House of Commons
Parliament

"It is important not to lose sight of why this vital reform is needed," says Work and Pensions Minister Damian Hinds.

Previously, people would have to change to a different benefit if they took on even a small amount of work which, he argues, can deter people from taking on temporary jobs.

Monthly payment is, he insists, "like most jobs these days". While many are paid weekly, only around 3% of people paid fortnightly.

Mr Hinds insists that "no-one need go five weeks or six weeks without money" with advance payments available.

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams says this has been a "fiery debate" and the third one on universal credit in the past month.

She says the six-week "long hello" ahead of a first payment is leading to debt and rent arrears.

"Labour has called for UC to be paused while it's fixed," she says, adding that claimants should be able to choose to be paid monthly or fortnightly.

House of Commons
Parliament

SNP spokeswoman Angela Crawley says her local authority has had to set aside funds "to keep a roof over people's heads" as a result of universal credit.

She says the government should "halt the roll-out until the problems have been ironed out".

She tells MPs: "Let me assure you, the problems are stark and they're huge."

Ms Crawley recalls that former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith "proudly told journalists... that he could live on £53 a week" in 2013.

"I wonder if he could live on fresh air for six weeks?" she asks.

Looking at the numbers, how worried should the government be, after the first ten Commons votes on the detail of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill?

House of Lords
Parliament

Peers are taking part in a debate led by the Bishop of St Albans.

He is asking the government for its assessment of the impact of rising inflation on families affected by the freeze of working age benefits.

Westminster Hall

Health Minister Steve Brine says antibiotic resistance is part of the "natural Darwinian process of natural selection", although overuse is speeding it up.

He says recent data shows drops in use of antibiotics for both humans and animals in the UK, but he says the government's work is "in no way complete".

He says that prevention and protection are two parts of the fight against anti-microbial resistance, promotion of new treatments is also important. But he says "no new treatments have been brought to market" in recent times, so the government is planning what he calls "market incentives" to give drugs companies a "bit of a push".

House of Commons
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Labour MPs, including Kate Green, have criticised an assumption in universal credit that people should be paid on a monthly basis.

Ms Green described it as a "prejudice", adding that many people in low-paid jobs were paid weekly.

However, Conservative MP Alex Burghart says: "It is insulting to people to say that they will never be able to cope on monthly payments."

Labour MP Helen Goodman intervenes to says that "anybody can manage on a monthly payment that's £2,000 a month but managing on a monthly payment that's £500 a month is rather more difficult".

"There are lots of people who do manage to do that," Mr Burghart replies, adding that the system offers "personal budgeting support".

He ends by saying he doesn't often disagree with the government but the waiting time for claimants to receive their first payment should be reduced.

Image source, HoL

Work and Pensions Minister Baroness Buscombe gives the government's response to a debate in which universal credit has been heavily criticised.

She says the new system prioritises "personalised support for claimants" and is "transforming lives".

It brings "coherence and simplicity to the welfare system", she continues.

She tells peers that the ability to manage universal credit via smartphone or a PC allows claimants access "all day every day", but in answer to concerns expressed earlier about digital exclusion she stresses people "can also have home visits".

Picking up on comments about the task facing work coaches, she says they are "amazing - they're not drowning, they're liberated and enjoying the work they do".

House of Commons
Parliament

"The principle of Universal Credit is a very good one," says Conservative MP Kelly Tolhurst, though she voices concern that aspects of the roll-out have "caused much distress".

She says that in her own constituency of Rochester and Strood, "I don't have any examples where people are being evicted from their homes within six weeks".

She adds that she believes the benefit is helping people into work and that the government is conducting the roll-out in a "measured and steady" way.

"I want a system that aids people and I believe this system will do," Ms Tolhurst says.

House of Commons
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Labour MP Kate Green says no-one could disagree with Universal Credit's aim to simplify the benefits system, "but so much has gone wrong in practice".

She attacks the six-week wait for new claimants, asking MPs: "Could you manage if suddenly your income dried up for six weeks or more?"

She argues that people in this situation have often suffered a "catastrophic event" such as job loss, an accident or illness.

Ms Green declares: "It's unforgivable to put extra pressure on people on the lowest incomes in those circumstances.

"The six week wait must be reduced."

