Speeches by Ali.

“Do you know?”

“Are immediate living costs what is driving it?”

“Is there any work going on with you and the Department to do exactly those things?”

“Of policymakers of those who are on low incomes who are drawing on their pensions.”

“That takes me to the point about the advice and support. Over the last decade we have seen the usual organisations, like CAB and others, having their resources cut. People at that point in their lives—particularly those who are vulnerable—often need support to access benefits they may be eligible for, but the bureaucra…”

“This question is to Tiffany first. Picking up on the pensioners who draw down their pensions as soon as they are allowed to and who are on low incomes, how much understanding is there among policy makers about what is driving that and the extent to which it is being done to deal with immediate living costs?”

“Tiffany and Justin, researchers from Southampton University told us that Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities are less likely to take part in workplace pensions. Could you say a bit about work that you have done on this issue and whether DWP or industry has done any work on it to understand how it can be addressed? Ar…”

“Do the other witnesses have any further suggestions on what else could be done?”

“Are you confident that the Government are developing the appropriate plans to smooth out these challenges?”

“I have one final point, which is in relation to organisations that are contracted that have deep expertise, whether in relation to disabilities or youth unemployment and so on. What are you going to do to make sure that the relationships and expertise that is there is not lost? We saw 10 or 15 years ago careers service…”

“How confident are you that you can make those changes over the next nine months?”

“It would be helpful to get some hard data on what trends you expect to see. I know you have dashboards and so on to look at that, but I mean collecting local data and what that looks like nationally so that we can see the impacts of the changes and the reforms that have been made. I also want to come to careers service…”

“Just on that, what are you doing in areas where you see less positive results in spreading good practice? Are you co-ordinating interconnections and with employers?”

“Barbara, before you come in, when you are responding to that can you explain to us how outcomes are driven from the centre working with the devolved and local skills centres?”

“In outcomes terms, what do you expect to see in terms of these changes in relation to overall outcomes and the number of people who are able to get the right support to get into work? What are the national objectives, the changes you expect to see in terms of more positive outcomes?”

“Good morning. You have the adult skills funding strategy and a substantial part of that is being devolved to mayoral strategic authorities. Can you tell us more about how that is working and how you will equip jobcentres to be active local partners to deliver better outcomes?”

“Sorry, I meant people who are in work and who want to engage, because we have seen good examples but one of the organisations in my own constituency got closed down. They were doing good work.”

“How systematically are you getting employers connected into jobcentres and working with careers services so that they can act alongside your coaches and careers advisers as employer mentors?”

“From the world of work as opposed to recruited to do that?”

“Many of my constituents will continue to have serious concerns about the proposed new embassy in my constituency. These include concerns about China’s human rights record, espionage and, in particular, local disruption. A development of this scale would cause significant disruption for local residents, especially those…”