Speeches by Milne.

“Do you think that a jobcentre is the right or optimal place to deliver career and employment support, in principle?”

“A short career, perhaps. Elizabeth?”

“Good morning. As you know, the Government plan to introduce a new jobs and careers service. What have been the shortcomings of the current jobcentre offering and what might be a more effective approach?”

“That leads into my next question. Professor Robertson, you have written about a “considerable cultural gulf” between jobcentres and careers services. What are the implications for the likely success of combining jobcentres and careers services, given where they are starting from?”

“Ramesh, it is remarkable that you are not sure of your funding past 1 April, which is not very far away. We are looking at the possible merger of Jobcentre Plus and the National Careers Service. That would be a big organisational change and there are always pros and cons to those. What do you see as the risks of the me…”

“Will the Minister explain to farmers in Horsham why he did not feel any need to consult any farming stakeholders in advance of this announcement?”

“That is getting to the heart of it. There is a risk by combining these services: we want to upgrade the work element and not reduce the career element, but we are in danger of doing the exact reverse. Becci, is that achievable, or likely to come out on the right side of history?”

“I am simply concerned that there should be some control of, or protection against, excessive charging. In the past, institutions have inflicted disproportionate charges that bear no relation to the actual cost of servicing whatever action had to be remedied. I am therefore seeking confirmation from the Minister that th…”

“I am uncomfortable with this proposal, because it seems unfair that one group of people should be liable to a punishment and not another. If someone cannot drive or they do not have a car, this punishment means nothing to them, whereas another group who do drive are affected—and some of them very deeply, depending on t…”

“In the light of the Minister’s confirmation that this power does refer both to error and fraud, I am all the more concerned. Removing a driving licence can mean the removal of a means of income. It is almost like the old-fashioned debtors’ prison: someone is in debt, so they are put in prison, and then they cannot get …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. As my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay said, the amendment is about checks and balances. We appreciate that the Bill has been introduced in the context of the Government’s desire to cut the benefits bill, but the Treasury deeming something to be financiall…”

“The hon. Member raises the issue of the burden on banks; there is also the potential burden on the claimant. Banks sometimes have very large administrative charges, well in excess of the actual costs of whatever it is they do. Can the Minister give any assurance that there is some upper safety limit on excessive chargi…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship again, Sir Jeremy. I am again raising concerns about a serious power to make direct deductions from people’s bank accounts. Life does not always come in neat paragraphs; it is messy. I have had a number of letters from constituents in Horsham setting out the kind of err…”

“My colleague has just partially asked my question. While we broadly welcome the clause, we are concerned by the absence of the code of practice. Could the Minister give any indication of the kind of guidance that it might contain? Also, at what stage of the parliamentary process will there be scrutiny of it, given that…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. It is important for us all in this place to remember that, although we make legislation with the best of intentions, it does not always play out perfectly in practice. As a member of the Work and Pensions Committee, I heard evidence a few days ago from a nu…”

“That was before my time and I was not even in the country, so I am afraid I cannot answer that question. It is very important that we should be pushing take-up, not sending it into reverse. For that reason, I ask the Minister to reconsider the need to include pension credit; that the upside—the amount of money that mig…”

“Thank you. Finally, the design standards for dashboards, which are going to be set by the PDP and which dashboard operators must comply with, are going to sit alongside your own rules. Compliance with these standards will be monitored every 12 months by independent auditors. Will you have any role in this layer of regu…”

“What is your impression of when they might deliver, from your conversations?”

“This is a question for the FCA in particular. With regard to prospective dashboard operators, how much interest have you seen in developing and operating dashboards? What feedback are you getting?”

“We will have to be reasonably swift because I am conscious of time. Brian, this is a question for you. Moneybox is developing its dashboard right now. What has your experience been of that so far? Is there anything the Government or MaPS could do to help you? Also, you are having to answer to two sets of regulation, on…”