Speeches by Smith.

“That relates to what I was going to say on amendment 43, had we got to it. I entirely appreciate what the hon. Member says about dealing with the vulnerable and protecting them from undue expectations, but is it not right that, if someone’s bank account goes overdrawn, they pay those charges regardless of their financi…”

“I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”

“Schedule 5 makes provision regarding direct deduction orders from bank accounts. These can be regular or lump sum. The Secretary of State may make a direct deduction order in respect of a joint account only if the liable person does not hold a sole account in respect of which a direct deduction order may be made that w…”

“I am sure the Committee will be pleased to hear that I will also be brief. It is an offence under section 111 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 to intentionally delay or obstruct an authorised officer, and conviction for a failure to comply may result in a fine of up to £1,000. Clause 79 means that obstruc…”

“As hon. Members can see, amendment 48 would change the percentage of collections made, to bring them in line with what we have debated previously, so taking it down from 40% to 20%. It is fairly self-explanatory, but we felt that this decrease would make sense and tidy things up a bit. We are interested to know whether…”

“Where DWP investigators seize items from a premises, they will generally be returned to the owner if they are no longer needed for an ongoing investigation. As we have heard, it may not be appropriate to return an item in certain cases, such as if the person from whom the item was taken is not the actual owner or if th…”

“Clause 82 specifies that the Independent Office for Police Conduct—which oversees complaints, professional conduct matters and serious incidents involving the police and similar bodies in England and Wales—will handle serious complaints relating to the DWP’s use of the powers under proposed new section 109D in relation…”

“The Stimulating Physics Network has been working to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of non-specialist science teachers in secondary schools, with outstanding results: in schools that take part, there are 6% more A-level physics entrants, and 29% more girls taking physics. That compares with 13% in schools …”

“Does my right hon. Friend agree that the record of Conservative police and crime commissioners is unlike that of some police and crime commissioners representing other parties in this House? In Devon and Cornwall, Alison Hernandez has overseen the reopening of 14 police front desks. Perhaps police and crime commissione…”

“I thank the Minister for setting out that information. This is a short clause, so my comments will not be long. It amends section 3 of the Social Security Fraud Act 2001 to add a code of practice on the use of information powers exercised by an authorised officer. As has been said, much has been made of the lack of a c…”

“As we have just heard, clause 74 amends the Social Security Administration Act to give power to the Secretary of State to obtain information for the purposes of identifying incorrect payments of certain benefits. I think that is fairly self-explanatory, so I do not have any questions. Schedule 3 provides further detail…”

“Before we move on from pensioners, throughout the debate there has been a valid concern about pensioners potentially being alarmed at or feeling vulnerable about what might happen. Will the Minister clarify something? Any pensioner who is not involved with pension credit is not likely to fall within scope of having the…”

“If I may, I will come to that when I speak to amendment 25, which deals with housing benefit. I think it will be simpler if I deal with the amendments separately, but I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. We believe that we should look at the recipients of what are essentially proxy accounts because, without th…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. As it was to the Minister, the baton has been passed to me from our Cabinet Office spokesperson, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire, as part 2 sets specifically how the Bill applies to the DWP. We recognise that there is a hu…”

“To be fair, that makes sense of things. One issue I currently have is a bus thing, where the bus has been stopped and completely cut off a community, but that is a different bus company, so maybe that is why. That is helpful, thank you.”

“Jack, you have touched on it with your vision of utopia already. Is there anything more that you think could be done better?”

“Thank you. Keith, what are your comments, please?”

“Emma, do you want to go first, please?”

“This is a very live issue for me. I have two bits of casework going on at different ends of my constituency, with some significant delays and obstructions and a six-month-long lack of buses, so it is good to be able to ask you these questions this morning. What is your assessment of how well street works are managed to…”

“Thank you. I have a bit of a yes/no answer question. There is room for a slight bit of extension, although I am conscious of the time. Is the system for managing street works too complex? If so, how could it be made simpler and less of an administrative burden?”