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1133566

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to review the Government's decision to calculate child maintenance liabilities as a proportion of gross rather than net parental income; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
tabling member printed	Darren Jones
uin	267247
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The paying parent’s gross income is taken directly from HM Revenue and Customs for the latest tax year available. Using the paying parent’s gross income allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately.</p><p>There are no plans to change the way the Child Maintenance Service calculates child maintenance liabilities.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 26/06/2019 12:37:04 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4621 label Biography information for Darren Jones

1133568

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Television Licences: Older People
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free TV licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Luton North constituency, and (b) Luton local authority area in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.
tabling member constituency	Luton North
tabling member printed	Kelvin Hopkins
uin	267153
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.</p><p>The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.</p><p>This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.</p><p>On 10 June 2019, the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/reports/consultation/age-related-tv-licence-policy" target="_blank">announced</a> that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.</p><p>The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September.</p><p /><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Expenditure (£m) (Nominal)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017-18</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(a) Luton North constituency</strong></p></td><td><p>£0.90</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(b) Luton local authority area</strong></p></td><td><p>£1.55</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 27/06/2019 15:08:11 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	2 label Biography information for Kelvin Hopkins

1133583

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect on universal credit claimants of the 53-week rent year in the 2019-20 financial year.
tabling member constituency	Knowsley
tabling member printed	Sir George Howarth
uin	267199
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>Neither tenants or landlords lose a week’s rent in a 53 weekly rent payment year as has been alleged; no year contains 53 weeks. The problem is alignment between weekly and monthly cycles. Each month the UC housing element is a constant figure but claimants with weekly tenancy agreements will be required to make either four or five rent payments within this period. If the claimant always pays their rent on time, in five payment months they are effectively making payment for part of the following month. That month will always be a four rent payment month, so the combination of the advance payment and the ‘overpayment’ of housing support during that month will get the claimant back on track.</p><p>Where a landlord charges rent weekly on a Monday, because of the way the calendar falls every 5 or 6 years, they will seek 53 rent payments in a year, with the 53rd payment in part covering the tenancy for the first few days of the following year. The effect of this is that, over the course of the next housing association rental year, a tenant’s UC payments will accurately reflect their liability, irrespective of the 53 payment weeks.</p><p>There is a separate issue with respect to the way the calculation in the Universal Credit regulations converts a weekly liability into a monthly allowance. The conversion is achieved by multiplying the weekly rent by 52 and then dividing by 12. This effectively means one day’s rent a year (two days in a leap years) are not covered by UC. We are currently considering whether this formulation around weekly rents, and potentially other weekly amounts in the UC calculation, should be amended.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 26/06/2019 12:28:22 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	481 label Biography information for Sir George Howarth

1133586

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Television Licences: Older People
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free TV licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency, (b) Gwynedd local authority area and (c) Wales in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.
tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
uin	267260
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.</p><p>The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.</p><p>This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.</p><p>On 10 June 2019, the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/reports/consultation/age-related-tv-licence-policy" target="_blank">announced</a> that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.</p><p>The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September.</p><p /><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Expenditure (£m) (Nominal)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017-18</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(a) Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency</strong></p></td><td><p>£0.85</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(b) Gwynedd local authority area</strong></p></td><td><p>£1.41</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(c) Wales</strong></p></td><td><p>£34.11</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 27/06/2019 15:17:52 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1133632

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Television Licences: Older People
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free television licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Kensington constituency and (b) Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea local authority area in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.
tabling member constituency	Kensington
tabling member printed	Emma Dent Coad
uin	267288
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.</p><p>The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.</p><p>This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.</p><p>On 10 June 2019, the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/reports/consultation/age-related-tv-licence-policy" target="_blank">announced</a> that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.</p><p>The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September.</p><p /><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Expenditure (£m) (Nominal)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017-18</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(a) Kensington constituency</strong></p></td><td><p>£0.69</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(b) Royal Borough of Kensington &amp; Chelsea local authority area</strong></p></td><td><p>£1.00</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 26/06/2019 12:44:04 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4683 label Biography information for Emma Dent Coad

1133709

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to increase financial support for vulnerable claimants of universal credit to ensure that the amount of benefit they receive is not lower than what they received through the legacy system.
tabling member constituency	Crawley
tabling member printed	Henry Smith
uin	267340
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2019 answer text <p>Claimants currently only move from existing benefits to Universal Credit when they experience a significant change in their circumstances that triggers a new claim to a benefit that Universal Credit replaces. Their entitlement is then calculated on the rules of their new benefit and their new circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>For those claimants who are moved onto Universal Credit without a change in their circumstances, the Department has committed to providing transitional protection to ensure that they see no decrease in their benefit entitlement at the point of transition.</p><p> </p><p>There are £2.4 billion of unclaimed legacy benefits not going to the people who need them, because they do not know that they are entitled to them or how to claim. Universal Credit makes sure that welfare payments reach those who need them most.</p><p> </p><p>We have also introduced a number of measures to assist claimants during their transition to Universal Credit. Claimants moving onto Universal Credit can access a Universal Credit advance, which is worth up to 100 per cent of their indicative award and is available from the date of their claim. This advance is currently repayable over 12 months, but as announced in the 2018 Budget, from October 2021 the maximum repayment period will be extended to 16 months. Claimants may also be entitled to a two-week Universal Credit Transitional Housing Payment. From July 2020 the Government is introducing a new two-week run on for income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 28/06/2019 10:09:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1133721

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Workplace Pensions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2019 to Question 256341, what the timescale is for bringing forward legislation to facilitate Collective Defined Contribution schemes.
tabling member constituency	Canterbury
tabling member printed	Rosie Duffield
uin	267346
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>This Government is committed to legislation to facilitate collective defined contribution schemes. The Government has recently published responses to a series of consultations, and have engaged extensively with key stakeholders and the Pensions Regulator.</p><p>In these we have committed to strengthen the Pensions Regulator’s powers to both enforce pensions legislation and to punish those who have acted recklessly or failed to comply with their obligations. We have committed to facilitate industry to make pensions dashboards a reality. We are also compelling pension schemes to make consumers data available to them and to facilitate collective defined contribution schemes.</p><p>The Government will bring forward legislation to introduce these measures as soon as parliamentary time permits.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 267344 267345 question first answered 25/06/2019 16:22:18 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4616 label Biography information for Rosie Duffield

1133722

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many vulnerable claimants received a benefits sanction without (a) receiving a home visit and (b) notifying a third-party agency in 2018-19.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	267197
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2019 answer text <p>To obtain the details requested would require scrutiny of thousands of individual benefit claims. Therefore, the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 28/06/2019 12:37:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1133723

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many vulnerable claimants whose benefits claim was closed as a result of them not attending a Work Capability Assessment (a) received a home visit and (b) did not receive a home visit in 2018-19.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	267198
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The Work and Health Decision Making Directorate makes decisions on benefit entitlement for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) customers who have failed to attend Work Capability Assessments.</p><p>Whilst we would be able to ascertain the total number of ESA claims closed for failing to attend a Work Capability Assessment without good cause, this would incur disproportionate costs. Further, the information would not provide details of how many of those customers were vulnerable or how many received a home visit. To obtain the details requested would require scrutiny of thousands of individual claims. Therefore, the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.</p><p>In respect of Universal Credit claims, these are not closed as a result of the claimant failing to attend the Work Capability Assessment. Where a decision is made that the claimant failed to attend without good cause, the claimant’s health journey is ended and their work conditions are changed accordingly. Information about the number of claims referred for a home visit during the decision making process is not collated. To obtain this information would incur disproportionate costs.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 26/06/2019 12:15:18 answering member 4105
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead