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Tag: Esther McVey

  • Esther McVey – 2023 Speech on Public Appointments

    Esther McVey – 2023 Speech on Public Appointments

    The speech made by Esther McVey, the Cabinet Office Minister, in Edinburgh on 24 November 2023.

    Good afternoon – it’s a pleasure to be here with you all.

    This is our third event focused on increasing the diversity of our public appointments…

    …but importantly it’s our first event here in Scotland…

    …and it is also the first Cabinet Office event I’ve been to since arriving in post.

    And I am pleased to see such a packed room.

    I want to thank you for taking the time to be here today…

    …we know you are all busy people, with many busy diaries only getting busier in the run-up to Christmas…

    …but it is so important that you’re here.

    Looking out of the window on my journey up here, I was reminded of the great variety of our country…

    …the rolling hills, the countryside, the towns, the cities.

    And I thought those places actually represent the diversity of the people who live in those places.

    And so often, we don’t have that diversity of thought. That diversity of expression in those public bodies.

    That’s what we’re trying to do today.

    I’m originally from Liverpool and I lived up in Edinburgh for a while. It’s one of my favourite places. I think it is such a vibrant, exciting place.

    But the Government – as part of our Levelling Up and Places for Growth agendas – needs to build the better, secure, prosperous future for this country.

    An important part of my role is being the voice of the people in the very centre of Government…

    …and that means that I need to ensure that this bright future I’ve described for every single citizen across the country.

    Our UK-wide Public Bodies are a vital part of this work…

    …including those Scottish Arms Length Bodies…

    …and therefore it is essential we get the best – and the right – people in the right posts to run them.

    And we must all be more strategic about how we go about getting those people for those posts.

    That’s why I am here today.

    I’ve been reading about some of the people in this room and I will say that some of the brightest and the best from a real diversity of backgrounds and careers are here today.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe – who unfortunately could not be here with us today – told me to really focus on diversity in the broadest sense…

    …that regional diversity and diversity of thought.

    You can be from different parts of the country, but have the same thought patterns.

    What we want is that challenge.

    People bringing that perspective you don’t always hear.

    Maybe being a bit more thoughtful… a bit more savvy… a bit more concentrated on a local area.

    And that’s what we intend to do.

    We want to break that cycle…

    …of what people might describe as group think.

    And what better place to do that than Scotland, what better place than Edinburgh, to do that.

    We want to call out to those brilliant people from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Cheshire, Birmingham, Manchester, to spread their expertise across the country.

    The value of the skills and expertise that people in this room will be priceless…

    …and the expertise you have gained throughout your careers could benefit the public sector.

    You could help our hospitals be more efficient…

    …you could improve education for the very youngest children…

    …also help those who want to be apprentices…

    …you could ensure some of our greatest museums throughout the country get even better.

    However it is not only about harnessing those skills…

    … it’s also about ensuring that candidates for public appointments are drawn from across the breadth of the country.

    We need diversity – as I said – of thought, of skills, and of capability.

    Because it’s those sensibilities which will properly challenge the organisations they are responsible for…

    But before we recognise the scale of the challenge we are doing, we owe it to you and to our public services to make sure the right support is in place.

    We know that we need to be better throughout the whole process.

    For example, where applicants may not be successful for a particular appointment – but may be brilliant at what they do – we need to be able to track those people and take that forward, so that maybe we can consider their expertise elsewhere.

    We should never forget about your career, and ensure there’s career progression offered too.

    My officials will be on hand today to discuss the upcoming opportunities…

    …and we have a number of departments represented here who – I am sure –  will be delighted to speak to you about roles later today.

    We have some great speakers today…

    …who will – no doubt – persuade you that this is something you need to go forward for.

    Whether you’ve got that experience, that certain skill, or what it takes to make a real difference.

    So I will hand over to the official in the Propriety & Ethics Team at the Cabinet Office…

    …who will tell you what is coming up for the rest of the day.

    But so you get the best out of today, rather than feeling it’s somebody talking to you or at you…

    …I would like you to be an active participant in what we do.

    When I do a Q&A session a little bit later, with people who are on boards, who have been on boards, please put your hand up if the questions I’m asking really aren’t the questions you want to ask.

    Today is really about you.

    I will also say I’ve been on that journey…

    …I was Chair of the British Transport Police Authority…

    …so I probably know some of the questions you’re thinking:

    How do I go about it?

    Is it a closed shop?

    How do I do my CV?

    How do I write that covering letter?

    How do I really sell myself so I can be on that board.

    I’ve been on this journey too… sometimes unsuccessfully, sometimes successfully.

    So warts and all, I’ll tell you what it’s been like for me.

    And also what I’ll say is practice makes perfect.

    You’ll get into the pattern of how you answer the questions and how you tell your story…

    …so people say “ah, they are the skills that I need on this board.”

    Hopefully you’ll get a lot out of today, and hopefully you’ll enjoy it.

  • Esther McVey – 2022 Speech on West Coast Main Line Services

    Esther McVey – 2022 Speech on West Coast Main Line Services

    The speech made by Esther McVey, the Conservative MP for Tatton, in the House of Commons on 15 December 2022.

    I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn (Virginia Crosbie) on securing this important debate today. Those of us who travel on this line sympathise with all the tales we have heard today and everything that she has said, because we are all suffering the same terrible journeys. As someone who has travelled pretty much every week from Wilmslow in my constituency to London since 2017, when I became the MP for the area, I have a wide knowledge of the service on which to draw and plenty of first-hand experience of the journey.

    The west coast main line is one of the major routes in Great Britain, stretching 399 miles from London to Glasgow and Edinburgh via the west midlands and the north-west of England. The Department for Transport describes the west coast main line as

    “one of our most important rail corridors.”

    It links four of Britain’s biggest conurbations and serves all rail markets—inter-city, commuter, regional and freight—and there are 11 train operating companies using the line. However, I wish to keep my comments to the Manchester to London route and to Avanti. The train service between Wilmslow and London, on that Manchester to London line, used to be hourly, direct and took one hour and 50 minutes. Since the pandemic, the rise in industrial action and the start of Avanti operating the line, the service has gone shockingly downhill, ending now in the substandard service that we have today.

    A few weeks ago, Bee Rowland, a rail traveller, caused a Twitter storm by posting a picture of her child whom she had stuffed in a luggage rack. I sympathised with her, because I had done exactly the same thing, only it was not a child that I had stuffed in the luggage rack—it was me, for the full two-hour journey. That was because people from several trains had had to cram into one train. Most people were standing, but, fortunately—I say fortunately, but it was ironically—I managed to squeeze into the travel rack and sat there for the full journey. Bee Rowland’s experience was on Grand Central, mine on Avanti.

    The travelling public are being taken for fools. We no longer have a rail service; it is a rail sufferance. It is an unreliable system that has gone backwards to such an extent that it is probably as bad as British Rail used to be when it was the butt of every comedian’s joke. Trains might or might not arrive. There are delays, staff shortages, staff late for work, or just random cancellations.

    I have been a lover of rail travel ever since I was young when I travelled everywhere on trains with my granddad, who started work on the railways at Lime Street station in Liverpool, aged 12, as a bag carrier, and stayed there until he retired. I am a railway lover and I have been brought up on trains, so to see the rail industry in such a mess makes me want to weep. It is being made worse, without doubt, by industrial action and the excessive strike action. It is as if the unions want to push these private train operating companies over the edge to make them fail.

    The RMT’s latest act of sabotage—48-hour strikes between 13 December and 7 January, wiping £1.2 billion off the UK’s economy over Christmas—is hurting travellers, businesses and local communities. I am not excusing the management of these railway companies—certainly not—but between them and the unions, they will force people to travel by other means. It will be anything other than the trains. The people who will suffer the most will be those who work on the railways.

    Since August 2022, Avanti has cut the number of trains between London, Euston and Manchester Piccadilly from one every 20 minutes to one an hour “until further notice”. It said that it had acted in the wake of industrial action

    “to ensure a reliable service is delivered, so customers can travel with greater certainty.”

    I am still waiting for that greater certainty, as are my constituents.

    Life is difficult enough, but not to be able to get to work, to school, or to see families is unacceptable, especially at the prices that we pay to travel by train. Looking at the cancellation figures between 4 November 2021 to 12 November 2022, it appears that the average cancelled by Avanti was 5.5%, and those cancelled by other causes 6.8%—so, about 12% altogether. However, that is not the full story, because 33% of our trains have already been cancelled and so what we are saying is that 45% of trains have been cancelled. I often get to the station and find that even the guards do not know whether a train is coming or not. Then, I jump on the train to Crewe and perhaps on another one to Stafford and then I go on to London. Instead of a one hour 50 minute journey, it can take four and a half hours or even six hours, each way.

    Let us look at the other side of the coin. Only last week, I had an insufferable journey to Crewe, only to find that a direct train from London had been put on at the last minute, which nobody knew about. So an empty train pulled into Crewe to give me the last leg of my journey to Wilmslow. We call these ghost trains; they are empty trains that travel up the line, pretending to get the numbers right, which they are not because nobody is on them. Sadly for its customers, Avanti West Coast had the fewest trains on time, at just 38.8%, making it the least punctual operator in the country. As for the part that runs through my patch, Avanti says that 87% of its trains from 16 October 2022 to 12 November 2022 were 15 minutes or more late. That is a huge amount that are unreliable.

    So I guess there are a couple of messages for the Minister. Avanti has to get its house in order or lose its contract to somebody who can run a better rail service. We need to get our rail system back up and running. It has been knocked sideways during the lockdown and it is being battered now by industrial action, but we do not want any more excuses. We need to get our rail system back on track. So here is an idea to make our railway system reliable, regular and well-maintained: let us stop wasting those billions of pounds that are going into HS2 and get a proper train system working right across the country, locally and nationally, for all of the citizens of this country.

  • Esther McVey – 2022 Speech on the National Food Strategy and Food Security

    Esther McVey – 2022 Speech on the National Food Strategy and Food Security

    The speech made by Esther McVey, the Conservative MP for Tatton, in the House of Commons on 27 October 2022.

    I beg to move,

    That this House recognises that food security is a major concern to the British public and that the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the conflict in Ukraine has made UK food security more important than ever before; further recognises the strain on the farming sector due to rising farming and energy costs; supports the Government’s ambition to produce a National Food Strategy white paper and recognises the urgent need for its publication; notes that the UK food system needs to become more sustainable; and calls on the Government to recognise and promote alternative proteins in the National Food Strategy, invest in homegrown opportunities for food innovation, back British businesses and help future-proof British farming.

    The motion is in my name and that of the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy). I pay tribute to her for all her help in co-ordinating this debate, and I particularly thank the Backbench Business Committee for finding time for it.

    Food security is a perennial concern. Even the meaning of “food security” causes concern and disagreement, but I will use this definition as a starting point—being able to feed the population at a reasonable cost, even in the face of future shocks such as a global pandemic, massive harvest failure or a general crisis of agricultural productivity caused by climate change. However, colleagues may well wish to expand on that definition and talk about a whole array of issues, for this is such a vast topic with so many important implications for farmers and for families and household food bills, particularly now that we see them rising with the cost of living crisis.

    The UK is addressing the issues of food security by using new approaches to agriculture such as vertical farming, precision agriculture and genome editing. It is cutting food waste with Government policies and new technology, producing alternative proteins from cultured insects and algae—not for the faint-hearted—as well as producing plant-based meat, on which the UK leads the way, and packaging food in innovative ways to reduce damage, prolong freshness and fight off bacteria.

    However, with the shocks we have suffered to our food security over the last two years—the consequences of covid and lockdowns, and now of the war in Ukraine —there is much more the Government need to do, particularly to help our local farmers. In the north-west, our 12,815 farming and growing community quietly go about their business, collectively producing a wealth of food commodities and contributing more than £726 million to the economy. Our UK farmers and growers are world leaders in food safety, animal welfare, traceability and environmental enhancements, and these values are reflected through our UK annual food and drink export value of £2 billion.

    I want to focus on my little corner of the world. Over 70% of Cheshire county is still agriculture-producing, with large swathes given to dairy, sheep and cattle farming. More than 7,000 people are employed on 2,804 farm holdings covering nearly 160,000 hectares of land. We are home to some of the country’s leading dairy farms and dairies—for example, Grosvenor’s Eaton Estate in Cheshire produces more than 35 million litres of fresh milk a year, which is enough for half a million people every day. In Tatton, we have County Milk, which is a family-run business and the largest privately owned dairy ingredient company in the UK. We have the award-winning Delamere Dairy, located in Knutsford, and Bexton Cheese in Knutsford. We have the award-winning Lambing Shed, run by the Mitchell family, and Cheshire Smokehouse in Morley Green, Wilmslow. We have Mobberley Ice Cream, Great Budworth Ice Cream and Seven Sisters Farm Ice Cream—there are lots of ice creams—and Roberts Bakery. I meet my local farmers regularly, assisted and facilitated by the local National Farmers Union team.

    There have always been concerns in farming, for livestock and the Great British weather are temperamental fellows to work with, but of late these issues have got bigger and they need to be addressed if we want our food strategy to work. In Tatton, our farmers, like those across the country, are facing labour shortages, energy price increases of up to 400%, fertiliser cost increases of over 150% and red diesel increases, as well as increases in rural crime. Only the other week, I met a group of local farmers at Shepherd’s farm in Aston by Budworth, which has just invested £300,000 in a new milking shed of the new cubicle type, and they all concurred that we are now seeing particularly tough times.

    My farmers are renowned for good husbandry, good farming and good farming techniques, and they go to great lengths to look after their animals and land, for high-quality care leads to high-quality meat, milk and produce, but they need help to find staff and to offer competitive training and apprenticeships. New farmers entering the profession need to have a chance to get a farm, and those leaving it need a chance to relinquish a farm at a price that will provide for their retirement. Can the Minister please look into these matters as a matter of urgency? I know significant work has been done, but certainly more work needs to be done. If the Minister cannot provide a full answer today, I am more than happy for him to write to me.

    Another of my constituents is Philip Pearson, who, along with other members of his family, runs a family business called the APS Group. Set up by his grandfather after the second world war in Alderley Edge, it is now the biggest tomato producer in the UK, producing approximately 650 million tomatoes a year. He has explained quite clearly that the horticulture sector in the UK is desperately short of staff to look after crops and to cope during the harvest. He would have expected 1,500 workers, out of a peak total of 2,500, from central and eastern Europe each year—from March to Christmas—but this has not been possible this year.

