Speeches by Egan.

“It is interesting, because in England it is much more devolved around local authorities and you see really big variations.”

“Thank you. Moving on to the role of the Older People’s Commissioner, the obvious question is what difference you think the role has made in Wales.”

“I suspect that having the legal clout helps with this, but is it easy getting buy-in, because you are working across different Departments?”

“Presumably you would agree with those recommendations.”

“Rhian, you have called for more meaningful equality impact assessments and age-proofing of policy proposals. Would you like to see any changes in how the DWP assesses the impact of its policies? Are there any particular policies that would benefit from that kind of review?”

“This morning, the Work and Pensions Committee was at the Welsh Assembly, where we heard from Wales’s Older People’s Commissioner as part of our pensioner poverty review. I was impressed that Wales has a role with real legal clout. From what we heard, it is making a difference for older people in Wales. Do Ministers agr…”

“Are there any organisations out there, voluntary groups, that are doing this work in certain parts of the country?”

“Is there anyone in that space that is doing a particularly good job that we might want to look to?”

“Have you seen good examples of the availability of English lessons? That six months where people will not have anything when they have come, that is the time when someone should be put into full-time English lessons.”

“UNISON and USDAW.”

“In terms of the universal services that are available, what difference would a universal service at a jobcentre that anybody could access make to the people you work with?”

“Do you work with a lot of people who will not be speaking English?”

“I will build on that as a question because I am keen to ask about availability of English lessons. It is particularly relevant, as Sam and Liz, you talked about working with a lot of foreign nationals. We were out on that jobcentre that Frank was talking about in Manchester, a fantastic visit. A lot of the customers at…”

“We will all be doing it for our questions.”

“Q4. Yesterday, the Work and Pensions Committee visited Manchester, where we saw the power of devolution in action, in this case helping people to find work. With just 5 percentage points separating Labour and Conservative candidates at the last mayoral election, does the Prime Minister agree that to get the maximum adv…”

“I would like to express my gratitude and welcome this news today. Two new nurseries will be opening in Bristol North East, the Tynings school in Staple Hill and Avanti Gardens in Fishponds, both areas that have lots of young families but not enough nursery provision. Can the Secretary of State reassure other families i…”

“I have some questions looking ahead to the future reforms by Government. The approach that you are taking here is creative and imaginative and, in the outcomes, you are changing lives. Thinking about how we replicate that on a national scale and take the learning from Manchester, what role do you see the Greater Manche…”

“I have a final question. We have different uses of the household support fund. Can you share some examples of older people where you have seen it work particularly successfully and any awareness of about how the household support fund is evaluated as well?”

“GMCA has taken more of this cash-first approach. What was the thinking behind that?”

“I have some questions about the household support fund and looking at examples in your area of how it has been used because it is being used flexibly to support pensioners this winter.”