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1138697

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	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	Welfare Assistance Schemes
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of supplementing the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme with a centrally allocated fund.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	276576
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>The reforms to the Social Fund in 2013 allowed local authorities in England and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales to deliver their own local provision for people who are in need of urgent help. Local authorities are best placed to decide how to promote and target flexible help to support local welfare needs. The Government has no further plans to review provision.</p><p> </p><p>The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2015-16 identifies a notional amount relating to local welfare provision in each upper-tier and unitary authority’s general grant, totalling £129.6 million for England. The notional allocation for local welfare provision remains at £129.6 million in England in the Local Government Financial Settlement until 2019/20. There are no plans to ring-fence this notional allocation.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 276564 276565 question first answered 22/07/2019 15:11:48 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

1137037

	registered interest
	date	04/07/2019
	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	Local Housing Allowance
	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 potential merits of uprating local housing allowance rates from April 2020; and if she plans to bring forward proposals to extend the current exemption from the shared accommodation rate for people who have lived in a homeless hostel to include people aged 18 to 25 years-old.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	273462
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2019 answer text <p>There are no current plans to extend or maintain the Benefit Freeze after March 2020. Specific decisions on how to uprate the Local Housing Allowance rates from April 2020 will form part of the discussions in support of fiscal events later this year.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>There is an exemption from the shared accommodation rate for those aged 25-34 who have previously spent 3 months (which doesn’t have to be continuous) in a homeless hostel/hostels specialising in rehabilitation and resettlement. There are no plans to extend this exemption to those under the age of 25.</p><p> </p><p>For other individuals who may require more support and whose circumstances may make it difficult for them to share accommodation, Discretionary Housing Payments are available.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 12/07/2019 12:11:40 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

1136339

	registered interest
	date	02/07/2019
	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	Local Housing Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of uprating Local Housing Allowance rates from April 2020; and if she will bring forward proposals to extend the exemption from the shared accommodation rate for people who have lived in a homeless hostel to include people aged 18 to 25.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	272268
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2019 answer text <p>There are no current plans to extend or maintain the Benefit Freeze after March 2020. Specific decisions on how to uprate the Local Housing Allowance rates from April 2020 will form part of the discussions in support of fiscal events later this year.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>There is an exemption from the shared accommodation rate for those aged 25-34 who have previously spent 3 months (which doesn’t have to be continuous) in a homeless hostel/hostels specialising in rehabilitation and resettlement. There are no plans to extend this exemption to those under the age of 25.</p><p> </p><p>For other individuals who may require more support and whose circumstances may make it difficult for them to share accommodation, Discretionary Housing Payments are available.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/07/2019 14:29:46 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

836013

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2018
	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: Ealing
	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 in the (a) London Borough of Ealing and (b) Ealing Central and Acton constituency were eligible for universal credit on 1 January 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	126368
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2018 answer text <p>The latest available information on the number of people on Universal Credit by parliamentary constituency and local authority is published and can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a>. Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 09/02/2018 14:03:41 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

836015

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2018
	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, what the average time is after an application is submitted for universal credit before the first payment is received for claimants in (a) London and (b) the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	126370
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2018 answer text <p>The Department’s data on payment timeliness is not available by area or region.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The assessment period and payment structure of Universal Credit creates a fixed period between date of entitlement and the first payment. However advances of up to 100% of a claimant’s indicative award are available straight away.</p><p> </p><p>Most new claims to Universal Credit Full Service have their entitlement to Universal Credit calculated within 31 days of submitting their application. The assessment period runs for a full calendar month from the date of entitlement and the Universal Credit pay date is up to 7 calendar days after the end of the assessment period.</p><p> </p><p>Our latest research shows that around 80% of new claims are paid in full and on time. The Department’s internal data shows that for those cases where full payment has not been made, around a sixth have not signed their Claimant Commitment or passed identity checks, and the others have outstanding verification issues such as housing, self-employed earnings and childcare costs. Many of these claimants receive a part payment for those elements of the claim that have been verified.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 09/02/2018 14:03:54 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

