UK Parliament / Open data

Social Security

Legislative debate on Thursday, 21 February 2008, in the House of Commons, led by Mike O'Brien. The answering member was James Clappison.
Draft Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2008 and draft Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2008. Motion to approve. Agreed to on question.

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

472 c588-627 

Session

2007-08

Department

Department for Work and Pensions

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Related items

Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2008
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Statutory instruments
House of Lords
House of Commons
Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2008
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Statutory instruments
House of Lords
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Mike O'Brien | 472 c588 (Link to this contribution) I am satisfied that the orders are compatible with the European convention on human rights. This ye...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c588 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That the draft Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2008, which was laid before t...

Show all contributions (103)
Speaker | 472 c588 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following motion:"That the draft Guaranteed Minimum P...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c590 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. We are working jointly with Help the Aged, Age Concern, Citizens Advic...
Chris Ruane | 472 c590 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to hear that the Minister will use intermediaries to help with take-up campaigns, but m...
Danny Alexander | 472 c589 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is right to highlight the issue of pensioner poverty. One contributory factor is that b...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c589 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will be well aware that the figures that I have just given the House show the inc...
John Butterfill | 472 c589 (Link to this contribution) I am slightly puzzled by that assertion, because the number of pensioners going bankrupt has more th...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c588-9 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that it does not demonstrate that at all. If the hon. Gentleman takes the view that pay ...
David Gauke | 472 c588 (Link to this contribution) I will not detain the House too long on this, Madam Deputy Speaker, but the reason the Government ar...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c588 (Link to this contribution) We have a primary aim of helping the poorest in our society and ensuring that they do not get poorer...
David Gauke | 472 c588 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way so early in his speech. He has outlined how benefits wi...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c590 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has raised an important point, and I shall come to that matter in a moment. It is...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 472 c593 (Link to this contribution) The Minister says that pensioners should make telephone calls themselves, but how about some proacti...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c593-4 (Link to this contribution) We are sending mailshots to about half a million people in Birmingham in an attempt to persuade them...
Anne Main | 472 c593 (Link to this contribution) I was interested to hear that, under the automated system, everything will be put in place by one te...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c593 (Link to this contribution) A few more checks are made, rather than just a telephone call. These days, we do not have to rely on...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c595 (Link to this contribution) I thought the hon. Gentleman might protest. I want to make some progress, but as I mentioned him I s...
Chris Ruane | 472 c594 (Link to this contribution) And that is with the minimum wage.
Mike O'Brien | 472 c594-5 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend says, that is with a minimum wage in place for those on low incomes. He will remem...
Mike Penning | 472 c595 (Link to this contribution) Far be it from me to spoil the Minister's fun, but as he might know, I was a member of a trade union...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c591 (Link to this contribution) Attendance allowance is not one of the five benefits that we are particularly targeting, but people ...
Anne Snelgrove | 472 c591 (Link to this contribution) I commend the Minister on the initiatives that he has just mentioned. He said that he was going to w...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c591 (Link to this contribution) I find that to be a very good example and I will certainly consider doing so. It sounds like just th...
Ben Wallace | 472 c591 (Link to this contribution) I am aware that the Government are very keen on targets and the Minister has already said that he is...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c591-2 (Link to this contribution) Our basic aim is to get as many pensioners as we possibly can to take up the rights to which they ar...
Paul Flynn | 472 c592 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister agree that many pensioners who have never claimed benefits in their life see the p...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c592 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Lady will excuse me, I think that there is a queue behind me.
James Clappison | 472 c598 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Lady, given that there is an uprating of long-term incapacity benefit a...
James Clappison | 472 c597-8 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Lady will contain herself until I come to that part of my speech, bearing in mind y...
