Speeches by Reeves.

“Yes. It was consistent both with the Green Paper and with the Secretary of State’s statement to the House of Commons.”

“First of all, the important work that Charlie Mayfield is doing is about helping to keep people in the labour market, rather than supporting people who are not in the labour market, so those things are a bit different. Charlie Mayfield is doing a really important piece of work for us, and we know that the best thing th…”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, Chair, and thank you for your question, Mr Dean. We think that about 17% of people who are on personal independence payments are also in work. I cannot tell you what proportion of the 800,000 that you referred to are in work. The OBR have committed to work over the summer to look at the package that we annou…”

“The point of our reforms is that we want to support those people with the most severe health and disability needs, which is why, in the Green Paper that we published alongside the Secretary of State’s statement, we are consulting on additional support for those with the most severe needs. The changes only kick in when …”

“Let me be a bit clearer about how the process works with the OBR. We do not just say, “We are thinking of doing this. Can you score it and cost it for us?” We obviously do that work as a Government as well. What the OBR are able to provide is an independent lens through which they see the policy. That is why we refer t…”

“We are devising the package at the moment, so we have not finalised what that package looks like. We are learning from packages in the past that have particularly helped people with sickness and disability challenges into work. We are also looking at the international evidence so that we can bring in the best package p…”

“It is right that we did not announce these changes to come in straightaway. People on personal independence payments will not lose them—if they do lose them—until they have had their next assessment. We are not saying, “The last time you had an assessment, you didn’t get four points in one category, so you are going to…”

“Certainly, we want to target financial support at those who most need it, and then we want to target back to work support at those people who we believe can work with the right support. They might not be able to work today, but with the right support, the right adjustments, the right skills and the right training, they…”

“Doing it through legislation means that Parliament has a say on these changes. Some of the changes could be introduced without legislation, but it is important that Parliament has a say.”

“No, it does not, but we could also make these changes through legislation and have that debate in Parliament. There are other aspects, as we have already set out, that are in the Green Paper and are being consulted on.”

“No, we are legislating for the changes that the Secretary of State set out. We will still see significant increases in spending on sickness and disability benefits, but we think they are the right reforms to get the balance between supporting people into work, supporting those who need the support most and having a sys…”

“I can give you the exact dates. I have met and spoken to Martin Lewis since I have been in the job—”

“We can send you details of different people that we have met.”

“We absolutely need to learn lessons from the past on failed and poor procurement, and on cost overruns. That is why we are determined to do things differently. It is why I am working closely with the Defence Secretary to get value for money for our defence spending. It is also why we are looking, too, at more innovativ…”

“The universal credit reforms, in the sense that you would expect that someone who is severely disabled would meet a four-point assessment—it depends how you define it—and would not lose their PIP following the introduction of a tighter gateway. It is focused on supporting those who might otherwise lose some of the univ…”

“Can I just also say, Chair, if it is okay, that we have reduced significantly the number of people who are on circulation lists ahead of fiscal events, because of concerns that we had last year about information appearing in the public domain before I delivered the Budget? So, ahead of the spring statement, we did curt…”

“Yes.”

“Yes. It is slightly different because it is the council of economic advisers, and he is chair of the council of economic advisers for me.”

“Professor John Van Reenen, who is chair of the council of economic advisers, attended meetings with the Office for Budget Responsibility. He also attended some of the technical meetings, where he provided evidence to the OBR on the different measures that the Government are taking forward. I feel very fortunate to have…”