    A question for the Minister is: can these farmers have more visas for seasonal agricultural workers—the number must rise from the current 30,000 to at least 50,000 as soon as possible—and can farmers employ Ukrainian nationals and other migrants now housed in the UK to help deliver an increase in the number of seasonal agricultural workers?

    Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)

    The right hon. Lady is making a very powerful case, very little of which I would disagree with, but the food strategy is not all about agriculture. The fishing industry also needs visas for crews in particular, which has been a problem for years. Through her, can I add to the Minister’s list to take to the Home Office the plight of the fishing industry as well as that of farmers?

    Esther McVey

    The right hon. Member absolutely can, and indeed he has. I expect other Members to talk about the farming in and the produce coming from their parts of the country. As I said, I am focusing on Cheshire, but I believe we all share the same concerns.

    In my patch, farmers are leading the way in technology, too. In the case of APS, it is developing robotics for tomato production, starting with harvesting and going right the way through to packaging. It is putting significant money and research into this development to cope with the lack of people now coming forward to work in the farming sector. However, these robots will not be ready for four to five years, so it needs short-term help now to be able to deliver on its commitment to supply tomatoes for the country.

    Farmers also care deeply about the environment. This particular farm is working hard to deliver compostable packaging. It uses its tomato plant waste to develop packaging, and it is using it for other sectors, including fake leather for car seats, coffee cups and even bactericidal treatment for the NHS. It is charged a packaging tax, yet it is developing green, biodegradable alternatives, so can the Minister let me know what incentives there are for such great British technology to help the companies providing these terrific developments, which will be used not just here, but right around the world?

    Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)

    Robotics is very important in my constituency of Strangford in two ways. First, for the dairy sector, it is a seven-figure sum to set up a new robotic milking dairy—my neighbours are doing that—and, secondly, it is a significant six-figure sum for those wanting to have tomato houses, as the right hon. Lady has mentioned. To make such vast investments happen, the Government must be involved, so the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs here and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs back home will have to be very much part of that process.

    Esther McVey

    I thank the hon. Member for joining in and adding that pertinent point.

    We could not have this debate without talking about the high energy prices at the moment, with an increase of 400%, and what is happening to farms having to cope with those increased costs. For APS, this has resulted in reduced production of UK tomatoes and other foods, because the costs of production are not recovered through higher prices. Farmers must be mindful of passing on higher prices to customers—if they can, as the supermarkets and shops the food goes to will not accept them—so we must be mindful of how we support farmers.

    That company has even developed a combined heat and power plant, which supplies 3 MW of power to Alderley Edge, and it uses the waste heat and the carbon dioxide from that to grow their crop. I wonder whether it can get some recognition that it uses carbon dioxide from power generation to produce food, because that would help it to offset the huge increases in energy cost. I know the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is reviewing the move from the European Union energy trading scheme to the ETS UK equivalent post Brexit, but can the Minister liaise with his ministerial colleague at BEIS and give me the latest news on that?

    Food production is essential for the delivery of the environmental benefits on which the Government plan to centre in their agricultural support policy, but unless we recognise the dual role of farmers as food producers and conservationists, we risk turning farmers into environmental contractors with little incentive to continue farming. That would do enormous damage to the jobs and communities that depend on farming, as well as weaken our food security. The strategy needs to be clearer in linking food production to action against climate change and enhancing the natural environment.

    My final plea is for greater clarity on food labelling, so that the high standards of British food are known and recognised—so a shopper knows the quality of the produce and where it is from. Buying British and locally, for me that means buying from Cheshire, is important not just because of the high husbandry standards of UK food but the low transport mileage to get from field to fork. That low transport mileage is particularly important if we are concerned about the environment. As my beef and sheep farmers say, it is better to have high-quality beef and lamb from Cheshire than chickpeas from halfway around the world. [Interruption.] I thank Members for the cheers for that.

    On food standards, it is important when the Government are negotiating and implementing free trade agreements to avoid undermining the domestic sector for farmers and growers and reducing standards. In its report on the UK-Australia free trade agreement issued on Friday 17 June 2022, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee concluded:

    “In practice it appears unlikely that food produced to lower animal welfare standards will enter the UK as a result of this deal.”

    That is positive news, but my farmers are calling for greater transparency on food labelling. Like me, they believe in choice, but we only have choice when we have knowledge of what we are choosing and what we are choosing from.

    Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)

    I sit on that Committee and we observed that the average size of a sheep farm in Australia is 100 times the size of one in Wales, and they practise mulesing—shearing the back- sides of sheep in a painful way without anaesthetics—and transport cattle for 24 hours. So there is a clear problem of British producers being undercut by inhumane welfare practices and massive intensity of production.

    Esther McVey

    That relates to the transparency that some people are calling for to know what they are eating and enjoying, to appreciate the difference in cost and the treatment the animals have gone through. Fair competition can only really come from accurate labelling and transparency on produce. The UK produces some of the best food in the world, with the highest standards of safety and animal welfare, and it is only right that people in this country know what they are getting.

