Speeches by Milne.

“Thank you very much for your honesty. Peter is going to carry on.”

“Thank you—that was a very thorough answer. Daniel, is there anything you want to add?”

“I have a very quick question, I hope. Should the strategy include explicit targets relating to social mobility? If so, what targets might it set?”

“I shall speak to Lords amendments 6 and 333, regarding fly-tipping and vape shop closures respectively. On the face of it, those are very different issues, but they share a common thread, which is that communities are being undermined by people who think that rules do not apply to them, and the victims are being left t…”

“There are real concerns that Pride in Place is just another example of this Government’s blind spot on rural areas. Groups such as the Rural Services Network and Plunkett UK warn that villages are being left behind. Key rural assets are disappearing fast, and Plunkett is calling for a targeted £10 million rural communi…”

“My last question is to Emily: how would you describe the relationship between unpaid caring, health and work?”

“Thank you. There are big numbers at stake.”

“This is a question for Charles: to what extent do the employers you work with prepare people to move to more appropriate work?”

“Thank you. Wendy, I did not notice that your hand was up there. You might have been coming in on the previous question.”

“Good morning. The Mayfield report emphasises working with vanguard employers to work out best practice in a positive feedback intelligence loop, which could take some years, but of course the other challenge is actually implementing practical measures across all the other companies that are not in that group. Do you th…”

“Another cohort that it may be argued is neglected in the review is smaller businesses. The report concentrates on large companies—those with at least 250 people and so on—but small companies employ many disabled people. Is there an omission there?”

“The next question is for you first, David. You have advocated for a sectoral approach. What might that look like?”

“Thank you. David, I have a question about something you touched on a moment ago. You argue that Government Departments could provide an example in areas such as health and education, but evidence from Unison suggests that this would be challenging, given the nature of the jobs and the pressures on services. How would y…”

“This first question is for Joe and Jon specifically. The Health Foundation identifies the prevalence of health-harming work as a challenge. To what extent would you agree, and what options do you think are available to move to more appropriate work?”

“Following on from the previous question, financial abuse between couples sadly does not always end in separation, and many women struggle to access child maintenance safely. Is the Home Office working with DWP colleagues to strengthen income assessments, such as by using His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs data, and to r…”

“Good morning. Many people argue that in order to understand whether we have the right pension, we need to understand what the objective is. Is it about setting a quality of life? Is it about tracking against some other measure, like wages or inflation? What is your view on whether we need some measure of adequacy?”

“Just the state pension.”

“That would be close to your retirement.”

“To go back to possible mitigations, what would be the pros and cons of providing additional support through the working-age benefit system as we rise to 67?”

“The IFS has suggested two specific options, with one costing around £200 million, if you target just those on disability benefits, versus £600 million if you go for a wider group. Overall, the potential savings from increasing the age are £10 billion. Do you think that is an acceptable price to pay or mitigation?”