Speeches by Milne.

“In the last 20 years, traffic on locally managed major roads has fallen by around 5%, yet damage has never been worse. Why? Because rural routes are carrying traffic they were never designed for. Heavy goods vehicles are increasingly using villages such as Cowfold, Colgate and Lower Beeding in my constituency as rat ru…”

“The Government want to cut funding for level 7 apprenticeships and redirect resources to younger groups, but bodies such as the Royal Institute of British Architects tell me that young people are unlikely to enter professional training in the construction sector, because funding will be withdrawn at the later, more exp…”

“Now my final question, if I can just throw it open generally for swift answers if possible. As part of the jobs guarantee, the Government are offering grants of up to £2,650 per participant to cover wraparound costs. Do you think that is enough? Is there any other sort of form of support that you think would be appropr…”

“What actions might be most effective in preventing young people from becoming NEET in the first place? Do you have the tools and resources to identify them in advance? If not, what might you look to see?”

“Thank you. And Tim in construction?”

“Last year saw the first fall in Access to Work approvals in more than a decade, including a 16% drop in approvals for aids and equipment, despite the alleged surge in disability claims overall. That suggests that, behind the scenes, the Government have instructed the DWP to get tougher on approval criteria, but without…”

“A key part of the Government’s response to the problem of youth unemployment is the jobs guarantee. How attractive do you think that is to employers? Kate, I know you referred to it earlier.”

“Thank you. Chris, from the point of view of your members, any comments?”

“T7. Even while sitting here, I have had word from a constituent whose heating oil cost has risen, in one go, to 129.9p plus VAT per litre. I recognise that the Chancellor has been pressed by a number of Members on this. Can she assure us of immediate action, as vulnerable residents are in immediate crisis?”

“A recent report from Adzuna, a large job search agency, shows youth unemployment at an 11-year high and vacancies plummeting. Jobseekers urgently need the new “jobcentre in your pocket” digital service. Given that current timeframes suggest that it will not be ready until 2028, will the Secretary of State assure us tha…”

“Thank you. They are very big differences; it is very interesting. Do you think there are any changes to carer’s benefits that we could make that would help prevent worsening health outcomes?”

“Thank you very much.”

“As an example—”

“This is a question for Anne in particular. Is there anything we can learn about the differential health outcomes for unpaid carers across Europe and how it is affected by state support? For instance, Norway and Germany do very well, but what observations do you have?”

“Thank you for coming in this morning. There is a duty on carers to report changes in their circumstances. There is a duty on DWP to inform their expectations in a timely and clear way. Do you think that the DWP has the balance right in expectations on carers?”

“Carers’ organisations have also raised concerns about the potential impact of PIP reforms on people in receipt of carer’s benefits, that one carer’s allowance depends on a PIP award. What solutions do you think DWP could use to address that problem? Who would like to take that?”

“A very important point.”

“There are lots of different benefits out there. They do different jobs, they have different rules and they interact in quite complicated ways. Do you have any suggestions on how we might improve that or make it easier for the consumer? I don’t know who wants to come in.”

“Very topical. Thank you.”

“The most concerning thing about that blog post that, as you say, put the blame squarely on the carers, is that we only found out about it by accident. From the outside, it looked like a very different world in that they accepted that balance, that criticism. I am a big fan of the civil service, I back them all the way,…”