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419876

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	Housing Benefit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 2.110 of the Summer Budget 2015, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of limiting backdating in housing benefit to four weeks on homelessness provision reliant on funding from that benefit.
tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
uin	11159
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/10/2015 answer text <p>No assessment has been made. Housing Benefit is not designed to provide support for homelessness funding – that is a matter for the Department for Communities and Local Government and the devolved Governments in Scotland and Wales.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 16/10/2015 12:36:30 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

420337

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	State Retirement Pensions: Females
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review the increase in the state pension age to mitigate the effects of that change on women born between April 1953 and April 1960.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne East
tabling member printed	Mr Nicholas Brown
uin	11252
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2015 answer text <p>The Government will not be revisiting the State Pension age timetable for women affected by the Pensions Act 2011.</p><p>Of the approximately five million individuals affected, two point four million are men. For women, the maximum increase in State Pension age relative to the previous timetable is 18 months and for men it is 12 months.</p><p>As analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown, the rise in women’s State Pension age since 2010 has been accompanied by increases in employment rates for the women affected. Those unable to work because of health problems may be able to claim Employment and Support Allowance, whilst those who are unemployed may be able to receive Jobseeker's Allowance.</p><p>All those affected by faster equalisation of pensionable ages for men and women will reach State Pension age after the introduction of the new State Pension. The new State Pension will be more generous for many women who have done poorly under the current system, largely as a result of lower average earnings and part-time working. Around 650,000 women reaching State Pension age in the first ten years will receive an average of £8 per week (in 2014/15 earnings terms) more due to the new State Pension valuation of their National Insurance record.</p><p>Regular consideration of State Pension age is necessary to ensure the pensions system remains sustainable as life expectancy grows. The 2014 Act provides for a 6-yearly review, to take into account up-to-date life expectancy data and the findings of an independently-led review. The first review will conclude by May 2017 and will consider, amongst a number of other factors, the impact of State Pension age change on women.</p><br /> <br /> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 19/10/2015 12:00:59 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	523 label Biography information for Mr Nicholas Brown

420339

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	Personal Independence Payment
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 14 September 2015 to Question 9725, whether Capita is permitted to provide recording equipment for use during personal independence payment assessments at its own expense, if such equipment is requested by the person being assessed.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Hall Green
tabling member printed	Mr Roger Godsiff
uin	11269
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/10/2015 answer text <p>There are no contractual obligations for the PIP assessment providers (Atos and Capita) to provide audio recording equipment at its own expense if such equipment is requested by the person being assessed.</p><p>If claimants wish for their assessments to be recorded they may do so using their own equipment, provided they comply with the conditions put in place which were outlined in the response provided to your previous question on this subject on 9 September 2015.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 16/10/2015 12:22:03 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	304 label Biography information for Mr Roger Godsiff

420353

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	Disability: Government Assistance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that disabled people are given appropriate support to lead an active and independent lifestyle.
tabling member constituency	Hemsworth
tabling member printed	Jon Trickett
uin	10785
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/10/2015 answer text <p>This Government has an ambitious vision for disabled people, which is set out in our cross-government disability strategy: Fulfilling Potential which we published in 2013.</p><p>Fulfilling Potential aims to remove the barriers that disabled people face to enable them to fulfil their potential, live independently and have equal opportunities to play a full and active role in society.</p><p>We developed our approach with disabled people and it reflects what they have said is important to bring about the changes that will have a real and lasting impact on their day-to-day lives.</p><p>As part of our approach we are committed to continuing to provide support for those disabled people who need it, whilst enabling those who can work to do so. We continue to spend around £50 billion on services and benefits for disabled people. We are committed to halving the disability employment gap and over the last year, we have seen disability employment increase by over 226,000.</p><p><strong></strong></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 15/10/2015 14:04:33 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	410 label Biography information for Jon Trickett

420354

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	Department for Work and Pensions: Pressure Groups
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had with representatives of (i) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (ii) the Confederation of British Industry, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) the Adam Smith Institute, (v) the Freedom Association, (vi) the Politics and Economics Research Trust and (vii) the Midlands Industrial Council in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	11145
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/10/2015 answer text <p>Details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published up to 31 March 2015 and can be accessed on Gov.uk at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications</a></p><p>Further publications of Ministerial meetings will be published in due course.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 16/10/2015 12:53:33 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

420356

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	Local Housing Allowance: Greater London
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 2.115 of the Summer Budget 2015, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of freezing local housing allowance on the availability of private rented accommodation for claimants in London.
tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
uin	11158
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/10/2015 answer text <p>No assessment has been made of the effect of freezing rates on the availability or affordability of accommodation for claimants in London. There will be measures in place to help support people who may be impacted. Each year, 30 per cent of the savings from this measure will be used to create Targeted Affordability Funding to help areas where rent increases are causing a shortage of affordable accommodation. In addition the Government has enhanced its package of Discretionary Housing Payment funding - £800 million over 5 years- which is designed to enable local authorities to protect the most vulnerable claimants and support households adjusting to Welfare Reform changes, including the freeze to LHA rates.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 16/10/2015 13:03:24 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

420357

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	Personal Independence Payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that deafblind people unable to use a telephone or complete paper forms are able to submit claims for personal independence payments.
tabling member constituency	Dudley North
tabling member printed	Ian Austin
uin	11193
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/10/2015 answer text <p>The claim process for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has been developed involving claimants and people who support disabled people. This includes organisations which represent individuals with sensory impairments, including Sense, the deafblind charity, and Deafblind UK.</p><p>The current process allows for someone else to start the application for PIP over the telephone with the claimant present when the call is made. If a face-to-face visit and a specialist interpreter is required we would seek to provide one.</p><p>For the remainder of the process the claim forms, paper guidance and general information are available in a range of formats including large print, Braille, audio and British Sign Language.</p><p>We are working with Sense and RNIB in the development of the PIP Digital Claim. This will involve deafblind people testing the design and giving us feedback which we will use to make improvements to the online journey.</p><p><strong></strong></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 14/10/2015 15:50:46 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	1511 label Biography information for Lord Austin of Dudley

420358

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	Pensions: Small Businesses
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the merits of providing concessions to ease the cost of automatic-enrolment pensions for small businesses.
tabling member constituency	Walsall South
tabling member printed	Valerie Vaz
uin	11115
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/10/2015 answer text <p>In 2010 the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work (MAEW) review considered the impact of automatic enrolment on small businesses. Following the recommendations of the MAEW review, the Pensions Act 2011 introduced a package of measures to reduce costs and make implementation easier for small employers. DWP’s impact assessments continue to monitor the costs and benefits of automatic enrolment on small businesses.</p><p>DWP is working hard to minimise the additional costs of automatic enrolment, particularly for small employers. The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was established by the Government specifically to ensure that smaller firms have access to high quality, good value pension provision.</p><p>NEST continues to undertake service improvements, including making it possible for small employers to set up and run NEST directly through their payroll software. The Pensions Regulator is also undertaking research and testing in order to enhance its tools and educational material, and to simplify the automatic enrolment process for small employers.</p><p>The decision to defer the staging period of small and micro firms from April 2014 to June 2015 brought significant easement to small and micro employers, leading to lower contribution costs and lower administrative costs. Additionally the contribution level is being phased in, in order to help employers adjust to these costs. The minimum employer contribution is currently 1% and this will rise to 3% when the auto-enrolment programme is fully rolled out over the next few years.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 11116 question first answered 14/10/2015 16:41:48 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4076 label Biography information for Valerie Vaz

420360

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	Pensions: Small Businesses
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the costs of automatic-enrolment of pensions on small businesses.
tabling member constituency	Walsall South
tabling member printed	Valerie Vaz
uin	11116
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/10/2015 answer text <p>In 2010 the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work (MAEW) review considered the impact of automatic enrolment on small businesses. Following the recommendations of the MAEW review, the Pensions Act 2011 introduced a package of measures to reduce costs and make implementation easier for small employers. DWP’s impact assessments continue to monitor the costs and benefits of automatic enrolment on small businesses.</p><p>DWP is working hard to minimise the additional costs of automatic enrolment, particularly for small employers. The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was established by the Government specifically to ensure that smaller firms have access to high quality, good value pension provision.</p><p>NEST continues to undertake service improvements, including making it possible for small employers to set up and run NEST directly through their payroll software. The Pensions Regulator is also undertaking research and testing in order to enhance its tools and educational material, and to simplify the automatic enrolment process for small employers.</p><p>The decision to defer the staging period of small and micro firms from April 2014 to June 2015 brought significant easement to small and micro employers, leading to lower contribution costs and lower administrative costs. Additionally the contribution level is being phased in, in order to help employers adjust to these costs. The minimum employer contribution is currently 1% and this will rise to 3% when the auto-enrolment programme is fully rolled out over the next few years.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 11115 question first answered 14/10/2015 16:41:48 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4076 label Biography information for Valerie Vaz

420366

registered interest
date	09/10/2015
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	Carer's Allowance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of carers who depend on carer's allowance as their only or primary source of income; and what assessment his Department has made of whether that allowance benefit is set at a high enough level to keep the income of carers above the poverty line.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Hall Green
tabling member printed	Mr Roger Godsiff
uin	11241
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/10/2015 answer text <p>The information requested is not available. Such data is not collected. It is the circumstances of the claimant themselves, including their earnings, that may affect the Carer’s Allowance award. But any other income that may come into the household does not affect the claim, so we do not record whether Carer’s Allowance is the only or primary source of income.</p><p>This Government recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by carers. The primary purpose of Carer’s Allowance is to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who give up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to provide regular and substantial care for a severely disabled person.</p><p>In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Income Support and Pension Credit. Income-related benefits help ensure that people can afford to meet their normal daily living needs. These benefits include a carer premium, currently £34.60 a week. Universal Credit also includes a carer element at the rate of £150.39 per monthly assessment period. This means that those on lower incomes can be better off if they have caring responsibilities than others who receive these benefits.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 14/10/2015 17:01:27 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	304 label Biography information for Mr Roger Godsiff