Results 1-20 of 319 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Terry Rooney

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (28 Oct 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: Is my right hon. Friend aware that 2,000 grandparents in this country have taken custody of grandchildren, usually following tragic circumstances affecting the children's natural parents? Is it not time that we gave real financial and practical support to those grandparents and recognised the magnificent work that they do, instead of punishing them as the system does at present?

Oral Answers to Questions — Duchy of Lancaster: Real Help for Communities Programme (20 May 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: What progress his Department has made in the implementation of the Real Help for Communities Programme.

Oral Answers to Questions — Duchy of Lancaster: Real Help for Communities Programme (20 May 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: I thank the Minister for that reply. I understand that Bradford's allocation is about £411,000. Can he tell me when that money will come through and how it will be distributed?

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: That argument suggests that if a person stays on benefit for 25 years, they will still be subject to no compulsion. That is nonsense. There must come a point when, for the benefit of the individual—never mind the benefit of the taxpayer—we do something different for them. The Bill is offering six weeks of work experience—it could be called a work trial, but it cannot be...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: This is a difficult argument. Giving people the same intensive support at the start of a claim that they get further down the track would probably treble the cost of Jobcentre Plus. I forget the exact figures, but about two thirds of claimants get a job within the first three months of unemployment. Most of them will get a job whatever the Government do, but the skill lies in identifying at...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: I take the hon. Gentleman's point, but I want to say a couple of things about former employees of Woolworths. Of the 30,000 people made redundant by the company, fewer than 6,000 have made a claim for benefit. The numbers still on benefit are dropping day by day, so it is clear that the closure of Woolworths was not the catastrophe that it was supposed to have been. In addition, the average...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: That is a convenient excuse. About 1,800 former Woolworths employees retired, having reached or even worked past retirement age. It is true that some former Woolworths workers were not entitled to benefit, but that will always be the case. It is nothing new: in the 1970s and 1980s, lots of women who lost their jobs were not entitled to benefits because they kept on paying their married...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: I think that I have been on that subject long enough. I want to move on. Some of the amendments that I have tabled call for pilot schemes to be conducted, and I hope that the Government accept the need for that. They also propose that the work for benefits scheme must end in 2013 unless it receives a positive evaluation, and that special care must be taken to evaluate how especially...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: The challenge of any scheme and any evaluation is to have a control model. I do not know whether that model should involve those who do not participate at all or those who volunteer. One thing to the DWP's credit is that it is extremely good at commissioning research. In fact, most university social science departments would close down without the DWP. The hon. Member for Northavon (Steve...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: I wish to speak to amendments 42 to 47. Amendments 42 to 45 deal with clause 1, which covers "work for your benefit" schemes, or as it has been called today, Workfare. There has been much quoting—perhaps I should say misquoting—of various research and of what the Select Committee said about this subject. It is important to put the issue in context. In the US, Workfare was defined...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: There are different definitions of voluntary. The schemes are largely voluntary, but I think that there are hidden pressures behind them. However—this is where I have to take exception with my hon. Friend—such schemes work. When something works, why not—

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: No, my hon. Friend will have to wait. He spoke for 40 minutes; will he let me have a go for five minutes? When something works, why not extend the opportunity to take part in it to others? There is an issue about compulsion, but let us deal with the matter in general—let us not deal with lone parents. If somebody has been on benefit for two years and has had every type of assistance...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: Last month, 200,000 people left benefits for work. People seem to think that the whole economy has frozen up and that nobody is getting jobs. There is still a massive flow either way. More people are losing jobs than are getting jobs, but a huge amount of people are still moving into work and we need to recognise that. The vast majority of those with mental illness receive employment and...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: It has been far more successful than any other programme. It still gets a low level of people into work, but that is more to do with the prejudice of employers than the programme on offer. If our dear friends in Victoria street, in what used to be called the Department of Trade and Industry—whatever it is called now—ever came to their senses and brought in proper legislation on...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: Go on then.

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: How about Sweden, Norway and Denmark?

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Terry Rooney: There is evidence.

[Sir John Butterfill in the Chair] — Carers (26 Feb 2009)

Terry Rooney: Can the Minister give today a timetable for the Green Paper—a prospective time frame for its publication?

[Sir John Butterfill in the Chair] — Carers (26 Feb 2009)

Terry Rooney: I am referring to what the Minister suggested about options for carer's allowance.

[Sir John Butterfill in the Chair] — Carers (26 Feb 2009)

Terry Rooney: I am not especially in favour of care vouchers—there are all sorts of issues there—but there is a strange contradiction between the Government's attitude towards care vouchers for adults who need care and care vouchers for children. Tax advantages are available for workplace provision of child care, but not of adult care. Does the Minister not find that a contradiction?