Speeches by Milne.

“I think you have answered the question I was about to ask you about care, but that is great. Sir Steven Webb, the former Pensions Minister, in talking specifically about the phasing down of DB and the cavalry of automatic enrolment not yet having come over the hill, described UK pensions policy as a “slow-motion car cr…”

“Moving on to the financial circumstances of today’s pre-pensioners, to what extent do you feel that the pensions system has enabled people in this group, so in their 60s, shall we say, to build up an adequate income for retirement?”

“Thank you very much.”

“This last question is to you, Morgan. As far as we know, the Department has no plans to change the mixed-age couple rule. We do not know how many people are actually affected by it. Do you think the Department needs to take more steps to improve its understanding, and what could it do?”

“Phil, you alluded to this earlier, but the impact assessment of the rise to 67 was done a very long time ago. Do you think this needs updating?”

“Thank you. That is great. For DWP to improve its policymaking, what should it concentrate on? Should it try to work harder at understanding the views of affected parties? Is it about looking at the cumulative impacts of its policies? Where do you think it is lacking? I will throw that out.”

“I would agree that Governments have been very bad at estimating the benefits of prevention and costing them. Are there any further comments?”

“I will put this question first to you, Fabian. I know you are a great advocate of data-led solutions. Do you believe that the DWP has the capabilities, data and processes to assess the impact of policies effectively before they are introduced?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I, too, thank the hon. Member for Falkirk (Euan Stainbank) and the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) for bringing this important industry to the attention of the House. The latest figures tell us that just 17% of buses used in the UK …”

“On that point, I declare my support for Horsham district council’s work. It confirmed to me last year that it is examining the cost of exempting military compensation payments from all locally means-tested benefits. Does the hon. Member agree that in the spirit of the armed forces covenant, military compensation paymen…”

“In my constituency of Horsham we already see the positives that play-based education can bring, with organisations such as Woods for Learning, which is a forest school catering for children with special educational needs and other children. The effectiveness is clear enough. Would my hon. Friend agree that the time has…”

“I am joking about names but in a way it is important because the way we name things affects the way people look at it. Fraud and error, overall people hear the word “fraud” and not the “error” and the fact that it is the Department is a cause for a lot of it but they just hear that one big fat number and attribute the …”

“Lastly, what assurance can you give us or can you offer that removing unfulfilled eligibility from the auditor’s qualified regularity opinion will not lead to complacency about the claimants receiving less? In other words, park it in a different box and you do not have to explain it.”

“I very much agree that trust overall in DWP is one of the big issues but that is wider than this particular area.”

“We need a different name for it.”

“Do you find people are not proactively making the claim out of ignorance or out of fear that they might be reviewed in the wrong direction? What are you finding?”

“Were you selecting them in some fashion or was that a random test?”

“Last year claimants received £4.9 billion less than they were eligible for; £1.2 billion of that was due to official error and £3.7 billion due to unfulfilled eligibility or, in other words, they did not claim as much as they were legally entitled to. The media is always way more interested in the fraud and error rathe…”

“We do hope that the ombudsman can give us more favourable accounts of proceedings in the future, but thank you.”

“Do you have a prospective date when we might actually see the finished plan?”