division_name: The Secretary of State&#8217;S Handling of Universal Credit
motion: <p class="indent" pid="c985.1/2" pwmotiontext="yes">That this House censures the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the right hon. Member for Tatton, for her handling of the roll-out of universal credit and her response to the NAO report, Rolling Out Universal Credit; notes that the Department for Work and Pensions&#8217; own survey of claimants published on <phrase class="date" code="2018-06-08">8 June</phrase> 2018 showed that 40 per cent of claimants were experiencing financial hardship even nine months into a claim and that 20 per cent of claimants were unable to make a claim online; further censures the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for not pausing the roll-out of universal credit in the light of this evidence; and calls on the Government to reduce the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions&#8217; ministerial salary to zero for four weeks.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c985.1/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;a unique example of great British innovation&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c985.1/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Countries such as New Zealand, Spain, France and Canada have met us&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c985.1/10" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;to see UC, to watch and learn what is happening for the next generation of benefit systems.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2018-06-21">21 June</phrase> 2018; Vol. 643, c. 491.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c986.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;didn&#8217;t take account of changes made by the government in the Budget&#8221;;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c986.2/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;ensure the programme does not expand before business-as-usual operations can cope with higher claimant volumes.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c987.8/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Our report was fully agreed with senior officials in your Department. It is based on the most accurate and up-to-date information from your department. Your department confirmed this to me in writing on&#8230;<phrase class="date" code="2018-06-06">6 June</phrase> and we then reached final agreement on the report on&#8230;<phrase class="date" code="2018-06-08">8 June</phrase>.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c987.8/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;that does not mean the Department will always agree with all of the judgements reached by the NAO.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c989.2/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;has not measured the impact on claimants or assessed how much hardship Universal Credit claimants suffer.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c991.5/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;40,000 children will wake up in poverty on Christmas Day&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c991.5/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;millions of people are faced with poverty, debt and eviction as a result of Universal Credit&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c991.5/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It is clearly important that statements by a political party should be fully supported by statistics and sources&#8230;We do not believe&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c992.5/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;unable to make a claim online&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c992.5/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It is too early to assess the impact of this change.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c995.3/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The Department will never be able to measure whether Universal Credit actually leads to 200,000 more people in work, because it cannot isolate the effect of Universal Credit from other economic factors in increasing employment.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c995.3/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;does not know whether Universal Credit is reducing fraud&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c995.3/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It is not clear that Universal Credit will cost less to administer than the existing benefits system.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c995.3/11" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;depends on some unproven assumptions&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c995.3/14" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The NAO made clear quite the opposite: it said that we need to continue with universal credit. It was also concerned that it was rolling out too slowly and said that actually we should increase what we are doing. So what the right hon. Gentleman says is absolutely not what the NAO said.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2018-07-02">2 July</phrase> 2018; Vol. 644, c. 8.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c995.3/16" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Ensure that operational performance and costs improve sustainably before increasing caseloads through managed migration. It should formally assess the readiness of automation and digital systems to support increased caseloads before migration begins, and ensure the programme does not expand before business-as-usual operations can cope with higher claimant volumes.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1003.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;aligns with the Trussell Trust&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1004.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;ensure the programme does not expand before business-as-usual operations can cope with higher claimant volumes.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1004.2/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Let us have no more talk about taking the politics out of the NHS. The NHS is a political entity.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2018-01-10">10 January</phrase> 2018; Vol. 634, c. 373.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1005.1/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I went in great fear of UC. I thought it would be too difficult and cruel. I thought things would be made hard for me and my family. But I applied. It was easy and far simpler than I thought.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1006.0/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The Department will never be able to measure whether Universal Credit actually leads to&#8230;more people in work, because it cannot isolate the effect&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1006.0/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Both we, and the Department, doubt it will ever be possible for the Department to measure whether the economic goal of increasing employment has been achieved.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1011.4/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The last Labour Government lifted a million children out of poverty. Gloucester City Homes has evicted one in eight of all of its tenants because of universal credit. The Prime Minister talks about helping the poorest, but the reality is a very, very different story.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2018-10-11">11 October</phrase> 2017; Vol. 629, c. 324.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1021.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Anyone who is called for a work capability assessment as part of their claim for Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit, receives an information leaflet about the assessment process. This leaflet includes details of how they can request that their assessment is recorded.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1023.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;commitment to listening and responding to the hardship faced by claimants.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1023.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Maybe a change of mindset will follow the publication of the claimant survey&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1023.0/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the close and constructive relationship between work coaches and their clients should enable them as a team to get through any hardship that arises.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2018-07-02">2 July</phrase> 2018; Vol. 644, c. 10.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1027.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;A survey of live service claimants found that claimant satisfaction levels were similar to those on legacy benefits and in our visits to jobcentres we observed good relationships between work coaches and claimants.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="italic" pid="c1027.5/6" pwmotiontext="yes">The House divided:</p>
  
  <p pid="c1027.5/7" pwmotiontext="yes">Ayes 268, Noes 305.</p>