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour spokesperson Baroness Sherlock argues universal credit has failed on the government's own terms and calls on parties to work together to fix it.

She says the evidence so far shows when it comes to making work pay, "it doesn't", and as for whether it drives people into work, "we don't know".

She expresses hope the government will address the six-week wait for new claimants, as has been reported this week.

"I hope very much the government is listening but here in 2017 I'm getting nervous it's not."

Westminster Hall

Image source, Science Photo Library

MPs in Westminster Hall are taking part in a debate on the World Health Organisation's Antibiotics Awareness Week., external

Bacterial infections naturally develop resistance to antibiotics but the WHO says that over-prescription is accelerating the process. The WHO calls it "one of the biggest threats to global health".

In 2014, David Cameron commissioned a report by the economist Jim O'Neill, which found that inaction could cost ten million lives a year by 2050.

House of Lords
Parliament

Lib Dem Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope responds to this afternoon's debate in the Lords on universal credit on behalf of his party.

He says if it were "a universal job search" he could support it, but that's not how it's been presented.

He implores the work and pensions minister in the Lords to go back to the Treasury and "do something serious" to effect "practical change" to the system.

House of Commons
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Image source, HoC

Conservative backbencher Heidi Allen says she supports universal credit and it's "right" that the rollout has been taken slowly as problems are ironed out.

She moves on to what she believes is the biggest problem with UC so far, the six weeks a claimant must wait for their first payment.

She says "we have got to get the six week wait down". She has previously raised the issue in Prime Minister's Questions and praises Theresa May's willingness to meet her and listen to her concerns. She says that the waiting time "must" be reduced to a month.

She asks the government to prove they're "compassionate conservatives" and sort the problem out.

House of Commons
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Labour's Melanie Onn says Labour politicians were accused of "scaremongering" when saying that universal credit would push people into rent arrears. She says their "scaremongering" is now backed up by "charities, councils, housing associations, statistical evidence and now letting agents".

She says the government "cannot feign ignorance" as they prepare to roll out UC in her Great Grimsby constituency.

She says they're "knowingly putting more people at risk of debt, eviction and homelessness".

Image source, PA

Universal Credit brings together six existing benefits under one, weekly payment: income support, jobseeker's allowance, employment and support allowance, housing benefit, child tax credit and working tax credit.

It is intended to be claimed by those in work on low incomes as well as those out of work.

UC is intended to make benefits simple and is all paid directly into claimants' bank accounts. Previously housing benefit was paid directly to landlords, rather than the tenants who claim it.

The most controversial aspect has been the built in six week delay between claiming and receiving the first UC payment. In the first stages of the rollout one in five claimants have waited more than six weeks for their first payment.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative MP for Banff and Buchan David Duguid makes his maiden speech.

Following tradition he talks up his constituency, claiming it is the most beautiful in Scotland, and pays tribute to his SNP predecessor, Dr Eilidh Whiteford.

He says that "the people of north-east Scotland do not want another independence referendum" and that his constituents want the government to "get on and deliver Brexit" which he hopes can rejuvenate the fishing industry.

Following Mr Duguid's speech only one of the MPs newly elected in 2017 has yet to make their maiden speech; Labour's Jared O'Mara.

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Shinkwin says he's "proud" of a Conservative government which has had the "courage, vision and political will" to introduce universal credit.

He points out that he makes these comments as a benefits claimant who still believes that the system has to be structured to incentivise work.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

The Bishop of Durham warns that universal credit in its current form risks "failing the neediest families" without changes.

He says one young mum who visits a church in his diocese who is on universal credit is forced to take napkins from McDonalds because she is unable to afford toilet paper or nappies, and is dependent on the church for a meal each week.

He acknowledges that it's "too simplistic" to say universal credit alone has caused indebtedness, but says it "exacerbates" existing debt.

House of Commons
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With today's statements concluded, Work and Pensions Committee chairman Frank Field opens the backbench debate on the roll-out of universal credit.

He thinks this is "the most important debate that I've ever participated in" in almost 40 years as an MP, adding that he lacks the language to express "what horror" is happening to constituents.

He notes that Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke is not in the chamber.

Mr Field tells stories of what he describes as "horror" and "chaos" in the benefits system, including a constituent who was sanctioned for not attending an appointment because he was undergoing surgery.