Speeches by Baxter.

“Did you make any representations to the Treasury on this matter, specifically on pay for your workforce, given that the vast majority of them are in lower-paid roles?”

“On the Department having a different composition in the workforce than other Government Departments, the profile is different: 63% of DWP staff are women compared to 56% across the wider civil service; 47% of DWP staff are 50-plus in age compared to 37% across the wider civil service; 76% of DWP staff are executive off…”

“Let’s talk about that, but I would be interested to know if you are putting in place contingency arrangements in the likelihood that the strike takes place. My understanding is the indicative ballot indicated that 80% were in favour of some form of action. Very quickly, are you putting in place contingency arrangements…”

“As we speak, you are in dispute with the largest trade union representing the workforce in the DWP. The PCS union is balloting its members on strike action over the 2025-26 pay offer. As a trade union official for 25 years before I entered this place, I spent all that time in negotiations. If you end up in an industria…”

“I will be brief. When will the pensions dashboards become available to the public?”

“I am conscious of time, so my last point is that I urge you to reopen the negotiations with those trade unions because industrial action would have a catastrophic effect on claimants. In a recent survey of the DWP workforce, 20% of respondents suggested that they were claiming in-work benefits themselves and 14% were u…”

“That is an interesting point, because DWP is falling behind other Government Departments according to the information that I have seen. On pay awards elsewhere, in the Department for Education AOs was up 7.88%, in the Ministry of Justice it was up 5.6% for AOs, 5.7% for AOs in HMRC and 4% for AOs and EOs. By comparison…”

“I welcome both the Foreign Secretary’s statement and the Prime Minister’s remarks this morning. It may be surprising that neither Greenland nor the Arctic featured as a strategic priority in the United States’ national security strategy, published in November, although transatlantic trade did. Will the Foreign Secretar…”

“Thanks for joining us, Emma. Do you have any intention of returning to work in the pensions industry?”

“Can you give us an example of where you have had to act independently despite pressure from your contacts?”

“It will come as no surprise to colleagues across the House to hear that the issue I want to focus on is the treatment of the Ukrainian children. When I first visited Ukraine, this was the issue that struck me to my core. Russia has stolen 20,000 Ukrainian children from their home, and Russian authorities themselves rep…”

“Can you talk to us about areas of industry poor practice that you think the Pensions Regulator should be doing more to address?”

“Is this the first role in which you would be required to act independently of your industry colleagues?”

“Q12. Adrian Howe was a successful and dedicated Vodafone store manager for over 20 years. In 2017 he was offered the opportunity to take on a franchise for one of their thriving stores, but the goalposts changed and he was forced to take on a struggling store. Just days before he was due to open that store, Adrian step…”

“I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement and pay tribute to his leadership on this issue, as well as that of the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister. I also welcome the statement by the coalition of the willing on their commitments to deter further Russian aggression. Do those commitments extend to preventing …”

“For some Ukrainian children, this will be the fourth Christmas that they will spend in Russia, after being torn from their families by the Russian state. Others will spend their Christmas living under occupation, and many more will spend their Christmas in a military training camp, being taught to fight against their o…”

“A very merry Christmas to you, Madam Deputy Speaker. My constituents would have been forgiven for thinking that Christmas had come early last weekend, because we were treated to not one, but two major sporting achievements. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Stephen Robinson and everyone at St Mirre…”

“Merry Christmas to you, Mr Speaker, and to everyone across the House. I reiterate what colleagues from across the Chamber have said about the importance of reforming the Veterinary Surgeons Act. It is 60 years old and has not kept pace with modern medicine, new technology or the way that veterinary practices are run. W…”

“Thank you for joining us this morning. You have talked about Connect to Work a little already. It is obviously being rolled out currently. How confident are you that it will achieve its objectives for disabled people and other disadvantaged groups, bearing in mind that intersectionality point you have just made?”

“Do you think the right lessons have been learned on the funding, commissioning and delivery models, or is that a work in progress?”