    Tatton farmers and producers are hard-working, dedicated to the sector, industrious and experts in their field, with many generations of experience. They want to help solve the food security issues that this country is facing, but along with this strategy, which goes some of the way, and along with awareness of what is happening around the world, more assistance is needed to help our farmers here and now with the problems the world is facing.

  • Esther McVey – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

    Esther McVey – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

    The tribute made by Esther McVey, the Conservative MP for Tatton, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.

    There have been so many wonderful and moving tributes today, it has been a real pleasure to be in the Chamber to listen to them all. With your permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will make my tribute through the eyes of the schoolchildren of Tatton.

    So many MPs have mentioned the curiosity children have about the late Queen Elizabeth II. The question they ask, particularly in primary and junior schools, is, “Have you met the Queen?” When I say yes there are literally squeals of delight and gasps of disbelief. Uncontainable excitement ripples through the class. Such was the impact that this lady had on people of all ages and in all parts of the country. She loved children and children loved her. And the clatter of questions that followed! “Were you nervous when you met her?” “How was she?” “What’s she like?” “Where did you meet her?” So I try to describe the Queen to them as they sit and listen, eyes wide open.

    “Well,” I say, “she was diminutive, yet she was imposing. She was gentle, yet steely. With that powderpuff grey hair, she was radiant and she shone, but it was her eyes that were remarkable and memorable. They were penetrating and bottomless, the knowledge behind them limitless. You could almost feel what she had seen and experienced. You were in the presence of wisdom—and they were kind, too. She was a curious blend, quite disarming and yet incredibly caring. And was I nervous? Without doubt. You’re in the presence of greatness, whose life has spanned war and peace, and that nervousness is amplified by the royal protocol that she lived through and by.

    “When you are made a Privy Counsellor and you have steps to take and kneels to bow, there is meticulous choreography—the timing, quick steps, kneels, the precision of words and taking oaths—and the seal of office at Sandringham. It was magical; it was a whirl of rooms and doors opening. It was brevity, but intensity, and as we left we were all handed a packed lunch.” All I can say is that it was thoughtful but simple, no frills—I think it was nutritionally balanced, but there was no fuss whatsoever; there was no bother or nonsense. As deputy Chief Whip, I was also Treasurer of Her Majesty’s Household.

    What the Queen loved, and where I met her and spent more time with her, was Windsor Castle, with her horses in her stables, which she absolutely loved. She confided that one of her best memories was the day that Estimate, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. She spoke to her trainers, Nicky Henderson and John Gosden, every week without fail. That was what she loved. I am delighted that the St Leger is going ahead this weekend, not least because the Queen won it in her silver jubilee year with Dunfermline, ridden by Willie Carson, one of her favourite jockeys.

    She was kind and, finally, thoughtful. In my final conversation with her, she questioned social media and its impact, and said, “Could anybody these days keep a secret?” She talked about Operation Mincemeat, the deception that fooled Hitler and helped us to win the war, and she said, “Can people keep things to themselves, or do they feel that they’d sooner tell everybody, and maybe spoil what should be done?”

    When I leave children, I say, “Have you got discretion? Can you keep a secret? Are you selfless? Can you think of the greater good more than you can think of yourself? And if you can, then the Queen has done her job and her spirit and her qualities will live on in all of us.” God bless the Queen. God save the King.

  • Esther McVey – 2018 Speech on the Personalisation of Benefits

    Below is the text of the speech made by Esther McVey, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on 19 July 2018.

    Thank you very much indeed Andrew.

    And it really is great to be here today to talk about my vision for the welfare revolution and the changing world of work.

    And it’s terrific to be on a Reform platform.

    Because Reform is a fierce advocate for public services in this new age of technology.

    Interestingly, I’m the only minister I believe who has spent their whole ministerial career in one department – Work and Pensions – moving from Parliamentary Private Secretary into a Junior Minister role to a Minister of State to now Secretary of State – even with a spell of unemployment in the middle!

    And don’t think that irony wasn’t lost on me – when, standing on stage at 5am in a May morning in 2015, surrounded by cameras, lights, people, and hearing the election result that I’d lost.

    One moment Minister of State for Employment the next moment unemployed!

    But my journey of what life is about without a job started way before that. Growing up in Liverpool in the 1980s – seeing its impact on people and its impact on local communities. Waking up with nowhere to go, time spent wondering what you’re going to do. Some memories actually never leave you.

    And it is those images, those deep-seated memories that spur me on. That made me want to come back into politics and also made me want to come back to this department.

    And how can we make a system relevant for today’s world of work – and use technology to assist us to do that? How do we make a system that works for millions of people relevant to the individual?

    The Department for Work and Pensions is absolutely massive. Its spend is comparable to a country the size of Portugal, or Greece, spending £180 billion of taxpayer money each year – with a day to day operation on which 22 million people depend.