James Clappison | 472 c597 (Link to this contribution) I was trying to set the scene for the details, and I shall come to those now. There is a provision f...
Anne Snelgrove | 472 c597 (Link to this contribution) When I became a councillor in Berkshire in 1993, I was concerned about the huge number of people—lon...
Speaker | 472 c597 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before we go too far down this road, I ought to remind hon. Members that this order is about ...
James Clappison | 472 c597 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way in a moment. My next line was going to be the answer to a question put in an earli...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c596 (Link to this contribution) Far more lone parents are in employment than was the case when this Government came into office, and...
James Clappison | 472 c596 (Link to this contribution) Conservative Members welcome the opportunity to debate a subject of great importance to many of our ...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c596 (Link to this contribution) I must seize the moment, because the hon. Gentleman says that he shares the objectives. Does he shar...
James Clappison | 472 c596-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. and learned Gentleman is going over ground that we went over during questions on Monday. Of...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c595 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. We are dealing with some very serious issues. It is right that we ...
Anne Snelgrove | 472 c595 (Link to this contribution) My hon. and learned Friend's comments on lone parents going back to work are right, but is it not th...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c595 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to hear that the hon. Gentleman is a member of a trade union, and by the sound of it, a...
Speaker | 472 c595 (Link to this contribution) Order. I ask Members to refrain from making sedentary remarks and to concentrate on—[Interruption.] ...
Paul Flynn | 472 c608 (Link to this contribution) This annual uprating debate is not the most striking example of the power of Parliament over the Exe...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 472 c608 (Link to this contribution) In an intervention, I suggested to the Minister the idea of telephoning certain groups of pensioners...
James Clappison | 472 c606-8 (Link to this contribution) I think the hon. Gentleman will be good enough to recognise that I have given way quite a bit, inclu...
James Clappison | 472 c606 (Link to this contribution) I have given way a lot, and time is limited—[Interruption.] I am being criticised by the hon. Member...
Danny Alexander | 472 c605 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who has indeed been generous in giving way. He is making an imp...
James Clappison | 472 c606 (Link to this contribution) We have set out our objectives. The hon. Gentleman has actually been rather kind to the Government; ...
Paul Flynn | 472 c608-11 (Link to this contribution) There must be a better way of doing it. I will take part in the campaigns that the Minister will lea...
Danny Alexander | 472 c603 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is rightly drawing attention to the complexity of the benefits system. It is asto...
James Clappison | 472 c603 (Link to this contribution) I was hoping the hon. Gentleman might throw some light on what the Chancellor of the Exchequer belie...
Chris Ruane | 472 c603 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for being so generous in giving way. He has rightly given the Minister a ...
James Clappison | 472 c602-3 (Link to this contribution) Well, the serious problem is that there are 330,000 pensioners who do not have it today, and that is...
James Clappison | 472 c602 (Link to this contribution) It gives me no great pleasure to recollect that I was one of those who served on the Committee that ...
James Clappison | 472 c602 (Link to this contribution) As the credit was created in 2002, I think that it is within the wit of the hon. Gentleman to know t...
Chris Ruane | 472 c602 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Gentleman remind us what the take-up of pension credit was under his party's Government...
James Clappison | 472 c602 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman debated that Bill and is going to tell me that I am wrong, ...
Danny Alexander | 472 c605 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
James Clappison | 472 c605 (Link to this contribution) I have been generous in giving way, but I shall give way to the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Ba...
James Clappison | 472 c603-4 (Link to this contribution) I will happily supply the hon. Gentleman with a copy of our proposals in that regard. He knows that ...
James Clappison | 472 c604 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman if he accepts that child poverty is on the increase and if he...
James Clappison | 472 c605 (Link to this contribution) I was not being curmudgeonly, but simply citing a salutary statistic that will not be entirely answe...
Chris Ruane | 472 c604-5 (Link to this contribution) This is the third time the hon. Gentleman has given way, and I thank him for that. The hon. Gentlem...
James Clappison | 472 c605 (Link to this contribution) The hon. and learned Gentleman knows that the Government keep missing their targets in that regard, ...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c605 (Link to this contribution) Under this Government, child poverty has been reduced by 600,000. As a result of the recent Budget a...
James Clappison | 472 c600 (Link to this contribution) Council tax benefit is a salient point in relation to the order. I have to tell the hon. Member for ...
Anne Main | 472 c600 (Link to this contribution) I am well aware of the fact that some people would rather talk about history than the present day. O...
