Andrew Western MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 29 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend has made an important point. The Child Maintenance Service is committed to ensuring that separated parents support their children financially, and to ensuring that the assessment reflects the parents’ true income. I am not familiar with the specifics of the case that my hon. Friend has raised, but my general view is that while enforcement powers are adequate, case complexity is often the challenge when it comes to proving where money is owed. If my hon. Friend wants to write to me about that specific case, I would be happy to look into it further on his behalf.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising what is an incredibly important case to highlight. I appreciate that it will have been a deeply distressing experience for her constituent and I apologise for that. I can confirm that all payments, thanks in part to my hon. Friend’s ministrations, have now been fully restored and any arrears owed have been issued. Given the seriousness of the investigation, the case remains under active consideration so that we can look into the circumstances that allowed it to arise and ensure that nothing like it happens again.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I appreciate the point the hon. Lady is making. I am not in a position to confirm an uprating from the Dispatch Box, but this will be considered in the usual way as part of the annual uprating process. There is a forthcoming debate in Westminster Hall in response to a petition on the adequacy of bereavement support payments, and I am sure she will participate fully in that debate, if she is able to, to make the case further.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Social Security: Fraud and Error · Hansard source

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  If the hon. Gentleman has specific concerns about how benefits are being administered and fraud is being investigated through the powers of the Scottish Parliament, I would very much appreciate it if he could write to me. In some instances, the way in which the Department and our Scottish Government counterparts will be investigating fraud means that we are now teed up to intervene at an earlier stage, where a number of the issues can be less serious. We can detect and act at a much earlier stage. That is beneficial in reducing fraud and for claimants.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Social Security: Fraud and Error · Hansard source

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  Overall levels of fraud and error are the lowest since the pandemic at 3.2%, compared with the peak of 4.3% in financial year end 2022. That reduction of a quarter demonstrates sustained progress with our fraud and error measures. Building on that success, we have set a new ambition to reduce the rate to 2.8% by 2028-29, which would be the lowest cross-welfare overpayment rate since tax credits were introduced in 2003.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Benefits System: Bereaved Families · Hansard source

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  Losing a loved one is deeply distressing. DWP provides support through the bereavement support payment—a tax-free lump sum with up to 18 monthly payments for eligible partners. Help with funeral costs is available through the funeral expenses payment for those receiving income-related benefits. Additional support that may be available includes the bereavement run-on in universal credit, which extends support after the death of a partner, child or another adult in the household.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Benefits System: Bereaved Families · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member raises an important point. BSP is reviewed annually as part of the wider uprating process, so it would not be appropriate for me to make that commitment today. BSP is limited to 18 months because it is designed to support the acute period following bereavement. Longer-term financial support is delivered through the wider welfare system to those who are eligible, including universal credit and child benefit, and through other forms of local support where appropriate.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Benefits System: Bereaved Families · Hansard source

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  I recognise the strong interest in this issue. I was aware of the petition, as well as the campaigning work that my hon. Friend has done in this space. I am very happy to receive any information that that organisation wishes to send to me in advance of the debate on the petition, and I look forward to participating in it.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Identifying Local Vulnerability · Hansard source

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  I share my hon. Friend’s shock and horror at that particular episode. If he sends me further details of that specific case, I will ensure it is fed into that work. From the data sharing that will be available, I envisage that there will be an ability to recognise where there is a particular and urgent need for access to services, such as the crisis resilience fund. If he writes to me in more detail, I will ensure that any lessons that can be learned are fed in.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Identifying Local Vulnerability · Hansard source

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  The Government are committed to improving data sharing with local authorities, as part of our endeavours to improve services. We are taking forward work with local authorities on the “identifying local vulnerability” project, and that work will support enhanced data sharing across local and central Government. Work has already taken place to establish customer needs and ways of working, and future stages will focus on ensuring that the best technological solution is deployed.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Identifying Local Vulnerability · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is correct to recognise the importance of this work. Data sharing with local authorities is essential, particularly working on homelessness prevention, on young people not in education, employment or training and on supporting families. There is a rich seam here if we get this work right, and we expect to see early benefits from the roll-out of the scheme by 2027.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  I agree with my hon. Friend: sometimes this can feel like a vicious circle for young people with disabilities, and we must ensure that we get this right.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  Where I disagree with the hon. Gentleman is that I am here to answer questions about the interim report from Alan Milburn, who himself points to a problem that is longer and more deep-rooted than the changes that have been made in the last couple of years. I remind him, as I have already said in response to other colleagues, that under-21s do not pay national insurance. A range of incentives have been put in place for under-25s seeking apprenticeships with small and medium-sized enterprises and for young people who have been on universal credit for more than six months.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  I am reluctant to respond in the strongest terms possible because it is the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) who has made the point, and I hold him in the highest regard. The Milburn review says loud and clear that this is not about a fecklessness in young people, and neither are they proud of not being in education, employment or training. Young people want those opportunities, and it is a failure of the state and the system. Whole-system reform is needed, and we are determined to bring it forward.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  As I have said many times, we are introducing a new financial incentive to support SMEs to hire young people under the age of 25 as apprentices, providing that the earnings are below £50,000.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  I certainly agree with my hon. Friend about the power of devolution—it is something that he and I know only too well from our roles as leaders within the Greater Manchester combined authority—but I hope he will recognise that this Government are taking a very different approach on apprenticeships and technical education. That is underpinned by the Prime Minister’s revised target, not of 50% of young people going to university, but of having two thirds of young people in either an apprenticeship or higher education.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Member is absolutely right to highlight the importance of that point, and the Department of Health and Social Care is undertaking a review of mental health provision, the causes of poor mental health and so on. I agree that 40% of young people citing mental health conditions as a driver for their not being in employment, education or training is a concerning increase—it has almost doubled in recent years. That is clearly unacceptable. That is why some of the interventions being led by the Department for Education are so important: more mental health support in schools, getting those CAMHS waiting lists down and ensuring that children and young people get early intervention when they need help, because, as we see in those numbers and this report, poor mental health blights them not just at school, but in later life.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. If she has any ideas about how we can extend the knowledge and availability of such information, I would be happy to hear them.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  I understand the right hon. Gentleman’s point, but I have to say that I have rather more faith in young people in the workforce than he seems to. The Employment Rights Act is an important, once-in-a-generation opportunity to level up rights in the workplace, and this Government remain committed to it.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that, in the current climate, incentives are required to encourage employers to hire young people, and I have set out the measures that we have taken to do that. However, he is one of a number of Conservative Members today who have raised the Employment Rights Act, which is the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation. This Government are steadfast in continuing to support working people and ensuring that the Act is fully implemented.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  I hope that Alan Milburn will propose a range of interventions that look not only at how we help people now, but at how we fix this problem for the long term. My hon. Friend is absolutely right: short-term fixes will not work. We have a structural problem that requires a structural solution.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  As I said in response to an earlier question, we have the Mayfield review, we have a former chief executive of Marks & Spencer as a lead non-executive director at the Department, and we are talking to business all the time. That is how we have developed some of our initial thinking in this space, it is why we have brought forward the youth guarantee, and it is why we are incentivising businesses to hire young people. We are serious about helping them, and we will continue to do so.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises an important point, which has not been made so far today, about young people who slip through the net because they are perhaps living with their parents or not claiming—as he described, they are “hidden” NEETs. We are looking across the piece, and particularly talking with the Department for Education about interventions we can bring forward, and I will update him as soon as I can.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  I refer the hon. Member to the rest of paragraph 268, because his selective quoting does not cover all that was in there. It also says: “the UK’s NEET crisis is much more long-term and deep-seated than any decisions taken in the last few years.” Milburn is very clear that action is needed, that there are a range of reasons for that and that he will bring forward a set of recommendations on which he expects the Government to act. We await those and stand ready to act.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Milburn Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend knows that I met an employment support provider in her constituency recently, and I was grateful for her welcome. She is absolutely right to say that young people do not lack the ambition to find work. This is a failure of the state’s making, not a failure of young people. If she has specific concerns about cuts to employment support in her area, I would very much welcome a letter from her setting out those challenges, and I will raise those issues on her behalf.