PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Poverty Reduction - 16 December 2024 (Commons/Commons Chamber)
Debate Detail
Contributions from David Taylor, are highlighted with a yellow border.
David Taylor
Hemel Hempstead
14:55:37
Alison McGovern
The Minister for Employment
More people in good jobs is the foundation of our approach to tackling poverty. That is why we have set out the biggest reforms to employment support in a generation, on top of extending the household support fund, introducing a fair repayment rate for universal credit, and the extensive work of the child poverty taskforce.
14:56:34
David Taylor
In my constituency of Hemel Hempstead, according to figures given to me by the local charity DENS, there has been a 1,000% increase in the number of people needing to use food banks over the past 10 years. Meanwhile, another institution, the Hemel Hempstead community fridge, sees queues an hour before it opens, in scenes akin to something out of Soviet Russia. Does the Minister agree that there are few more shameful examples of the last Government’s record on poverty? [Interruption.] I cannot quite hear the mutterings of Conservative Members, Mr Speaker—I think the word they were looking for was “sorry”. Will the Minister also outline further steps that we can take to reduce the need for food banks to exist at all?
14:57:22
Alison McGovern
The statistics my hon. Friend has read out are, I am sorry to say, consistent with those of the Trussell Trust, which distributed 61,000 emergency food parcels in 2010. Last year, the figure was 3.1 million. That is not acceptable, which is why we have committed to tripling investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million and—as I have said—introduce our fair repayment rate for deductions from universal credit, because if a person is out of debt, they are out of danger. We are increasing the national living wage to £12.21 an hour from next April, which will boost the pay of 3 million workers. That is also why the child poverty taskforce is working very hard.
14:58:00
Ellie Chowns
North Herefordshire
Benefits such as pension credit and disability living allowance are important in assisting people to stay out of poverty, but delays in processing applications push people into poverty. One constituent of mine is an 82-year-old gentleman who has spent more than 16 weeks waiting for his application to be processed, and another is the mother of a disabled child who has waited more than 18 weeks and is now being told that it will take an extra 25 weeks for a mandatory reconsideration. What steps is the Minister taking to reduce delays in processing applications for pension credit and other state support, in order to help lift households out of poverty?
Alison McGovern
I thank the hon. Lady for the question that she rightly puts to this House. We have increased the number of staff working on pension credit by over 500, and are working very quickly to deal with those backlogs and delays. As she says, we need to get through those backlogs.
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