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1198865

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2020
	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	Jobseeker's Allowance: Coronavirus
	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 suspend the 182 day entitlement limit to the new style Job Seeker's Allowance in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
	uin	52556
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2020 answer text <p>Entitlement to contribution-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) is limited to a maximum of 182 days in any one jobseeking period. This is an absolute limit, provided for in primary legislation (section 5 of the Jobseekers Act 1995) and there are no plans to amend the primary legislation.</p><p> </p><p>Universal credit, for those people who meet or continue to meet the conditions of entitlement, is available throughout any period of entitlement to contribution-based JSA.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/06/2020 13:34:28 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1198770

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2020
	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: Young People
	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 Centrepoint's Chance to Move On campaign, what plans her Department has to bring forward legislative proposals to include homeless people aged under 25 in (a) Coventry South constituency and (b) the UK in the Shared Accommodation Rate exemption for homeless people.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
	uin	52553
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2020 answer text <p>Currently those aged 25-34 who have spent 3 months in a homeless hostel for the purposes of rehabilitation/re-settlement are exempt from the shared accommodation rate throughout the UK. As announced in the Spring Budget earlier this year, the Government will amend legislation to extend this exemption to those under 25.</p><p> </p><p>As well as legislation, the change to the shared accommodation rate exemption will require amendments to local authority and universal credit IT systems therefore it will take time to implement.</p><p> </p><p>In the meantime, for individuals who may require more support and whose circumstances may make it difficult for them to share accommodation, Discretionary Housing Payments are available.</p><p> </p><p>Since 2011 the Government has provided over £1bn to local authorities to help support vulnerable claimants with housing costs. In addition, at the spending round last year, we announced an extra £40 million for DHPs in 2020/21 in England and Wales, helping to tackle affordability pressures in the private rented sector.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/06/2020 16:07:14 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1203305

	registered interest
	date	12/06/2020
	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: Coronavirus
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has for Local Housing Allowance (LHA) in the next Spending Review; whether she has plans to allocate additional funding to (a) mitigate the effect of the four-year freeze to LHA and (b) support renters facing financial difficulties as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
	uin	59257
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2020 answer text <p>In response to Covid-19 we increased Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates to the 30<sup>th</sup> percentile of local rents, providing additional financial support for private renters. This significant investment of almost £1 billion, ensures over 1 million households will see an increase, on average, of £600 per year.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>For renters whose circumstances mean they may require more support, Discretionary Housing Payments are also available. We have already provided £180m in Discretionary Housing Payment funding to local authorities to support vulnerable claimants with housing costs in the private and social rented sector in England and Wales for 2020/21. This includes an extra £40m announced at the spending round.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 17/06/2020 17:10:10 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1203816

	registered interest
	date	15/06/2020
	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 plans her Department has to align the universal credit standard allowance for claimants under the age of 25 living independently with the standard allowance for those over the age of twenty five.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
	uin	59623
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2020 answer text <p>We have increased the Universal Credit standard allowance for all claimants (including those Under 25) by £20 per week for the next 12 months – equivalent to up to £1,040 a year.</p><p> </p><p>This is in addition to the 1.7% inflation increase (announced Nov 2019) as part of the Government’s decision to end the benefits freeze and means more financial support for millions of people across the UK.</p><p> </p><p>There are no plans to further increase the Universal Credit standard allowance for Under 25s.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 18/06/2020 16:41:11 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1205726

	registered interest
	date	19/06/2020
	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	Health and Safety Executive: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether additional funding has been allocated to the Health & Safety Executive to increase the Executive's level of staffing during the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
	uin	61814
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2020 answer text <p>I refer the hon. member to my response to question <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&amp;max=20&amp;questiontype=AllQuestions&amp;house=commons,lords&amp;uin=41525" target="_blank">41525</a>.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 24/06/2020 14:35:35 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1229071

	registered interest
	date	28/08/2020
	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	Statutory Sick Pay
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to increase the rate of Statutory Sick Pay to in line with the National Minimum Wage.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
	uin	82493
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/09/2020 answer text <p>Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) provides financial support to an employee when they are off work sick. Those on low pay can receive more help through the welfare system, depending on their personal circumstances. The Government published a consultation in which we sought views on the impact of the rate of SSP on employer and employee behaviours and decisions. A response to the consultation will be published later this year.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 07/09/2020 15:02:37 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1229082

	registered interest
	date	28/08/2020
	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: Mental Illness
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to allow health and disability benefit claimants with mental health illnesses to choose assessment types that are accessible to their needs during the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
	uin	82498
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/09/2020 answer text <p>In March we suspended all face-to-face assessments for sickness and disability benefits in order to protect people from unnecessary risk of coronavirus at the outset of the pandemic. As has always been the case, our assessment providers will initially try to complete paper-based assessments, where there is sufficient evidence to make a recommendation. If this is not the case, providers will currently look to carry out a telephone assessment, where appropriate. We offer reasonable adjustments for claimants who may need additional support to engage in a telephone assessment. We continue to work closely with our assessment providers to ensure that claimants can be assessed as quickly as possible, by the most appropriate channel.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 07/09/2020 15:06:16 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

731792

	registered interest
	date	22/06/2017
	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, (a) how many and (b) what level of fines have been levied against husbands or partners who avoided paying child maintenance in each year since the introduction of the Child Support Act 1991; and what other sanctions have been imposed on people in that period.
	tabling member constituency	Makerfield
	tabling member printed	Yvonne Fovargue
	uin	708
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2017 answer text <p>The only fines that can be imposed relating to child maintenance are as a result of criminal prosecution for failure to provide information or providing false information for the purposes of calculating the child maintenance liability. These fines are imposed by a court, information about fines is not recorded by my Department for management information purposes, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>Within child maintenance enforcement, “sanctions” generally refers to powers used as a last resort, when other enforcement actions have not resulted in successful collection of arrears.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>DWP publish information on enforcement actions.</p><p> </p><p>Information on both civil and criminal enforcement actions undertaken by the Child Support Agency (CSA) is only available from April 2007. This can be found in Table 22 of the latest CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics, available at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-march-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-march-2017</a> . This includes information on a variety of enforcement actions, including commitment to prison and disqualification from driving (in the Committals section), along with information on the number of prosecutions that have been undertaken.</p><p> </p><p>Information on civil and criminal enforcement action undertaken by the Child Maintenance Service is published on Table 16 of the Child Maintenance Service Experimental Statistics, which contains data between September 2015 and March 2017. The publication can be accessed online at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/2012-statutory-child-maintenance-scheme-aug-2013-to-mar-2017-experimental" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/2012-statutory-child-maintenance-scheme-aug-2013-to-mar-2017-experimental</a> . These statistics do not include detail on the different types of enforcement action, so do not include the number of sanction actions taken.</p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 27/06/2017 09:55:29 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
	tabling member	4034 label Biography information for Yvonne Fovargue

1024057

	registered interest
	date	12/12/2018
	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, how many people have had deductions from their universal credit of (a) 40 per cent and (b) 30 per cent for the repayment of advances on that benefit.
	tabling member constituency	Makerfield
	tabling member printed	Yvonne Fovargue
	uin	201678
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2018 answer text <p>Of the eligible Universal Credit Full Service claims due a payment in October 2018 (990,000 claims – rounded to the nearest 10,000):</p><ul><li>11,000 (rounded to the nearest 1,000) were repaying advances at 40% of their Standard Allowance. This is 1% of eligible claims and 3% of claims that were repaying an advance.</li><li>4,000 (rounded to the nearest 1,000) were repaying advances at 30% of their Standard Allowance. This is less than 0.5% of eligible claims and 1% of claims that were repaying an advance.</li></ul><p> </p><p>The claim count figures in this text will not match the official statistics due to methodological differences.</p><p> </p><p>At Autumn Budget 2018 we announced that from October 2019, we will reduce the maximum rate at which deductions can be made from a Universal Credit award from 40% to 30% of the standard allowance. The total saving for claimants is £25 million in 2019/20, increasing to £65 million in 2023/24.</p><p> </p><p>This is detailed in Table 1.8 in the Budget 2018 which can be accessed at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2018-documents/budget-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2018-documents/budget-2018</a></p><p> </p><p>This will ensure that those on Universal Credit are supported to repay debts in a more sustainable and manageable way. Additionally, from October 2021, the government will also increase the period over which advances will be recovered, from 12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/12/2018 15:51:24 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4034 label Biography information for Yvonne Fovargue

1024058

	registered interest
	date	12/12/2018
	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, how many people have had deductions from their universal credit of (a) 20 per cent for a single debt as a result of (i) a utility company bill, (ii) council tax arrears and (iii) other liabilities and (b) 30 per cent for two such debts.
	tabling member constituency	Makerfield
	tabling member printed	Yvonne Fovargue
	uin	201679
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2018 answer text <p>The Department does not have access to data outlining third party deductions by deduction type. As such, to provide this data would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 201680 question first answered 20/12/2018 15:29:53 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4034 label Biography information for Yvonne Fovargue