Speeches by Kendall.

“I thank the hon. Lady for her questions. Yes, I agree that we have got to tackle the root causes of the problem and have an NHS and social care system that is fit for purpose. We have put forward our commitments on mental health support in every school and every community. We know that many mental health problems start…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. The Minister for Social Security and Disability and I are working hard to tear down the barriers to disabled people being able to get work and get on in work. We are taking action across Government, including reporting on the disability employment gap. We need to tack…”

“With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I shall make a statement on our “Get Britain Working” White Paper, bringing forward the biggest reforms to employment support in a generation, turning a Department for welfare into a Department for work, and taking the first steps towards delivering our bold ambition of an 80% emp…”

“One hundred per cent. I could not agree more with the hon. Lady. We need to get more women into manufacturing, engineering and all those STEM subjects. I met many apprentices yesterday on a visit to Peterborough college, including young women who said, “This is for me.” More women need to do this. They are great jobs a…”

“It has to be turbo charged and I believe much more led locally because that is the place you really join it up, not here. Q23            David Pinto-Duschinsky: I will just ask a very brief question—I realise we are short of time—picking up some of the earlier them…”

“I have just said that I am very aware of people’s concerns about vouchers. Again, you will forgive me for referring to my previous experience in social care. If all the support is given to local councils, the NHS, and they determine what help and support people get—people in my council and people in my NHS are good peo…”

“Gosh, there is a lot to unpack there. Why is it that we are the only G7 country whose employment rate has not gone back to pre-pandemic levels? I think we are an older, sicker nation. Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy stalled long before Covid hit and we need to get people back to health and back to work. We …”

“We will bring forward our own proposals for reform and there are several important elements to that. First, we will provide genuine help for people to get into work. This is not about making cuts. We want genuine engagement with disabled people, not just sort of presenting proposals as a fait accompli. The principle of…”

“I hope that by setting out what I think is wrong indicates the issues that I want to put right.”

“Thank you for that question. This is something that I am very focused on. There will be some more about it in our Get Britain Working White Paper but also in the coming months. We have argued for a long time that the work capability assessment is not working and that it needs to be reformed or replaced, alongside a pro…”

“First, the Department for Education is reforming the apprenticeship levy so that we have a clear focus on young people and also what they call foundation apprenticeships that are the basic skills you are talking about, so that we can make sure people have the skills they need to get onto an apprenticeship. That is extr…”

“Thank you. It is a real pleasure and honour to be here today. I know of the excellent work the Committee has done and I believe will continue to do, and I look forward to working with you in a spirit of openness, honesty and, above all, accountability to Parliament and to the public. It is a great honour to be here tod…”

“Yes, I have been working with the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, on this issue because we know that if you are an older or disabled person, maybe with two or more chronic conditions, at home, less mobile, and with greater need for heating, that is a very important issue. We have been working with Wes Streeting to ens…”

“Yes, this review has two phases. The first phase is very much focusing on reforms of the pension system to ensure greater investment in UK PLC. The second stage of the review will be looking at future outcomes, including pension adequacy, as well as further investment in UK markets. To tell a broad story here, when we …”

“I would start first, last and always with our commitment to the pension triple lock, which will see the basic State Pension increased by over £360 next April. The new State Pension will increase by £470 a year next April. Over the course of the Parliament, it will see over £30 billion extra spending in the State Pensio…”

“As you know, we are looking at the three elements of the pension triple lock. It is for everybody, but it will mean that over the course of the Parliament, it is estimated that people will see a £1,900 increase in the new State Pension. That is a significant commitment to all pensioners but has that extra targeted supp…”

“The Pension Credit is, the Warm Homes Discount is.”

“Insulating people’s homes, starting with the very poorest. We are also consulting right now on energy efficiency in social housing and the private rented sector. We do have targeted support on the very poorest and on low-income households, as well as the flat rate increase for everyone, which is significant because of …”

“I think our commitment to insulate 5 million homes and consulting on improving the energy efficiency of private rented sector and social housing is something new.”

“I thought somebody might ask this question. For me, there is no tension because I think it is a scandal that over 800,000 pensioners, the poorest pensioners, are losing up to £3,900 in Pension Credit that they should be entitled to. I also know that over many, many years, we have not been able to solve this because it …”