled out statutory requirements over a very long period. We have heard what some campaigners would like to happen. What do you as a regulator think would be effective as an alternative?”

“I have a supplementary question. Do you not think that there is in the Pension Schemes Bill an incentive to make things a bit worse for pre-1997 pensioners because it does encourage surplus extraction or, as you say, delaying it until buy-out or reducing contributions, any of those things, all of which are incentives n…”

“We would all like to see an end to the use of hotels, which is both wasteful and very unpopular in local communities. However, would the hon. and learned Member agree that the long-term solution to that, releasing pressure across the entire system, is a proper returns agreement with as many countries as possible, but d…”

“Good morning. In your 2022-23 annual report, you raised questions about the variable quality of the DWP’s impact assessments. Can you give us a bit of background on that observation?”