This week has been dominated by my work in DWP as we had questions to Ministers in the Chamber on Monday followed by a debate on the increase in social security benefits and pensions.
This meant I sat in the Chamber from 2.30-7.30pm with a 30-minute break. The Labour frontbench said they would not oppose during the debate but still called for a vote. The increase of 3.1% was set in September and follows the Social Security Administration Act 1992 which requires the Secretary of State to look at certain benefits and determine whether they have retained their value in relation to the general level of prices.
This is one of the reasons why pensions only increased by 75p in one year under Labour. I would argue that Labour had every opportunity to change this during their 13 years so cannot argue for a larger increase as it is set in law. Sadly, inflation increased after September so we have put in further measures to help those who are struggling including increasing winter fuel payments for pensioners to £300 and continued the Warm Homes Discount of £140, Cold weather payments of £25 per week and the Energy Company Obligation - a savings of £290 on bills for people in fuel poverty.
We have also increased the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour to help those in work as well as other measures to help those who are struggling. Local authorities have also been given money in the Household Support Fund aimed at low-income families to help them with the cost of living.
I point all this out as it is going to be a growing concern over the next few months and we are very conscious that people are going to struggle. However, there are 1.2m job vacancies and we have a plan, Way to Work, to get 500,000 people into work over the next six months. Work coaches in job centres are going to be busy!
The Prime Minister promised that he would tighten up how No 10 is run and I am pleased with the mini-shuffle. It will be interesting to see how he is going to cope with four Parliamentary Private Secretaries (PPS), three of whom are good friends of mine and will be forthright in their comments as well as being very capable.
All PPSs met with the new Chief of Staff at 8am on Tuesday morning to discuss the way forward and he is very keen to take on our ideas and work closely with backbenchers. This is a good step forward and I am confident that things will be improving.
Last Friday, I had an interesting day starting with the UTC (University Technical College) in Portsmouth. This is a college for 14-18-year-olds concentrating on engineering and science subjects. It incorporates much of what I have been asking for, a longer school day and a curriculum which is interesting and engaging.
All students go on to university, high level apprenticeships or jobs with a starting salary of £32,000 in places like BAE, the Royal Navy and other excellent companies. Students are taken from a wide area including Southampton, Guildford as well as Meon Valley and I was lucky enough to meet some of them, all totally engaged with what they are doing and enthusiastic. They are all chosen by a ballot, there is no selection and each place has two people applying for it.
I then dropped into Waterlooville for a coffee and had a chat with Andy Price who is moving his grocery store out of Wellington Way, which looks more dilapidated every time I visit, to the main precinct. I hope this helps as he sells incredible fruit and vegetables
I went on to Safran in Segensworth who make and service engines for helicopters including Merlin Helicopters, the police and even the Royal helicopter. One of the engineers there has a daughter at the UTC so it was a good finish to the day before I logged on to hear from the Northern Ireland Secretary about what we are doing to help with the latest problems in Stormont. It is a huge issue and we need to get it sorted quickly.
On Saturday I had a great morning at the Meon Valley Repair Café at the Methodist Church in Waltham Chase. A fantastic community project which I know will be a great success. It is good to see equipment and other goods being repaired so they have more life in them rather than being thrown away.
Next week is recess so there will be no weekly roundup.
Have a great weekend.
