Speeches by Darling.

“The other area I wanted to explore is managing budgets and where you are managing this budget from. Clearly, it is a grant budget. I want to unpick how you are managing that as far as finding other moneys to assist with that. I understand there are some schemes that are annually managed expenditure, whereas this is a g…”

“I just want to unpick a bit further the effectiveness of spending on Access to Work, as compared with other schemes, where it might be £25,000 to get somebody into work. I accept there are cultural changes and so on in the bigger picture, but does the Department not have an opportunity to say, “Actually, this is a leve…”

“It is a pleasure. Thank you for inviting me. I would like to understand value for money, how that pans out and what the perception of value for money is. I would like to look at it through two different lenses. The average award for Access to Work is £4,000, yet institutes have looked at the value for money of other Go…”

“Thank you all for coming today. It is much appreciated. We have already touched on the national insurance hike, the increase in minimum wage and the impact of employment rights. We were mostly covering the immediate impact. What do you see as the long-term impact of those things? Also, employment rights are not necessa…”

“Great, thank you—some good lines there. Dave, any reflections?”

“Jan, from a local authority perspective, if you could put a challenge into the DWP and say, “You’re working really well but, above and beyond, this is where I would put a challenge in”, is there anything that leaps to mind in that area?”

“David, any reflections? You have already started to dig into this a little bit.”

“I will go to Jan first, David and then Dave, so that you are aware what order were coming in. Reflecting on the DWP and the opportunities, we have already started unpacking some of this, so a further dive into this a little bit would be really helpful. Reflecting on the DWP and how it could help with transition from ed…”

“Kate, your thoughts on any long-term impact and any flexibility in employment?”

“Do you just want to develop slightly what you were saying about the Low Pay Commission and it being, perhaps, laser-focused on a certain area and not taking the whole package?”

“As far as the long-term impact of the national insurance, minimum wage rises and employment rights matter, do they trigger any particular trends in your industry that you are seeing or is it just the immediate indigestion that they are suffering at the moment?”

“I thank the more than 6,000 residents who signed a petition against mandatory digital ID. The scheme that has been outlined will inevitably save the Government billions of pounds, so will they commit to investing that money in bobbies on the beat to tackle antisocial behaviour in town centres such as Torquay and Paignt…”

“Politics is all about choices. Last week, the Chancellor stood at the Dispatch Box with a choice: she could have chosen to reverse the jobs tax that is costing thousands of jobs for young people up and down the United Kingdom. Why she did she not make that choice?”

“Last week, Citizens Advice shared a report into Access to Work which confirmed many things that we know from our own postbags relating to disturbing delays in the system on both processing applications and reimbursement. Will the Minister share with us what recovery plan he has in place and when the Government will get…”

“As a former caseworker, I can reflect on how it can impact you as an individual. I used to play ABBA after hearing about particularly traumatic events on the phone with constituents of the MP I used to work for. We need culture change, and to make sure that those who undertake this service to the public, whether it is …”

“What a pleasure it is to serve under you as chairman, Mr Western. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean) on securing this important debate. Sorting out Torbay hospital, the hospital that serves my constituency as well as the constituents of my hon. Friends the Members for So…”

“I do not want to stray too much into Access to Work because I know a colleague is picking that up, but I want to explore with you reasonable adjustments and Access to Work. I know that there are fears from those who campaign and work in this sector that there are moves afoot to shift some of what would have been picked…”

“I wanted to reflect on reasonable adjustments in the employers’ world. One of the barriers to people being able to gain work is not being able to get a reasonable adjustment. It feels as if it can be a bit murky, what is “reasonable”. Do you have any thoughts about how to give greater guidance to employers around this …”

“That is really helpful. Thank you.”

“That is useful, yes.”