    Each week DWP makes 12 million separate payments to a combined value of approximately £3 billion.

    Every day we see 80,000 people face to face in a jobcentre.

    Each week we take about 1 million phone calls.

    We directly deliver most of this through over 75,000 colleagues who operate from over 600 jobcentres and another 100 back offices.

    But, despite this scale, it needs to work for people. And people come in many shapes and sizes, with many issues and concerns and – do you know what – with almost unlimited potential.

    And it is that potential that our department needs to focus on.

    I know some work coaches are here today that work in our jobcentres, and I want to say thank you personally for the work that you are doing. The changes that you have lived through and the transformation that you are making to people’s lives.

    And I want to tell you that I am committed to bringing you the tools that you will need to empower people to get a job.

    So why are we changing the system? Well there’s quite a few reasons!

    The old system stifled opportunities – removing incentives to work more than 16 hours in many cases, and creating an effective tax rate of almost 90% of income for some people.

    Known to many of us as the ‘16hr rule’.

    Then came the creation of tax credits by the previous government, done so hastily that it undermined its own purpose.

    And overpayments, as a result of it being delivered with the flick of a switch in April 2003, meant that if claimants miscalculated what they should be entitled to, they would be hit with a massive bill at the end of the year.

    That year, government overpaid tax credits by £2.2 billion, requiring it to claw back money from some of the poorest people in the country.

    And the IT system of benefits – well, we depend upon an old one, one that’s out of date – designed and created in the 1980s – quite literally of another age.

    Think how technology and IT has changed since then. Our legacy system is pre-Google, pre-mass communication and connectivity.

    So the old system – the one being phased out – is an outdated, complicated, disincentivising web of overlapping benefits!

    The truth is that people’s life chances were severely held back by the old system of benefits.

    And let’s be frank: there is nothing reasonable about expecting people to claim several different benefits from separate local and national organisations.

    There is nothing fair about ‘rewarding’ a claimant’s successful search for work and cutting off benefits as soon as they gained a reasonable amount of hours.

    There was nothing personal about a complex, indiscriminate ‘one-size fits all’ system – which, I think it is fair to say, embedded low expectations on both sides of the claim desk.

    So change has to come – and change that also reflects the rapidly changing world of work in which we live.

    Lots of work is changing – it is now online, tasks are being automated, and new industries are being created.

    By one estimate, 65% of children starting in school today will do a job that doesn’t currently exist.

    We are already seeing seismic shifts, as we enter what is known as the fourth industrial revolution.

    The gig economy matches people and tasks more dynamically than ever before – creating new opportunity.

    Flexible working is no longer an exception, and we are seeing an increasingly inclusive workforce, where work fits around personal circumstances and caring responsibilities.

    Gone is the job for life.

    And our welfare system should reflect that. It should be nimble and adaptive – reflecting changing working patterns in this fast-paced moving world.

    Our vision is one of a personalised benefit system, a digitised system.

    We’ve simplified the system, so it is easier to navigate, by creating an easy point of contact – both online and through the system, but also by introducing dedicated one-to-one work coaches.

    We’re rolling 6 benefits into one, that means that people now have a better oversight of their income and can spend accordingly.

    The taper rate means that it will always pay to work. ‘Cliff edges’ inherent in the old system – where benefits first dropped-off at 16 hours, and then at 30 hours of work per week – have now gone.

    Flexible payments help people take on small amounts of hours, even at short notice, thereby supporting people to work in the gig economy. Through integration with HMRC’s Real Time Information, this means that their benefit payment is adjusted automatically.

    This digital system personalises Universal Credit. And we are constantly updating it.

    This is not just IT: it is using next-generation technology, design thinking and data to support work coaches.

    So when someone calls the full service telephone line, we use technology to automatically route them to their case manager or team – using tech to bring to you a familiar voice.

    This technology is currently in 90% of teams in service centres and is now being rolled out further.

    When you apply online, the experience is tailored to individual circumstances to allow us to develop the most efficient and effective service. And machine-learning will deliver and be applied to analyse data. The insight is then used by work coaches, who use their expertise to help claimants.

    In short, we are developing a system that doesn’t just meet users’ needs, but the specifics of individual’s needs – combining technology and work coaches’ expertise.

    This personal support is critical – but is on online and it is in person – as dedicated work coaches help claimants overcome a lack of confidence, a lack of role models or a range of circumstances in someone’s lives.

    Mindful always of the claimant’s situation – and track their support and signpost them to places for help.

    We are developing a personalised system that gives a 360 degree view of an individual’s needs to provide bespoke tailor-made support.

    Even to providing budgeting and IT support, using £200 million of funding to do so.

    And this really is about helping people.

    And don’t just take my word for it. Consider these examples.

    An ex-offender told us that his work coach had been “fantastic”, giving him confidence and time to adjust to life outside prison.

    A claimant from Yorkshire, who had mental health difficulties, told us that her work coach “helped me turn my life around. Tailored support – I have now found my dream job.”

