Speeches by Milne.

“Related to that, do you track any information about vulnerable clients such that you could see people in the database and then understand the impact of DWP services or actions?”

“Thank you for your very comprehensive reply.”

“No, that is great.”

“Good morning. The Committee has heard contrasting evidence about whether it would be a good idea to have a definition of vulnerability or a description of vulnerability. Broadly, with a description, the negative is that it might not be precise enough or clear enough so people would not know when to use it, but if it wa…”

“Thank you. Over the last few years, customers in receipt of severe disability premium have experienced difficulty moving to UC because it is not automatically included in UC. Hopefully, the current solution is now working. I wanted to ask: how many people has the Department identified as being eligible for the transiti…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Western. This country has been in need of a coherent national energy policy for a long time, as the lack of one has left us in a difficult place. Figures from June 2024 show that UK energy prices are 27% higher than those of our EU counterparts. That has made energy-in…”

“It is a fundamental principle that legislation should not be retrospective, but here we have a tax that requires farmers to have acted seven years before they ever knew the tax was going to exist. It is fundamentally wrong and I ask the Government to withdraw the measure.”

“I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. In my constituency, we are lucky enough to have a district council that is very well run and very well funded. For that reason, we have been able to preserve, for example, a theatre that is run and owned by the council, which would surely have…”

“I thank the hon. Member for securing this very important debate. In my Horsham constituency, a family has approached me who are kinship carers for their grandson. They feel they are discriminated against in a system that gives more resources and attention to children in care than to kinship carers. Given the shortage o…”

“In my constituency of Horsham, food bank usage increased by 25% last year, and it has increased by 700% over six years. In the light of that evidence of the pressures, will the Government consider putting a minimum level on universal credit?”

“I am sure that I speak for all hon. Members when I say that putting a stop to fraud of any kind is welcome, especially at a time when public money is scarce. However, many of my Horsham constituents have contacted me to say that the powers outlined in the Bill are very far-reaching and, if abused, could have hugely det…”

“Yes, did you actively discuss with the Secretary of State, “Okay, these are the various ways we could do it. Maybe pick this one,” or, “Would you accept this one, because it has a £2 billion cost, rather than this one, because it has a £10 billion cost?”?”

“Yes, sorry—that the discussions would have taken place.”

“You will remember that you told our predecessor Committee that the pension dashboard available point, which is when the public can access their dashboards, was “perhaps not so very far away”. How far away would you say it is now?”

“Why have the Government decided to prioritise launching the MoneyHelper first, as opposed to connecting the commercial dashboards?”

“You would not consider doing something like getting people accessing it by age—oldest first—as a way to, as you say—”

“I might, but we do not have time. Finally, to really have an impact, the dashboards will need to link to the money platforms that people already use. What tests will need to be met before you can allow commercial dashboards to connect?”

“If the case is that the letter would not have worked anyway but a better letter would have done, then is the Department not still responsible, because the onus was on the Department to do more effective communication, which was perfectly possible?”

“Thank you, Chair. Following up on some of those points, as you know the suggestion that the letters would not have worked anyway was a major part of the Secretary of State’s reasoning in not offering compensation. It is a remarkable claim, because letters, as a form of communication, were used—and are still used—by eve…”

“With regard to the various forms of compensation that you were talking about, the choice of the scheme had quite a bearing on whether or not compensation would be paid at all. Obviously, some had higher cost implications than others. Did you actively engage with the Secretary of State over the various options, to perha…”