Speeches by Milne.

“Earlier this year I carried out a survey among farmers in my constituency, who said that they did not bother to report over a third of rural crimes because they felt that not enough happened when they did so. I would not say that nothing has been done, because we now have a specialist rural crime unit across Sussex, bu…”

“9. What steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of rural crime.”

“We talk a lot about postcode lotteries. We do not want to create one. Conor, the Government says that it is reforms to welfare, which including the cut to UC health—”

“Are there figures on failed work placements, where people have to leave within six or 12 months?”

“Thank you. Geoff, the Government commissioned Charlie Mayfield to review the role of employers, and his report was published last week. He made a set of recommendations; do you support them? Do you think he is missing something?”

“Thank you. I very much agree with you on the PIP comparison and we need to make sure that does not happen again.”

“We have touched on conditionality already. Basically, it is a question of how you get people back into work. Is it the carrot or the stick? What do you think of the proposals from the Government on conditionality? What impacts do you think they might have?”

“Evan, we have already talked about the really big regional discrepancies in employment rates. The Government are going to devolve more power and responsibility down to local areas; do you think that will make a material impact on those differentials?”

“It is estimated that we would have to plant a forest twice the size of Greater London to cancel out all the extra emissions created by the expansions of Heathrow, Luton and Gatwick, next to my constituency of Horsham. Does the hon. Member think that that suggests the Government are entirely serious about meeting our ca…”

“Less stick, more carrot is what you are saying. Do we think that if DWP take that off the table, it will be sufficient to encourage people back into work if they use less stick—less strict conditionality?”

“Reforms to welfare are going on right now, including a cut to UC health and introducing the right to try work regulations. Do you think they will successfully incentivise sick and disabled people to try work? Is this the right way to go?”

“Thank you very much. We are going to have to move on because of time.”

“Good morning. There are four parts to this question, so I will share it between you. Michelle, the Government has quite rightly made reducing ill health-related economic inactivity a top priority. Out of 10, how are they doing so far?”

“Michelle, my next question might apply to you particularly. The Government said they are going to strengthen their approach to safeguarding, which has been a big issue over the years. In that context, do the proposals to incentivise work raise any safeguarding concerns for you?”

“Everyone accepts that we need to keep a handle on fraud, but the powers being taken in the Bill, including DWP access to people’s private bank accounts, go much further than anything we have seen in the past. Can we trust the DWP to exercise these sweeping new powers in a fair and responsible way? Unfortunately, past D…”

“This Bill’s support for domestic abuse survivors is very welcome, but it is only half the story. In Horsham, one of my constituents arrived at court to see her abuser stand trial, only to be told at the courthouse door that the case had been pulled due to a lack of capacity. That trial was delayed for two years, by whi…”

“Thank you. Do you think particular governance arrangements carry higher risks?”

“You will have heard the previous panel answer this question. How would you describe the respective roles of employers and trustees in decision making on discretionary payments and how has this changed over time?”

“I have a supplementary question. Do you not think that there is in the Pension Schemes Bill an incentive to make things a bit worse for pre-1997 pensioners because it does encourage surplus extraction or, as you say, delaying it until buy-out or reducing contributions, any of those things, all of which are incentives n…”

“That is as far as you are going to go. Okay, I will move on to another issue: surplus extraction. Our predecessor Committee concluded that strong governance would be essential to protect scheme benefits if surplus extraction was made easier. What assessment have you made of the strengths and weaknesses in governance ac…”