    Another claimant, with a similar condition, acknowledged the time the new system allowed her to discuss her situation and the way she could move forward: “I have had many appointments with [my work coach] and she has been my lifeline with regards to work and her amazing empathy.”

    This is all about personalisation. The personalisation of benefits and digitisation of the benefits system, providing tailored support for the individual. The ability to adapt is key, reflecting the increased pace of life and technological advancements. We’re building an agile system for an agile future.

    But we are not complacent that all is working like clockwork.

    And where we need to put our hands up, admit things might not be going right, we will do so. We will be a culture of mea culpa, hands up and then we need to change. For just as we are adopting agile technology in this fast-paced world, ministers have to be agile too.

    That is why, since January, we have implemented a £1.5 billion package of change that was announced in the Autumn Budget 2017.

    So we have made advance payments from day one of the application process, for up to 100% of a person’s total claim, to be paid over 12 months, instead of 6.

    That is why we put in place a 2-week Housing Benefit run-on, to give people moving from the legacy system a blanket of support to help them. And that is why we have also removed waiting days.

    And since I became Secretary of State in January, I have reviewed legal cases reversing past positions and not appealing court decisions allowing the department to:

    – reinstate housing benefit for 18 to 21 year olds
    – exempt kinship carers from changes to Child Tax Credit element of Universal Credit
    – and further, announce measures to protect severely disabled people when they naturally migrate to Universal Credit

    We know that these changes have and will continue to help people. It is crucial that we get Universal Credit rolled out right – right for the 8 million who will go on to use it – and right for the taxpayer.

    This is a total test and learn approach – critical to delivering Universal Credit that works for claimants.

    We need to reach out too – learn from organisations such as yourselves – and yes, that includes the National Audit Office – about how to design and implement Universal Credit to support claimants, help them into employment, and improve their life chances.

    And we realise that there is more to learn, and we want to work with you to understand where we can improve on this important reform.

    And there are changes which are still needed, which I am working on. That is debt repayments, support for the self-employed, payment cycles for those in work and an extension of outreach work and an extension of flexible support for claimants.

    But be in no doubt – because of the steps that we have introduced to deliver Universal Credit – such as the Claimant Commitment and enhanced training – we are helping to shape a new direction for so many people here in the UK. We are seeing people as individuals, not numbers, and not as a group known as unemployed – but as simply and clearly as individuals.

    Since 2010, there has been a jobs revolution here at home.

    Just this week we announced a record 32.4 million people in work, an increase of over 3.3 million since 2010.

    That’s 1,000 people on average each and every day that have moved into work since we came into government.

    That’s 1,000 more people each and every day in charge of their destiny providing support for their family members.

    And this jobs revolution has been felt right across the board, with record female employment, record BAME employment and as of mid-2017 there are nearly 600,000 more disabled people in work than 4 years earlier. This personalised system is clearly helping people into work – people who previously didn’t have the opportunities that their talents deserved.

    And this jobs revolution has been felt right across the country too.

    Employment in the North East has risen by 60,000 since 2010, to 1.2 million.

    Employment in the North West has risen by 256,000 since 2010, to 3.44 million.

    Employment in the East Midlands has risen by 186,000 since 2010, to 2.28 million.

    We’ve seen youth unemployment fall by almost 45% since 2010.

    And this does make us the envy of Europe, with youth unemployment at 11.5%, compared with Spain’s 33.8% and Italy at 31.9%.

    So much for the wonders of remaining in the European Union.

    It means we are building an economy that is fit for the future.

    And that future promises to be bright with the right relationship between government and business. Because we are not heavy handed interventionists.

    We will focus on how to connect people to work, rather than shoving them into jobs that don’t suit.

    Disability Confident – which I set up back in 2013 when Minister for Disabled People – is continuing to spread the message of the untapped pool of talent that disabled people can bring to our workforce – ensuring employers can benefit from that talent.

    Find a Job – launched in May this year – provides a 24/7 online job search platform. There have already been 24 million searches on that website, with over 177,000 live job adverts today.

    We will continue to support people through the Flexible Support Fund to enable people to spend money on things that make it easier for them to get into work – whether training programmes, travel to an interview, clothing or equipment to start employment.

    We want to develop our Universal Support offer to ensure it supports people through the welfare system – to develop their digital skills so important in our digital economy. And we will be looking at how we can improve Universal Support further.

    We will explore how we can further join the links between jobcentres and schools to continue to prepare children for a life fulfilling with work – ensuring they go into the careers that they want.

    We will continue to use sector-based work academies to help young people develop their skills and links in to business up and down the country.

    And we are using apprenticeships and skills programmes to enable people to retrain where they see an opportunity.

    And we will ensure that older workers get fuller working lives by helping them back into work, extending working lives through tailored support for upskilling, managing health conditions and working with business to share the benefits that older workers can bring to them.

    Our links to people on Universal Credit in work provide us with opportunities to provide support for people to fulfil their potential too.

