Speeches by McFadden.

“It has not started yet.”

“I am not ruling anything out. I have only been in the job for three months, and if I start ruling things out it will just close doors in the future, so I am not ruling anything out.”

“The Timms review is an important exercise. We have two co-chairs appointed with Stephen. We are assembling a panel of people from various organisations who represent disabled people or are disabled themselves. I think it will be a really strong group. It is important to signal that the job of the Timms review cannot be…”

“Yes. The fair repayment rate. There is also the increase in the standard rate of universal credit and the discussion that we just had about the difference between standard rates and additional health or disability rates. A number of changes have been made or legislated for so far on universal credit and those should al…”

“That is right. It is looking at a number of different issues in universal credit. For example, the change that was made to the maximum repayment rate, from 25% to 15%, should be considered in that light—”

“We will communicate with you all the time on what we are doing and give you as much clarity as we can, yes.”

“There were a number of changes in July, as the Committee is well aware. It meant we had to re-look at how we were taking these things forward. The Committee will be aware of the establishment of the Timms review. We may come on to that, but he will consider the whole question of PIP, with the other reviewers. There are…”

“For those who do not get jobs, they will get the support that they are entitled to going forward, just like anybody else in the benefit system.”

“I do not think you can say with certainty at the moment. The policy change was to narrow that gap between the UC health payment and the standard payment and to match that with more employment support for those in that group, partly because of the system that I just described and partly because an increasing proportion …”

“Alongside that change, which is an important change, will come—to go back to Ms Ali’s question—more employment support for that particular group. Why did we go down this road? The system that we inherited had basically two doors. You go through one door and you are in the intensive work support group where you have you…”

“It is a good question. I know, Ms Ali, that you have a background in mentoring and mentoring programmes, and we fund some of that in the Department. The question of networks and social confidence is important for young people, because sometimes people just cannot have the experiences that would open their eyes to oppor…”

“I want to see the numbers come down. I will be able to say a bit more about the numbers in the youth guarantee and who it can help after the Budget. I cannot give those today. I have been trying to make sure we have as good a package as possible but these are collective decisions and, like everything else, they have to…”

“You are right that the problem has been with us for a long time, but it has got worse in the last four or five years. The growing feature in it is, as I said, sickness. The number of NEETs reporting long-term sickness problems has grown a lot in the last four or five years. That is partly why I wanted Alan Milburn to l…”

“We look at every past programme and every experience that we can. The option we were very keen to avoid—there used to be a phrase about this; I can’t remember if it was no fourth option or no fifth option—was just not doing anything. I think we should have a healthy curiosity about all the previous programmes. There is…”

“I said in response to your earlier question that we have specific packages for construction and defence. These are growing areas, partly for geopolitical reasons in defence, but because the Government have made a decision on construction and housing. I think we can tailor things to the growth sectors of the industrial …”

“Let me talk about inactivity and the trailblazers for young people. The structure of government—local government, mayoral government—has changed a lot in the last 10 to 15 years. Skills and labour markets change around the country. I think it was right, therefore, to bring the mayors into this and to use the experience…”

“Yes, of course, some stuff is known. I mentioned earlier that in my first three months I had looked at a lot of graphs. The ones that have really jumped out at me have been those concerning young people, inactivity and illness. The reason I asked Alan Milburn to do his report is that I think we need to ask ourselves tw…”

“It is a very good question. We have shortened some apprenticeships from 12 to eight months, but some employers have told us that they want more flexibility than that—that even the eight months is longer than they need. As well as the tilt towards youth, we are moving to shorter courses, which will be apprenticeship uni…”

“It is exactly the kind of choice we have to make. If we say you can spread the butter wherever you wish on very high-level apprenticeship funding, we will have less money for young people and less money for foundation apprenticeships. This is a microcosm of government in general. You have to make choices, and we have m…”

“Yes, and I don’t think there is a problem with the way that you paint that picture. I have never been a believer in pitting apprenticeships and FE against higher education. I am for the expansion of opportunity, whichever route people choose. If I look at my own constituency of Wolverhampton South East, we probably do …”