Speeches by Milne.

“Frailty, yes, sorry.”

“When it comes to public money, everyone accepts the importance of preventing fraud; there is no dispute about that. The mere thought that our benefit system could be exploited loosens the cement holding our welfare system together. However, if we look back in history, there has been a track record of fraud recovery mea…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship today, Ms Jardine. I am grateful to speak in this very important debate. Every year, thousands of dogs are subjected to scientific experiments in the UK, often in the name of drug development. For many this raises serious ethical questions about the use of animals for h…”

“In my constituency, there has been a popular campaign for a general hospital for many decades without success. Given that we did not even make it on to Boris’s fantasy list of 40 hospitals, we are certainly not going to succeed now. In the absence of that hospital, what we need is a strategy to move more of the treatme…”

“Thank you; that is very interesting. This is to Angela, in particular. The Government has said that the success of its welfare reforms depends on there being an accessible and inclusive labour market. What do you think this will mean in practice, and how will it be achieved?”

“Obviously, we do need to know in the very near future. Iain, you have written about this on Bluesky.”

“There is an apparent contradiction in a couple of Government statements, which I wonder whether you could give your views on. On the one hand, they say that in the future everyone receiving UC health will, as a minimum, have to attend regular support conversations. On the other hand, they also say that they do not envi…”

“In my Horsham constituency office, I employ a member of staff who has ME. Fortunately, we can be very flexible with their working hours. However, under current law—where statutory sick pay is based on days worked not hours worked—an ME sufferer could easily miss out altogether on sick pay. Does the hon. Member agree th…”

“In my constituency of Horsham, we have many similar examples. Would my hon. Friend agree that although we certainly need legislation, the industry could act right now by introducing a voluntary code of practice? The industry does not have to wait for legislation; it should hear the call from across this Chamber.”

“I am talking to a family in my constituency who adopted a young boy and a girl in 2021. They understood at the time that the children were likely to have special needs because of their upbringing, but they were prepared to take on the challenge. The boy in particular requires therapy to keep him in mainstream school. T…”

“In my constituency of Horsham, we had a particularly upsetting case of a constituent whose daughter had significant mental health and behavioural issues that were very difficult to deal with and, as a consequence of those not being dealt with, she also developed an eating disorder. The only place they could send her to…”

“I would like to explore whether you think the Government have a clear rationale and objective for the state pension. For example, the aim of the Pensions Commission’s reform was to help people achieve a percentage of working life income in retirement—for example, a replacement rate of 45% for median earners. Do you thi…”

“You also admitted that although there was evidence for the health impacts, there was little on the wider societal costs of pensioner poverty. Do you think that is still the case?”

“You referenced earlier how more applications are going on for pension credit and also there is a surge in failed applications. It has hit 50% this year. The year before it was only 40% and the year before that 25%. We are seeing a sharp increase. What are the reasons for that? You might have thought that what happened …”

“Thank you, very interesting. Kingsley, anything to add to that?”

“Finally, Policy in Practice said it would like to be able to measure the fiscal savings to local authorities from increased take-up. Do we have the evidence base to enable that analysis? If not, what will we need to do to build it up?”

“Finally, have you seen any evidence that people who have been turned down for pension credit are then deterred, perhaps, from applying for other benefits? Are you seeing that at all?”

“I have a set of questions around pension credit. The big event that has happened lately is winter fuel payment restrictions. What changes has that made to pension credit take-up, perhaps starting with you, David?”

“Following on, Age UK has said that recent public awareness campaigns have had limited impact. Do you agree with that? Why would that be the case? Deven, perhaps.”

“Returning again to the application process, has any assessment been made of the availability and effectiveness of face-to-face support in making a claim? That is particularly in the context of Age UK, which very much argues that direct support from either a local authority benefit team, itself or another supplier is ne…”