Speeches by Timms.

“That is the intention behind this approach that I have referred to—a new safeguarding approach in the Department to be embedded right across the Department in all the things that we do. The Secretary of State made the point that we certainly have not ruled out the idea of a statutory duty, but that is not something tha…”

“I agree it is an important element of the thinking behind the Green Paper.”

“Thank you very much. I am delighted to be back, albeit with the tables turned. Thank you for inviting me. I very much welcome the fact that the Committee has decided to resume this inquiry, which we did not manage to finish before the election. I am very aware that you played a key role in setting the inquiry up in the…”

“I am grateful for the support across the Committee for the regulations. Let me have a go at answering the questions that the shadow Minister raised. I do not think we have a better estimate for the numbers in the coming year than the ones I gave for the previous year. It is likely that the numbers over time will decrea…”

“I am delighted to be serving under your chairmanship for the first time this afternoon, Sir Jeremy. This debate, which happens every year, gives us a good opportunity to consider not only the uprating instruments, but the wider topic of dust-related diseases that are covered by these schemes, and to consider the impact…”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2025.”

“On that, there is one use of AI that is quite interesting, which is scanning incoming letters—handwritten or typed letters. We look at those and AI is used to find out whether the letter is revealing some element of risk or vulnerability around the person. We can do that on the day the letter is received so that you ca…”

“Are we using AI for that?”

“We need to do a good deal more to make sure that people are aware of the help and support that is available, and we are on the case at the moment to seek to do that. The Department needs to understand better the barriers and challenges that people run into when they use the benefit system, and we need to change the ser…”

“Of course, some of those things do not come from the Department, which makes it more complicated. Discretionary housing payments, for example, come from the local council. It is a very good question to raise. What I am hoping is that when we have this new safeguarding approach that I have referred to, which we will pub…”

“Gov.uk provides an opportunity for whole-of-Government information to be provided in a way that is not siloed—it is all there in one place. We obviously have to make sure that people can find their way to it, but the provision of online information gives us quite a good opportunity to overcome that very real difficulty…”

“Yes, it is right to raise concerns. We have talked a little bit already about what we are doing to make sure that staff in the Department are able to spot vulnerability and respond appropriately to it. There is specific training and guidance right across the Department on all this. There is also the customer additional…”

“This is crucial, and we will say more about it in the Green Paper. I first took responsibility for disability benefits as a Minister in 1998. One of the things I was responsible for at that time was the launch of the New Deal for Disabled People. I remember nobody really knew how to set about helping people who were on…”

“We will welcome opportunities to come back and talk about how we are getting on as things progress, yes. I will be delighted to have the Committee’s interest.”

“There are a number of initiatives that have already been announced. There is the Connect to Work programme, which will be rolling out this year. What that is doing is taking an IPS approach— individualised placement and support—which we know has worked well for people with serious mental health problems and is increasi…”

“Yes, the trauma-informed approach, and trauma awareness, is something that the Committee has taken fairly recent evidence, is that right? Certainly, we took evidence when I was here about the trauma-informed approach and how that is being rolled out across the Department. Perhaps I can ask Liz to say a little bit more …”

“Advice is crucial. I have referred a number of times to the Green Paper that is coming up. We are working on that at the moment and Gail is part of those conversations. The advice that she gives is a very important part of the input that we are drawing on to put together our proposals.”

“First of all, I think Help to Claim is a very important service and Citizens Advice does a good job in delivering it. As you say, it was, to begin with, to a fair degree a face-to-face service; the current contract is just about telephone and online support. It is not something that I have looked at very much since Jul…”

“I can reassure my hon. Friend that we have been elected on a manifesto of change, and change is we what will deliver. We have been working hard on Grangemouth. On the question of WASPI, we do not think that compensation is appropriate. The evidence is that 90% of those affected did know that a change was coming, but we…”

“We are going to work with the ombudsman to make sure that this never happens again. A detailed report will be published, and we are committed to making sure that in future, sufficient notice is given of any state pension changes. We are also going to develop a communications strategy using the most up-to-date methods f…”