Speeches by Milne.

“On the timeline—by 2027?”

“I take it that there is nothing really specific in train right now. One solution to the problem could be data sharing. You have plans for better data sharing of universal credit with local authorities, and that would really help them to target support. However, those plans seem to have slipped the ILOV programme. Can y…”

“Thank you, Chair. Briefly, there is a strong media narrative at the moment that welfare spend is out of control, and Peter gave you a few stats to support that view. Other figures are available. Welfare spend as a percentage of GDP is about where it was under the days of Maggie Thatcher, who was not known for her welfa…”

“It goes up and down, but over a long—”

“I am particularly interested in any new measures, given that what we have done already does not seem to be working.”

“On pension credit, the take-up remains at about two thirds, despite lots of effort and promises to boost it by your predecessor. It is a scandal that we have not managed to do better, isn’t it? What ideas do you have to improve the situation?”

“There is a lot more to be said about this, but sadly we are not going to have time for it today. Moving back to pensions, as the cost of living is rising again, what plans have you made to ensure that older people on low incomes have support available to them?”

“Will you have rolled out the ILOV programme by that time?”

“I recently met the chief executive officer of the newly combined Surrey and Sussex integrated care board, and urged her to consider the potential for expanding Horsham community hospital on Hurst Road into a neighbourhood hub, including a women’s health unit, to mitigate the lack of a general hospital in the area. Sadl…”

“I very much agree that this is a national crisis. Some local authorities or local ICBs are better than others, but this is basically a national problem and needs national action. The dentist I mentioned has told me that many of his peers have already stopped offering NHS services, and the ones left are increasingly con…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) for shining a light on this important subject, which causes such distress for residents of West Sussex. The Department for Health, like many Government Departments, has promised a consult…”

“In my constituency, we have to deal with increasing numbers of unadopted roads, either because the developer wants to leave the road with an estate manager, which means an annual charge, or because the road does not meet the construction standard to satisfy the local highways department. Both issues are ripe for the ex…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I want to focus on something that sits at the heart of improving outcomes for people living with secondary breast cancer: data, research and recognition. That especially applies to people suffering from lobular breast cancer. Last year, my office asked the Go…”

“4. Whether she is taking steps to incentivise summer rail travel.”

“Train travel to the south coast increases significantly in the summer months, but Horsham sits on a line to the south that faces severe delays and cancellations. Govia Thameslink’s forecasts show demand continuing to rise sharply. Without a resolution to the notorious Croydon bottleneck, we risk undermining economic gr…”

“I have submitted a series of precise written questions to the Minister for Trade to confirm whether the terms of licences for UK arms exports to Israel are being adhered to. Each time I have received an evasive answer. I am driven to conclude that if the Minister is correct that he is genuinely unable to usefully answe…”

“Thank you. What you are saying about the council tax and care charges is shocking. Caroline, anything to add?”

“Have you seen improvements over the months that this has been in operation?”

“This is a question for you first, Daphne. You have raised concerns with the Committee previously about the universal credit managed migration process for vulnerable claimants. What kinds of things have you seen, and how widespread is the problem?”

“I have a more general question. In our report, the Committee made recommendations for improving accessibility of information. The DWP felt that there was a danger of overloading people with information. Does anyone have any reflections on that? How could we get the balance right? Rick, you have your hand up.”