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1130135

registered interest
date	05/06/2019
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 estimate she has made of the proportion of universal credit claimants who have had payments reduced because they had previously received advances.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	260559
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit (UC) new claim advances provide access to a payment for those in financial need, which can be accessed on the same day, until their first UC payment is due. Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, for which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has taken a number of steps to ensure that advances meet the needs of claimants and that recovery arrangements are personalised and reasonable. From October 2019 we are reducing the maximum rate of deductions to 30 per cent and from October 2021 we are increasing the maximum recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p>The latest available data is for eligible claims to UC Full Service that are due a payment in February 2019. Of these claims 44% had a deduction to repay a UC advance.</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p> </p><ol><li>Data has been sourced from UC Full Service.</li></ol> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 10/06/2019 14:00:26 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1130146

registered interest
date	05/06/2019
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	Poverty
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 5 June 2019 to Question 257500, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of formally adopting a definition for destitution.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	260560
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2019 answer text <p>This Government is committed to broadening our understanding of people’s living standards. New experimental statistics to measure poverty are being developed, based on the work undertaken by the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) which was presented in the SMC’s ‘A New Measure of Poverty’ report last year. This development work includes consideration of groups of people previously omitted from poverty statistics, like rough sleepers and those just above the low income threshold but in overcrowded housing, as well as consideration of a wider measurement framework of poverty covering the depth, persistence and lived experience of poverty.</p><p>There is no agreed way of defining destitution. External organisations (most notably the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF)) have attempted to define and measure destitution. The JRF’s definition of destitution, however, is complex, and challenging to measure with accuracy. The JRF admit that there is a wide margin of uncertainty about the numbers they identify as destitute. The government therefore has no plans to adopt this definition as any official definition of destitution should be measurable and accurate.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/06/2019 12:49:24 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1129832

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Renewable Energy: Employment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of jobs in (a) the renewable energy sector and (b) any associated supply chain created in each nation and region in the UK in each of the past seven years.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	259890
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2019 answer text <p>The Office for National Statistics publishes data on the low carbon and renewable energy economy in the UK, including direct and indirect activity, employees and turnover. The latest report, “Low Carbon and Renewables Energy Economy, UK: 2017, was published on 31 January 2019.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/finalestimates/2017" target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/finalestimates/2017</a></p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 10/06/2019 16:23:11 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1129834

registered interest
date	04/06/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Renewable Energy
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the energy generated by renewables in each (a) nation and (b) region of the UK in each of the last seven years.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	259891
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2019 answer text <p>The amount of renewable electricity generated in each of the last seven years, for each nation of the UK, is published in Energy Trends at: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789371/ET_6.1.xls" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789371/ET_6.1.xls</a></p><p>The amount of renewable electricity generated for each year from 2003 – 2017, in each region of the UK, is published in Regional Renewable Statistics at: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743830/Generation_of_electricity_from_renewable_sources__2003-2017.xls" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743830/Generation_of_electricity_from_renewable_sources__2003-2017.xls</a></p><p>Figures for 2018 will be published at the end of September 2019.</p><p>BEIS does not hold regional data for other types of renewable energy.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 10/06/2019 16:23:21 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1128310

registered interest
date	22/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Armed Forces: Loneliness
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the prevalence of social isolation and loneliness in the armed forces community.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	257477
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>The Ministry of Defence (MOD) values the work of the Royal British Legion (RBL) and its report &quot;Loneliness and Social Isolation in the Armed Forces Community&quot;. Officials have engaged with the RBL on the recommendations of this report which is assisting us shape our work on the Strategy for our Veterans and the development of a new transition policy to better prepare our Service leavers for life after leaving the Armed Forces. This includes work on developing resilience for the future and identifying those who may need additional help.</p><p>The MOD continues to engage with the Service Families Federations and is actively engaged with the welfare and issues of families in isolated locations. A question on loneliness has been introduced into the annual Families Continuous Attitude Survey. This will give the Department a better understanding of the prevalence of loneliness, and whether there are any factors associated with the risk of loneliness. The data will also contribute to cross-Government understanding of the prevalence of loneliness across society.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood grouped question UIN 257478 question first answered 05/06/2019 14:56:00 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1128318

registered interest
date	22/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Armed Forces: Loneliness
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether her Department plans to respond to the recommendations made by the Royal British Legion in their report entitled Loneliness and social isolation in the armed forces community.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	257478
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>The Ministry of Defence (MOD) values the work of the Royal British Legion (RBL) and its report &quot;Loneliness and Social Isolation in the Armed Forces Community&quot;. Officials have engaged with the RBL on the recommendations of this report which is assisting us shape our work on the Strategy for our Veterans and the development of a new transition policy to better prepare our Service leavers for life after leaving the Armed Forces. This includes work on developing resilience for the future and identifying those who may need additional help.</p><p>The MOD continues to engage with the Service Families Federations and is actively engaged with the welfare and issues of families in isolated locations. A question on loneliness has been introduced into the annual Families Continuous Attitude Survey. This will give the Department a better understanding of the prevalence of loneliness, and whether there are any factors associated with the risk of loneliness. The data will also contribute to cross-Government understanding of the prevalence of loneliness across society.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood grouped question UIN 257477 question first answered 05/06/2019 14:56:00 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1128412