James Clappison | 472 c600 (Link to this contribution) We could go round and round the individual changes and I would soon be out of order, Madam Deputy Sp...
Anne Snelgrove | 472 c600 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman recall that his Government increased VAT on fuel—17.5 per cent. on heating f...
James Clappison | 472 c599-600 (Link to this contribution) It is always a mistake to give cast-iron assurances in politics. I am pleased that the hon. Gentlema...
Adrian Bailey | 472 c599 (Link to this contribution) I am listening to the hon. Gentleman with great interest. The issues he raises are obviously of some...
James Clappison | 472 c598-9 (Link to this contribution) I shall now follow your strictures very seriously, Madam Deputy Speaker, and turn to the details of ...
Speaker | 472 c598 (Link to this contribution) Order. I shall repeat my remarks. This debate is about the uprating of social security benefits and ...
Anne Snelgrove | 472 c598 (Link to this contribution) What is important is what the Government are doing now. I pay tribute to Jobcentre Plus in my consti...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c601-2 (Link to this contribution) I hear what the hon. Gentleman says about the pension credit. If he listened to my earlier speech, a...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 472 c601 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman recognise the advantageous situation for pensioners in Scotland? Their counc...
James Clappison | 472 c601 (Link to this contribution) I shall stay on the subject of pension credit because it is extremely important. I am not sure wheth...
James Clappison | 472 c601 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps we can discuss that general subject on another occasion. The important point in respect of ...
Speaker | 472 c601 (Link to this contribution) Order. That is testing my patience and going very far wide of the order.
Anne Snelgrove | 472 c601 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is generous in giving way, but that is about all. The Labour Government have been...
James Clappison | 472 c601 (Link to this contribution) I do not know which is coming first, Madam Deputy Speaker—the stricture or the intervention. I shall...
James Clappison | 472 c601 (Link to this contribution) I am aware of your strictures, Madam Deputy Speaker, so I shall be brief. Many pensioners in my con...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c624 (Link to this contribution) This has been a useful, helpful debate, and many of the contributions that were made in the time ava...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c624-6 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will bear with me, I am trying to deal with a large number of points rather qu...
Charles Walker | 472 c621-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to be called to speak in this lively debate. I am delighted that I am the fourth Back ...
Charles Walker | 472 c622-4 (Link to this contribution) I do not want this to be a partisan debate, but my hon. Friend makes a good point. When she was disc...
Anne Main | 472 c622 (Link to this contribution) As a fellow Hertfordshire MP, my hon. Friend may have noticed the unfortunate sneering from the hon....
Paul Flynn | 472 c611-2 (Link to this contribution) That would be a fine objective to aim for. As the Minister said earlier, the Government have—for g...
Danny Alexander | 472 c617-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for your guidance, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I was simply trying to highlight that the winte...
Speaker | 472 c617 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman should confine his remarks to the orders before the House. He is now stray...
Danny Alexander | 472 c616 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister, particularly if he is hinting that the next Budget might include chan...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c616 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that the winter fuel payment is a legitimate matter of comment in the debate, but it is...
John Butterfill | 472 c619 (Link to this contribution) I shall not give way to the Minister—he can reply when he winds up shortly—because many of my hon. F...
Anne Main | 472 c620-1 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, West (Sir John Butterfill) for being brief, becau...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c592-3 (Link to this contribution) I have a lot of sympathy with that position, and if our resources were infinite we would be able to ...
David Gauke | 472 c596 (Link to this contribution) When I looked into this subject last year, we had the lowest rate of lone-parent employment in Europ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 472 c611 (Link to this contribution) I have been listening with interest to the hon. Gentleman. Is he talking about a citizens pension—an...
Danny Alexander | 472 c612-6 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn), who made a number o...
John Butterfill | 472 c619 (Link to this contribution) May I point out that I am the first Opposition Back Bencher to be able to speak in this debate? Only...
Mike O'Brien | 472 c595-6 (Link to this contribution) That is absolutely right. It is important that we continue to assist lone parents to move out of pov...

Subjects

Council tax benefits
Children
Fraud
Income support
Increases
Fuel poverty
Guaranteed minimum pensions
Incapacity benefit
Pension credit
Pensioners
Workplace pensions
Poverty
Pensions
National insurance contributions
Lone parents
Social security benefits
Welfare tax credits
Take-up
Uprating
Social tariffs

Legislation

Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2008
Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2008

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk
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