    Personal advancement is key to social mobility and ensuring people reach their potential.

    And it is by empowering people, giving them choice and flexibility to carve their own path, that everyone is able to reach this potential.

    We are working hard to make Universal Credit work for all. And we want to work with you all to achieve that.

    We are both a pragmatic and a visionary government, listening to business, listening to charities, listening to people on the frontline and putting in place the right support to help people taking back control of their lives. And most importantly, always listening to the claimant.

    Thank you.

  • Esther McVey – 2013 Speech on Measuring Child Poverty

    The below speech was made by the Minister for Disabled People, Esther McVey, at a Child Poverty Consultation Event in Liverpool on 14th January 2013.

    Thank you all for coming today to feed into the Government’s consultation on measuring child poverty.

    As MP for Wirral West, I know the passion and expertise with which your organisations work with children in poverty in the North West. I share that passion with you, and today is your chance to be the voice of our local children on a national stage.

    I’ll ensure that your views are heard in Westminster and taken into account. The Government knows that the knowledge needed to tackle child poverty doesn’t lie in Whitehall, it lies with people like you.

    This is why it’s great to be here at Our Place today. Youth centres like this play a big role in improving the lives and life chances of our children and young people. With 32 per cent of Knowsley’s children living in poverty, these services really are invaluable.

    As Minister for Disabled People, I’m particularly impressed by the services offered here to young people with disabilities, allowing them to integrate more fully into the youth community here.

    The child poverty consultation was launched on 15 November 2012 by Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, and Schools Minister, David Laws.

    It’s a real example of the coalition commitment to thinking seriously about child poverty. Two years on, the coalition remains strong, determined and driven to improve children’s lives.

    Here in Merseyside, 27 per cent of children live in families with below 60 per cent of median income.

    Of course, income matters.

    But in my work with children and young people, I’ve seen time and time again that poverty isn’t simply about income. As frontline workers and advocates for children in poverty, you know this even better than me.

    But last year, statistics showed that 300,000 children in the UK were moved out of poverty. This wasn’t because of improvements in their standard of living or life chances. Instead, it was due to a fall in national median income which pushed the poverty line down.

    Those children who moved over the poverty line had no more experiences, no improved opportunities, and no better lives than they did before.

    This shows that we need a better measure of child poverty, one that won’t change simply because of the state of the economy.

    This consultation is about addressing the real drivers of child poverty.

    The income-focussed measures in the Child Poverty Act can’t capture the experience of growing up in poverty, or the barriers to escaping this poverty. A better measure will widen our perspective to show what life is really like for children in poverty today.

    Through this we can try to make changes that really transform children’s lives. We need to look at what causes poverty, and so help people find a way out of that poverty.

    Worklessness is one of these causes.

    The coalition is united on the importance of work. Work is central to wellbeing. It’s one of the best ways to increase independence and self-esteem, and is central to someone’s identity.

    As Minister for Disabled People, I’ve seen how innovative schemes enabling vulnerable groups to re-enter the workforce can have a real effect on people’s lives.

    This is echoed throughout the Government. Getting people back to work and helping them live independent lives really is a coalition priority.

    A record number of people are in work and one million private-sector jobs have been created since the Election. The number of people out of work has also fallen by 82,000 in the last quarter. We know times are tough and there’s still more to be done, but we are making progress.

    Not everyone, of course, is well equipped to find work. That’s why areas like parental skill level are included in this consultation.

    Some parents, keen as they are to work, are constrained by a lack of qualifications or experience.

    Children need their parents to be role models if they are to get these qualifications and experiences themselves.

    And small businesses need these qualifications and experiences to function.

    If we can address low parental skill level then we can better tackle poverty for the whole family, both parents and children.

    Of course, families matter in other ways as well.

    The family stability dimension of this consultation shows just how big an impact family breakdown can have on some children’s lives It’s not just economic – where some children are drawn into parental conflict they’re more likely to suffer poor outcomes, doing less well at school and being more likely to run away from home. There’s the issue of role models too.

    Similarly, high levels of unmanageable debt can be a burden on the whole family. A family trapped in spiralling debt may not have the money left to meet their basic needs, but this is something that the current child poverty measure doesn’t take into consideration.

    Then there’s education. Children whose hopes and dreams are stifled by a failing school simply don’t have the same chances as children who are supported every step of the way by inspirational teachers and role models.

    These role models can come from school, but they’re also found all over.  Employers, the family, the local community – they’re all fundamental in our children’s lives. And that’s why places like OurPlace are just so important.

    Whether it’s worklessness, debt, ill health, family instability or educational failure, across the Coalition we’re taking action to address the barriers that hold children back.

    A better measure of child poverty will enable us to better address the causes and consequences of poverty and lead to real transformative change.

    Of course, money matters, and no measure of child poverty will overlook this. But other things matter too, and this is what the Coalition is hoping to illustrate in its new measure of child poverty.

    Thank you.