Speeches by McFadden.

“I will be happy to”

“Yes, we are. It is important to do that. The Minister for Pensions is probably more in the driving seat directly, but yes, with my full support, we are working with the PHSO on this to come up with an action plan. This area of how we communicate with people and how it changes over time and how people get their informat…”

“It is a good question. It is not new in that sense. The PHSO did have access to this and it has been cited in the legal case. Again, you are slightly tempting me to go further than I should. It is not new in a sense, but I think it has not been fully considered in the context of this decision before, if I can put it th…”

“Well, it is in the Library of the House. It is available to the Committee and to anybody who wants to look at it. It is a set of questions. It is a chunky document of about 150 pages, I think. A lot of it is concerned with printed material that was sent out, how effective it is, people’s recall of it and so on. I am be…”

“The principal thing is that it was not shown to the previous Secretary of State, so it was not possible for her to take it into account in making the decision that she made. When it was cited in the judicial review of the decision, I took the view that the right course of action was to retake the decision, taking into …”

“It was set before I became the Secretary of State, so there is not too much I can say about that. There will always be debate about this and some people may think it should be higher or lower. My view, now that I am in the job, is that it is a reasonable threshold. I do not think there is a case for paying it to every …”

“You tempt me into a discussion about digital ID and its benefits. Data sharing between Departments could certainly be one of those benefits, because the lack of a digital ID reinforces the silos that Members have expressed frustration about this morning. Perhaps I am straying beyond my brief, Madam Chair.”

“A lot of effort was put into getting people to apply for pension credit. It had been a long-running issue going back many years. Many people entitled to the benefit did not apply for it. We had some success. I think an extra 60,000 people got additional awards, which is significant. That happened in part through effort…”

“It is not a commitment I can make today.”

“They can raise it with me there. People can always point to things in the system that they think are wrong, but for clarity, I think the situation you are highlighting is not a feature of the changes in the winter fuel payments over the last couple of years.”

“Yes. I do not know if you know, Peter, but I am not sure that is a new situation. I am very happy to meet the Social Security Advisory Committee. In fact, I think I might be meeting them tomorrow.”

“Is that a new situation?”

“I hope we have a settled position now. You are right that the position has changed over the last couple of years. What are the learnings? People value their winter fuel payment. That is certainly one learning. I believe it is right in this payment to take account of income in some way and that is what we have done. We …”

“Let me make a few points in response to that. First, when people reach state pension age, of course they get the state pension. You know that the Government have kept their commitment to the triple lock, which should mean a rise in the state pension of roughly £1,900 a year over the course of the Parliament. That is a …”

“Yes, we do. The Committee’s interest is in the gradual raising of the state pension age and what effect that has on people who are just a few years short of the state pension age. Let me say two things. First, we should always learn from each time the pension age goes up. It is 66 and it is going up to 67. We have laun…”

“I totally understand that. “Autumn” is quite a flexible parliamentary term, but I do not think I could stretch it into next year, so you will not have too long to wait for some conclusions. It is just that the Session falls when it does and I can only tell you what I can tell you today. I cannot really say more than th…”

“I have not met the children’s commissioners from the devolved nations. I have had lots of meetings in the last few months. I am very happy to meet people and I am sure we can arrange that. To your broader question about relationships with the devolved nations, this used to be my job in the Cabinet Office, where, for ob…”

“You could argue that the evidence shows that if you go on these benefits at a young age, you tend to stay on them and that is not very good for your life. There is plenty of evidence for that too.”

“We have not made a decision on it, but the argument for it is that these benefits are sticky and if we can get more opportunity for people, and less chance of them going through that long-term sickness door and staying on it, that is better for them in the long run. We may have a difference of opinion on that, and that…”

“There are two parts to that question. Let me try to deal with them one by one. On cash support and the speed of it and so on, your point is well made. You have made it and, as you can imagine, many other people have made it to, not just in the three months that I have been the Secretary of State but during the much lon…”