registered interest
date	22/05/2019
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	Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria her Department uses to assess whether people are (a) destitute and (b) living in destitution.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	257500
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>There is no official definition of destitution. The Department for Work and Pensions annually publishes Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics, based on the Family Resources Survey, which sets out four official measures of relative and absolute low income before and after housing costs. The closest measure in HBAI to a measure of destitution is the number of children in “severe low income” (50% of median before housing costs). HBAI also provides measures of material deprivation based on questions to parents and pensioners about their ability to afford the basics in life such as heating homes and paying bills. In addition, new questions have been added to the Family Resources Survey to develop a food insecurity measure from 2021.</p><p>New experimental statistics to measure poverty will be developed, and published by DWP in 2020. The new analysis will be based on the work undertaken by the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) which was presented in the SMC’s ‘A New Measure of Poverty’ report last year.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/06/2019 13:33:57 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127891

registered interest
date	21/05/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Energy: Consumers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to promote awareness of Ofgem's priority services register.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	256956
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>Ofgem requires energy companies to promote and maintain a Priority Services Register (PSR), to provide non-financial help to certain groups of vulnerable consumers. Ofgem is responsible for ensuring compliance with these requirements.</p><p>In 2016, Ofgem introduced new requirements that companies take all reasonable steps to identify customers who may benefit from PSR services and introduced a broad “Vulnerability Principle” in 2017, which clarifies that suppliers need to make an extra effort to identify and respond to the needs of consumers in vulnerable situations, which can help identify those who could benefit from PSR services.</p><p>The number of consumers on PSRs has risen from 1.7 million electricity and 1.4 million gas consumers in 2010, to nearly 6 million electricity and 4.8 million gas consumers in 2017. Ofgem publish information on energy company performance, available online at:</p><p><a href="https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2018/11/vulnerability_report_2018.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2018/11/vulnerability_report_2018.pdf</a></p><p>Ofgem is also working to promote PSR data sharing between energy and water companies in England and Wales (with the customer’s consent) following a successful pilot in Spring 2018.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/06/2019 07:56:07 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127906

registered interest
date	21/05/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Natural Gas: Prices
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent comparative assessment he has made of the cost of gas to British consumers relative to the cost to consumers in each of the other member states of the EU.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	256957
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department is committed to regular and transparent reporting on the price of gas for UK consumers and currently publishes a price comparison with EU member states on a bi-annual basis. The latest statistical reports from this series are available here: <a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fstatistical-data-sets%2Finternational-domestic-energy-prices&amp;data=02%7C01%7CThomas.Lane%40beis.gov.uk%7Cb4196cc03ed84ca5ef4b08d6e36b7d91%7Ccbac700502c143ebb497e6492d1b2dd8%7C0%7C0%7C636946448136868794&amp;sdata=IDLG6f8mx8LSfW2pAo35UIjF3cPP%2FRahNB1X8F4%2FgGg%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/international-domestic-energy-prices</a></p><p>The UK has some of the lowest domestic gas prices in the EU. Average prices paid by consumers for the period January to June 2018 were the second lowest in the EU15 and were 31 per cent lower than the median average price.</p><p>Recent figures also show that gas prices for UK consumers has been consistently cheaper than the median average for all EU member states (EU28) since 2016 currently peaking at 15.5% cheaper in the first half of 2018.</p><p>These figures are for average domestic gas prices including taxes paid for by UK domestic consumers, with a consumption level of the EU’s definition of a ‘medium’ amount of gas per annum (5,557 – 55,557 kWh).</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/06/2019 07:56:13 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127931

registered interest
date	21/05/2019
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	Poverty: Children
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 20 May 2019 to Question 254154 on Poverty: Children, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the decline in the number of children in absolute low-income households between 2004-5 and 2009-10.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	256959
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>Absolute low income takes the 60 per cent of median income threshold from 2010/11 and moves this in line with inflation. This is designed to assess how low incomes are faring with reference to inflation. The percentage of individuals in absolute low income will decrease if individuals with lower incomes see their real incomes rising (increasing by more than inflation).</p><p> </p><p>Trends in the number of children in absolute poverty can be found using the link below, in table 4.4tr, in the file “children-trends-hbai-1994-95-2017-18-tables.ods”.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Between 2004/05 and 2009/10 the number of children in absolute low income households before housing costs fell, indicating that children in lower income households saw their real incomes rise by more than inflation. However, the number of children in absolute low income households after housing costs was 3.8m in both 2004/05 and 2009/10. This suggests that for low income households with children, these real rises in income were offset by increasing housing costs during this period.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 04/06/2019 14:38:17 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane