Viscount Younger of Leckie — Hansard

Lords Debate 18 December 2025

Pension Schemes Bill

My Lords, I am grateful for the incredible range of thoughtful and constructive contributions we have heard during today’s debate. I should declare that I am a member of the parliamentary pension scheme; otherwise, I have a private pension. I am so grateful to have heard the maiden speech of the no…

Lords Oral Questions 18 December 2025

Jobs Market: Wider Economic Implications

My Lords, the noble Viscount will know that we have a number of what we call sector work programmes to develop skills and support people into many areas of our economy, including hospitality and retail, and many others. I come back to the fact that there are challenges across the globe. The UK unemp…

Lords Oral Questions 10 December 2025

Universal Credit: Two-child Limit

My Lords, that is why the Government have set that as their target. I say to the noble Viscount that the whole point about this is that it is not a choice. It is not a question of either supporting children or helping parents to go into work. Supporting families makes work possible. Most parents wan…

Lords Oral Questions 18 November 2025

Carer’s Allowance: Overpayments Review

The noble Viscount raises a very important point. Certainly, I have met with organisations over the years that work with young carers. Schools are becoming increasingly aware of these pressures. Good schools with good pastoral care systems are identifying them and making sure both that these young c…

Lords Oral Questions 28 October 2025

People with Disabilities: Employment

I am grateful to the noble Viscount for that really good question. We have a service called “support with employee health and disability”. We are not great at names in DWP, but it does what it says on the tin. That was developed directly with input from smaller businesses and disability organisation…

Lords Debate 23 October 2025

Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill

My Lords, this Bill is important, creating a wide range of powers for the Cabinet Office and DWP to deal with fraud and error. Until recently, it received very little attention in this House, being in Grand Committee. A small group of noble Lords have worked on it as it has gone through the stages i…

Lords Oral Questions 23 October 2025

Jobcentres: Staffing Levels

My Lords, that is the question. We have an increasingly sophisticated model for mapping demand and the number that the noble Viscount gave pretty much matches the demand we are predicting. But, if demand rises significantly, we will have to prioritise. As I said at the beginning, at the moment, stan…

Lords Debate 21 October 2025 5 contributions

Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill

My Lords, the amendments in this group tabled by the Government contain a mixture of substantive safeguards and some technical improvements designed to tidy up and clarify the Bill. The main amendment, government Amendment 91, introduces further restrictions and procedural safeguards around the use…

My Lords, I am afraid that we must oppose Amendments 103 and 113 set out by the noble Lord, Lord Palmer of Childs Hill, for the same reasons that we gave in Committee. The independent review to which I believe the noble Lord refers has a clear and limited purpose. As set out in the Government’s own…

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Lords Debate 21 October 2025 7 contributions

Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill

My Lords, as it is my first appearance at the opposition Dispatch Box on Report, I echo remarks made by my noble friend Lady Finn on the first day of Report, because I also appreciate the constructive approach that the Government have taken following Committee. It is perhaps appropriate that, as a …

My Lords, there are a number of amendments in this group, each touching on different principles relating to the operation of and limits to the eligibility verification measure. I will address them all briefly. I appreciate the Minister’s full reminder of the intent of this and of some of the operati…

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Lords Oral Questions 13 October 2025

Jobs Market

My Lords, given the levels of inactivity due to health over which the noble Viscount’s Government presided, that is a brave question, but let me answer it none the less. This Government are not simply waiting for the review. The Timms review is looking specifically at PIP which, as the noble Viscoun…

Lords Oral Questions 23 July 2025 2 contributions

Pensions: Low-income and Self-employed Workers

My Lords, automatic enrolment has transformed workplace pension participation, with over 22 million employees participating in 2023. However, we know that many people are still not saving enough to enjoy a financially secure retirement. For some groups, particularly those not eligible for auto-enrol…

It is a delight to stand here and enjoy cross-party support for a new provision, and I thank the noble Viscount. On his point about the level of employer contribution, the Government have been clear that there will be no increase in the current rate in this Parliament, but the noble Viscount makes a…

Lords Oral Questions 23 July 2025

Jobs Market

The noble Viscount will be aware that in March, the Government announced the new Construction Skills Mission Board, which has already met. It will help to ensure that employers are able to work collaboratively to secure the workforce they need to meet future demand, and to build the houses we so des…

Lords Debate 22 July 2025

Universal Credit Bill

My Lords, to say that this Bill, in its various incarnations, has had a bumpy ride would be something of an understatement. The Bill is now being rushed through Parliament at what feels like an indecent pace and now, having been assigned as a money Bill, it means that this Chamber cannot undertake i…

Lords Oral Questions 17 July 2025

National Accident Prevention Strategy

My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend Lady Crawley for her powerful introduction to this short debate and to all noble Lords for their contributions. What a lot of expertise there is in the room for a short debate. I have to say that RoSPA has made a very wise choice in bringing my noble f…

Lords Oral Questions 9 July 2025

Universal Credit: Two-child Limit

My Lords, since the noble Viscount’s Government brought in the policy, he probably does not need me to remind him there are exceptions—for example, those involved in kinship care and those who have produced a child as a result of non-consensual conception, who can be exempted if they can produce evi…

Lords Committee Stage 25 June 2025 13 contributions

Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill

My Lords, in speaking for the first time today, I take this opportunity to offer my congratulations to the Deputy Chairman of Committees, the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, on the arrival of his grandchild; I think he had indicated that he or she had arrived. It is interesting to reflect that when …

Right now, however, I want to speak with a degree of sympathy for the principle underlying Amendment 123, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, and supported, as she said, by the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Leicester. I realise that the latter two …

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Lords Committee Stage 18 June 2025 14 contributions

Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill

My Lords, I also wish to be brief and will cut down my notes, but this is a good opportunity to raise a number of points. I am very pleased that the noble Lord, Lord Vaux, has spoken to Amendments 92 and 93, as supported, or added to, by the noble Lord, Lord Palmer. I share the principle that under…

The Minister may have just answered my question, which is a slightly opaque one, perhaps. Is it a good assumption that in any search of a property by the DWP when it suspects fraud, members of the DWP will always go prepared with the necessary back-up, including the police or members of the NCA, if …

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Lords Committee Stage 16 June 2025 10 contributions

Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill

My Lords, I offer my support for most of the proposals in this group of amendments, which strike me as largely thoughtful, proportionate and consistent with the principles that we have returned to time and again throughout this Committee stage: clarity in law; accountability in process; and fairness…

Before the noble Lord sits down, I want to raise something, which is more of a question to the Minister and the team behind her. When I was in post, I became perhaps infamous, particularly when I did not understand something, for asking for a flow chart, and I wonder whether this is such a case wher…

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Lords Committee Stage 11 June 2025 3 contributions

Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill

The noble Baroness might expect one of us to intervene. I understand where she is coming from in terms of reports, because these amendments are basically focusing on the laying of reports. However, outside the Room I have asked in the past about the current level of fraud. The noble Baroness alluded…

My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Vaux, said, we are moving towards the DWP elements of the Bill, although I suggest that these particular amendments are more of a hybrid between the Cabinet Office and the DWP. As I think the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, indicated, the DWP elements in scope are univers…

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Lords Committee Stage 9 June 2025 5 contributions

Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill

My Lords, I note the Minister’s remarks about the withdrawal of some government amendments. I will not go through them all. I look forward to their redrafting. I start by making the small point that there is an element of unpreparedness to the Bill. I realise that there is quite a lot of work in pro…

There is one matter that occurs to me in respect of Amendment 53. In the event of somebody’s death, where the deceased has been subject to a DDO, could this be included in the “Tell Us Once” service? That is, where a next of kin registers the death with the registrar, could the DDO be highlighted as…

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Lords Committee Stage 4 June 2025 2 contributions

Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill

My Lords, I shall speak briefly as the other opposition Front-Bencher working on the Bill. I shall make a few introductory remarks on the purpose of the Bill as we begin Committee. I join my noble friend Lady Finn in welcoming this opportunity to have a productive, collaborative opening discussion o…

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, for raising whistle- blowers in respect of the Bill and for highlighting the importance of the protection of those who feel that they must speak out if they see an action or actions that they feel could be fraudulent or not in the public interest. I…