Speeches by Timms.

“First, and maybe Shaun will tell me, the increase in the universal credit standard allowance by the end of the period we are talking about is somewhat higher I think than the figure you mentioned.”

“The key thing is, yes, we are reducing the incentive but we are also providing support. That is the key part of the jigsaw that has been absent in the past. There must be proper employment support. It is not just a question of reducing the level of the premium but providing the support that people need.”

“Conditionality is an interesting topic. If we are moving on to that I would be very interested to talk about it.”

“I think the evidence is pretty clear that the best kind of employment support for people out of work on health and disability grounds is voluntary support where people have chosen to seek that support. We need to think more about conditionality in this area and certainly it is my view that it is perfectly reasonable fo…”

“As we are doing.”

“Employment is up, inactivity is down since the election. We want to keep on that trajectory. There is a long way to go but we are on the right track.”

“I do not think they are contradictory. I think what is happening is that the inactive bit of the system, which is the reason that 2.8 million people at the moment are out of work on health and disability grounds, people are moving. People are moving into employment. People are moving into the active part of the system …”

“I think the Motability scheme, the mobility component of PIP, has an important job to do. We were talking earlier about people being able to get to work and the mobility component is very important for many people with a health issue or a disability to enable them to stay in work.”

“I have had concerns raised with me about some aspects of this and no doubt at some point we will want to have a look at it, but it is not part of the proposals that we are bringing forward at the moment.”

“Yes, I would be glad to. Our concern is at the moment too many young people are being categorised as unable to work right at the start of their working lives and left with no engagement and no support. That means that they face the prospect of being trapped in long-term economic inactivity before their career has even …”

“Finishing off the under-22 point, I agree with you about the importance of improving mental health support and I think that the Scottish Government should be following the lead that Wes Streeting and his colleagues are taking in England. Of course we know the best thing for somebody’s mental health, particularly at tha…”

“Yes, there are people who at the moment are on LCWRA due to non-functional special circumstances, which I think is probably what you are referring to—people with cancer, for example, going through cancer treatment, people with high-risk pregnancy and also people classified as substantial risk at the moment. We recognis…”

“No, we do not. I always thought it was a slightly odd plan that the previous Government had, which was to abolish WCA but to make big changes to it for the last couple of years of its existence. We have made clear we will not make those changes to the WCA. We are going to abolish the WCA. We are not going to change tha…”

“We will be bringing forward regulations and those regulations I shall be placing in the library of the House by Monday so they will be public ahead of the Second Reading of the Bill due to take place on Tuesday.”

“It is the start of a process. I have no doubt that once people have seen them people will have comments on them and no doubt between then and the regulations taking effect there will be some changes. We are doing it in parallel with the Bill.”

“There are rules at the moment, and they have been in place for some time, to encourage working age people in receipt of health and disability benefits to try work. I do not think those rules are very well known but it may be, as you say, that even if they were, people would not really believe it and so it would not mak…”

“You are right, the work capability assessment at the moment is used to determine the conditionality applied to a particular individual and somebody classed as unable to work, as LCWRA, they get no support or engagement at all. They are abandoned by the system. What we want instead is to be able to guarantee personalise…”

“I think the biggest changes would be for those who are currently in the LCWRA group who get absolutely nothing at all now. Our view is that it is reasonable to expect the great majority of people at least to talk to us about what their work ambitions are and about the support that we can provide to enable them to fulfi…”

“On the whole, I think the right approach here is a voluntary approach, to offer people the support that is available and it is for them to decide whether to take it up. This is an early part of the conversation here and, as I say, we will have much more when we come forward with our White Paper. I think the principle t…”

“We want to have in place a network of work coaches who have specifically been trained up to do this work among people out of work on health and disability grounds, the dedicated Pathways to Work advisers. I think we have 1,000 of those now in place, equivalent to two in every jobcentre. We have the academy for work coa…”