Speeches by Darling.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson)—that’s the hardest bit of the speech out of the way now—on securing this important debate. When we reflect on our communities, it is often our town centres tha…”

“My hon. Friend makes a very good point. I congratulate him on coming from the glorious county of Somerset, where our Liberal Democrat colleagues have had to pick up the pieces after the disastrous Conservative-run council effectively ran it into the ground for many years.”

“In Devon we have a budget of £377,000 to recruit new dentists. Sadly, only two of the 22 dentists have actually been recruited. Does my hon. Friend agree that this demonstrates that the Conservatives’ golden hello scheme has completely failed, and that we desperately need a new contract now?”

“Can you point to any discussion documents or anything where that has been unpicked a little further, which we could reflect on?”

“We have talked a lot about data sharing. Is there any partnership working with GP practices with things like rollout of vaccinations, like the fuel or covid, and using that as an opportunity to identify vulnerable people who particularly need support?”

“You have already touched on the campaign to take up pension credit. I would welcome some reflections on how effective that has been. Also, has there been much success in helping people who are just above the threshold? Do we have the information to analyse this fully, or could some additional work be done to make sure …”

“Bearing in mind the winter fuel allowance is only a relatively small sum of money compared to other opportunities in the benefits system, how big a part does it have to play in tackling fuel poverty? Reflections around that would be really helpful.”

“In light of those comments, do you disagree with universality?”

“That is helpful. I don’t know if you are aware that Independent Age has asked for a review of levels and how it is applied. Do you have any reflections on the thoughts in that area?”

“I congratulate the hon. Member on obtaining the debate. I had the honour of joining her on that visit to Ukraine earlier this year, and it was life-changing. The experience of being stolen by Putin’s thugs is also life-changing for these children. Childhood is a very short period of our lives, so I hope the Minister wi…”

“Liberal Democrats cautiously welcome the response from the Minister. Clearly, ensuring that people have a good return on their investments is essential, but we welcome this step change where we are looking at investment within the United Kingdom within the appropriate parameters. Would the Minister unpick for us what c…”

“In my constituency, more than 3,000 people are set to lose the lifeline that is PIP. When we look at other elements of the Green Paper, 3.2 million families across the country are set to lose out. Often, those who benefit from PIP are from the most deprived communities in the United Kingdom, and those are set to be hit…”

“With 300,000 people set to be plunged into poverty through the proposals in the Green Paper and 700 families set to go deeper into poverty, will the Secretary of State advise how changes to PIP will ensure that people with disabilities are living their best lives?”

“Sadly, the world has changed dramatically in the few months since Donald Trump took office in the White House. We need to reflect on the shared values we have with key countries across the world. We need to look to Canada and stand up to Trump as it has done, and we need to make sure that we build economic relationship…”

“To some extent, Ben has already answered my question about the impact of the Green Paper on employment and health outcomes for people. If anybody feels they need to add to that, it would be helpful. However, I would also like to throw another question out there to Lucy in respect of the health component of Universal Cr…”

“You have talked about the rationale. What impact do you fear this could have on that cohort of youngsters? In your professional view, what might the outcomes be?”

“One imagines so.”

“Yes, I know.”

“To put a positive spin on the world that we are in at the moment, bearing in mind that the clock is ticking, what are some key principles or culture to apply to PIP to change it for the better that you want to see reflected in a reformed PIP system?”

“I was speaking to somebody only the other day who was describing PIP as a safety net around the broken access to work system. Thank you.”