Speeches by Pinto-Duschinsky.

“I have one quick final question before I hand over. We have talked a lot about on-flows due to mental health and some of the comparisons, and about the off-flows for assessment. In terms of off-flows into work, if you look at the LCWRA, one of the striking things is that only 0.9% of the caseload flows into employment …”

“Picking up on that point about medicalisation, and turning to mental health now, you have mentioned medicalisation. Ben, you in particular talked about the need for a more nuanced conversation about it, but you have several times referenced the fact that you think there has been an increase in medicalisation. Can you t…”

“Fourteen years of neglect from the Conservative party left high streets, such as the one in Edgware, in a shocking state. One common complaint that my constituents have is that phone boxes on Edgware high street have become derelict and act as a magnet for graffiti, vandalism and litter. I am pleased to say that after …”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker—a joy as ever. I thank my right hon. Friend and the Prime Minister for their tireless efforts, which have secured the best, most powerful position available for our country. Of course, there is deep disappointment that tariffs have been levied, but the fact that they have been levied at …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. It is our sacred duty to make sure that we never forget the brave men and women who served and gave their lives for our freedom. For over 100 years, the Royal British Legion has done fantastic work not just to continue bearing the torch of remembrance, but …”

“I rise to speak against new clauses 1 and 4 and amendment 6. The simple truth is that we cannot have any more dither and delay. Our starting point in this debate must be the fact that we are in a skills crisis, and one that lies at the feet of the Conservatives. Twenty-six years ago, I worked on the new deal taskforce …”

“Does my right hon. Friend agree that in order to safeguard the future of the welfare system, we must ensure that it is sustainable?”

“Thank you all for sharing your testimony so far. One of the issues that Matt raised early on was the fact that poverty once one reaches pensionable age is often driven by poverty before one reaches pensionable age. One of the patterns that certainly some people have pointed out is around an increasing spike of people w…”

“Talking about take-up and issues related to that, obviously the Government also have announced their intention to merge the application process for pension credit and housing benefit for new claims in 2026. What do you see as the main risks and benefits arising from this?”

“You mentioned that women aged 60 to 64 are more at risk of abusive financial relationships. What is the driver of that? Is that relationship breakdown? What is going on there?”

“You have mentioned two different groups of people: people who are unable to undertake hard physical labour, on the one hand, and then people with caring responsibilities. How does that break down from a gender point of view? Does this particularly affect women or men? What is the pattern?”

“Thank you. Juliet, as you comment on that, could you also comment on which groups you think are particularly affected by this trend?”

“I congratulate my right hon. Friend on her statement and on her action to end austerity by investing £26 billion in the NHS and £3 billion in education, raising defence budgets, and unleashing over £100 billion of additional capital investment to build the foundations of our economy. On the day after this Government vo…”

“Thank you. Alistair, do you have any views?”

“That brings me to my last question because I am conscious of time. David, I am particularly looking to you. The LGA has called in the past for a clear legislative framework on this, but I suppose reflecting also on Fabian’s counsel to us to not let the best be the enemy of the good and to use the practical tools, what …”

“That is the broader integration thing that I am pushing. I suppose one of the reasons I am pushing is because you get specific enough and then you can talk about the practical steps. I suppose I have one other question and, Fabian, I would love to bring you in. That is UC, but we are talking here also about pensioners.…”

“I would like to get others’ views and, David, also to come back to you on this, but I have questions on that. First, what would be the second step? If step one is UC, what is step two? This is exactly to your point about staircasing to something broader. Secondly, even within that, what data would you require? For inst…”

“Look, I want to thank you all for your testimony. An issue that has come around again and again is data integration. It sounds like that sits at the heart of much of this discussion. We are all aware of the impact data integration can have. I remember many years ago I worked on some stuff looking at the potential for i…”

“HMRC is rightly protective of that data for all the obvious reasons and so that feels like the highest barrier. HMRC has traditionally been difficult. That, I suppose, leads me neatly to my next question. You said that there are third-party data sharing agreements. It is not about what data and what blockages exist bec…”

“Playing devil’s advocate, you are saying that for this cohort, it is not clear that there is any magic bullet dataset, particularly if you are worried not just about reaching the poorest pensioners because there is a benefit receipt for them—those who are already in. For those who are not already in, it is quite diffic…”