Speeches by McFadden.

“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…”

“There is a lot in there. Let me try to do do it some justice. This is a bit of a frustrating reply, and I do not mean to be frustrating, but we said the child poverty strategy would be published in the autumn. It would be quite fair for you to say to me, Madam Chair, that when you look outside the leaves are falling an…”

“Technology will help people to some degree, for a limited conversation, and that is available in our smartphones and so on. Peter, what is the English language position in jobcentres at the moment?”

“We could be here all morning with this because I think the idea of contribution as part of the welfare state—we heard reference to it in a statement from the Home Secretary on Monday in a different context—is an interesting and important question. I won’t be here all morning, Madam Chair, don’t worry, but obviously the…”

“What is the phrase? They say, “I’ve paid in all my life”.”

“By working with them. I talked about the two doors. We are already inviting tens of thousands of people to come forward with conversations, some of whom have not been contacted for years. I have visited jobcentres and met some people involved in this. Of course, these are the people who have come forward, so that is a …”

“I think we should look at the programmes and see how they are working for all the reasons we have just been discussing. Evaluation is a constant part of this, and there are risks involved in this. If you go with a number of providers, they will not all work, and some people will say that we wasted money by going with t…”

“I referred to this earlier. First, it is a very important programme. I talked about the two doors into the system and having a more active approach for people who have, for one reason or another, gone through the door marked long-term disability and sickness benefits. I visited the Connect to Work project in Portsmouth…”

“It probably does not need much response from me, but if there is good experience in local government, we should, of course, learn from it. We touched on this elsewhere in different policy areas and skills. I think you make a good point.”

“I am sure he will talk to people across the board. He brings to this a level of curiosity and energy that I think will be a real asset, and I want him to look at this issue of young people, work and opportunity right across the piece. That is important, because if we only look at this Department by Department, with Dep…”