836023

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2018
	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: Standard of Living
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on living standards of universal credit claimants repaying advance payments.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	126378
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2018 answer text <p>No assessment has been made of how advances interact with living standards. This is because advances are designed to meet a claimant’s immediate short term financial need and are not intended to address living standards. However, Universal Credit advances can be paid to a claimant on the same day in an emergency to prevent them falling into financial hardship. In addition regulations are also in place to protect claimants from excessive benefit deductions.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 09/02/2018 14:04:08 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

836024

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2018
	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: Publicity
	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 publicise information to claimants eligible for universal credit who do not have internet access.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	126379
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2018 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">The attached table shows all the contracts DWP currently holds with Capita including the total value of the contracts.</del></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Our data shows that over 99% of claimants using the Universal Credit Full Service make their claim online.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Department uses multiple channels to publicise information for claimants about Universal Credit. These include:</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><ul><li><ins class="ministerial">Posters and leaflets in jobcentres, including a recent campaign to raise awareness about availability of advances.</ins></li></ul><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><ul><li><ins class="ministerial">Working closely with stakeholder organisations (many of whom interact with claimants, face to face and by telephone). This also includes working with local authorities as part of our on-going partnership to improve digital access and capability.</ins></li></ul><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><ul><li><ins class="ministerial">Playing short videos in Post Offices and GP surgeries in high claimant areas, and also advertising in transport hubs and shopping precinct locations.</ins></li></ul><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">To further support claimants without internet access, all jobcentres across the country have Wi-Fi and computers available, including 8000 additional computers installed to support the introduction of Universal Credit. This provides access to digital channels in every jobcentre for claimants to use when they do not have access at home. A telephone helpline and face to face support are also available for claimants to make and manage a Universal Credit claim.</ins></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 07/02/2018 16:12:02 question first ministerially corrected 09/02/2018 14:43:00 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 40066 answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse answering member 4495 attachment 1 file name 125893 Capita Contracts FR.docx title Capita Contracts
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

836033

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2018
	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, what steps his Department is taking to offer additional support and guidance to hon. Members and their staff while their constituencies transition to universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	126388
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2018 answer text <p>We continue to invite Hon. Members to visit jobcentres within their constituencies and we write to all Hon. Members before jobcentres in their constituencies roll out to Universal Credit Full Service.</p><p> </p><p>As well as providing the name and contact details of the Senior Operational Leader in their area, who is available to answer any questions about the service in their Jobcentre(s), these letters provide a series of guides and online links that their offices may find helpful in assisting constituents.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, we have also run information sessions on Universal Credit for both Hon. Members and Peers, which provided the opportunity to speak with Ministers and Senior Officials within the Department.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 09/02/2018 14:04:38 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

809557

	registered interest
	date	19/12/2017
	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: Day Care
	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 18 of the written evidence submitted by Gingerbread to the Work and Pensions Committee, UCR0106, what assessment he has made of the effect of the requirement to produce official receipts for childcare on the time taken for reimbursement.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	120215
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/12/2017 answer text <p>In Universal Credit Full Service, claimants are responsible for supplying evidence of any childcare costs. Some cases will not need monthly verification and will be automatically accepted after being declared. In these cases claimants will not need to supply any evidence, unless there is a change or concerns over validity.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 21/12/2017 15:59:30 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

809558

	registered interest
	date	19/12/2017
	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: Day Care
	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 19 of the written evidence submitted by Gingerbread to the Work and Pensions Committee, UCR0106, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of knowledge of the Universal Credit childcare offer among DWP work coaches.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	120216
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/12/2017 answer text <p>Work coaches and case managers receive a blend of face-to-face and online learning, which focuses on the technical delivery of Universal Credit, the transformational change, as well as consolidation of their training post-completion.</p><p>All work coaches receive specialist training on childcare in Universal Credit Full Service as part of this learning journey, which is designed to support them in the delivery of the service.</p><p>This training, with the aid of the Universal Credit Full Service Guidance, enables work coaches and case managers to:</p><ul><li>state when a claimant is eligible to claim childcare costs</li><li>check if a childcare provider is registered</li><li>record childcare provider details on the Training Service</li><li>verify childcare costs</li><li>clerically calculate child care costs paid in advance</li><li>state the time limits for providing evidence</li><li>state what reasonable usage is</li></ul><p>Furthermore, the Universal Credit Full Service has a training feature that allows our staff to experience the system before their site goes live with the Full Service.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 21/12/2017 16:05:49 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq