Alison McGovern: Arguably, the biggest barrier to growth in the UK and to turning around the Prime Minister’s recession is the supply of labour. Following the Chancellor’s “Back to work Budget” in the autumn and all the measures unveiled since then, some of which the Secretary of State has just reeled off, did the Office for Budget Responsibility upgrade or downgrade its forecast on employment growth...
Alison McGovern: What the Secretary of State cannot get away from is the fact that, as has already been said, our employment rate has not returned to the post-pandemic level. He cannot answer the question because the truth is that the OBR downgraded its forecast: the unemployment forecast is worse. The reason for that is a truth that the British people have known for a long time now: these Ministers sitting...
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average waiting time for those on Universal Credit to see a work coach for an initial interview.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for an initial assessment for people on the Access to Work Scheme in the latest period for which data is available.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received an advance payment of universal credit between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received an advance payment of universal credit between 1 April 2023 and 12 March 2024.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to extend the restart scheme beyond 2025.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to take steps to ensure parity in travel requirements for school groups travelling to the UK from (a) Germany and (b) other EU member states with those from France.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with his European counterparts on extending the rules for school groups travelling to the UK from France, to other EU member states.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with his European counterparts on easing travel restrictions for UK school groups travelling to EU member states.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps the Government has taken to facilitate travel of school groups from (a) Germany and (b) other EU member states to the UK.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the impact of the withdrawal of the list of travellers scheme for school trips from EU countries in October 2021 on the (a) tourism and education sectors and (b) economy.
Alison McGovern: While I am pleased to have cheered the Minister up, I can assure him that I will certainly be giving the Government down the banks yet again. But that exact point is why I thought it would be helpful if we could have some sort of regular update out of this debate. Can the Minister feed that back to the Secretary of State, if necessary? I am sure it can be discussed whether that is a statement...
Alison McGovern: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Charles. I thank all colleagues who have contributed, in particular the Chair of the Select Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), for bringing forward the debate. As we heard from all the serious questions asked, it is important. The Minister has quite a number of important questions to answer, so I...
Alison McGovern: Thank you, Sir Charles, and I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I will just say to him that not a single vote in an election has been cast yet.
Alison McGovern: The hon. Gentleman may have said “could”, but I am not the Minister and I would not be so arrogant as to assume that that will be certain to happen. My aim was to leave space for questions to be directed to the Minister, to assist colleagues. I simply say this to the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Dr Mullan): I could point to the record over the past 14 years and the number of...
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he (a) has made recent changes to or (b) plans to change his Department's guidance to job centres on the information to be included on signposting slips.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claims were closed because a claimant failed to accept a claimant commitment that included (a) no work-related, (b) only work preparation and (c) work-focused interview requirements in 2020.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claims were closed because a claimant failed to accept a claimant commitment that included (a) no work-related, (b) only work preparation and (c) work-focused interview requirements in 2021.
Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claims were closed because a claimant failed to accept a claimant commitment that included (a) no work-related, (b) only work preparation and (c) work-focused interview requirements in 2022.