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1186500

	registered interest
	date	19/03/2020
	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	Winter Fuel Payment: Coronavirus
	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 plans to extend the winter fuel allowance for recipients who (a) have to self-isolate or (b) are diagnosed with covid-19.
	tabling member constituency	Wallasey
	tabling member printed	Ms Angela Eagle
	uin	32053
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2020 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">As both the Prime Minister and Chancellor have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID 19 and we have been clear in our intention that no one should be penalised for doing the right thing. These are rapidly developing circumstances, we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">There are no plans to extend the winter fuel allowance scheme. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has, however, published a series of measures designed to help those affected by the coronavirus outbreak with the cost of their energy bills. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Further information on the measures is available here:</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-agrees-measures-with-energy-industry-to-support-vulnerable-people-through-covid-19" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-agrees-measures-with-energy-industry-to-support-vulnerable-people-through-covid-19</a></ins></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 24/03/2020 14:36:54 question first ministerially corrected 15/04/2020 15:03:49 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 14287 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1301871

	registered interest
	date	11/03/2021
	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: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many additional staff her Department has employed during the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Stalybridge and Hyde
	tabling member printed	Jonathan Reynolds
	uin	167195
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2021 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">As of Friday 5 March 2021, the Department of Work and Pensions has recruited 21,709 staff on permanent, temporary, fixed term and agency contracts and also people loaned from other Government Departments</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">From the start of April 2020 to the end of February 2021 an additional 13,242 people have joined DWP as staff employed on its payroll. This figure is based on new joiners only, doesn’t take account of any leavers, and does not include staff loaned from other government departments that didn’t join DWP payroll, or agency workers who are not directly employed by the Department. It also does not include internal movement within DWP into key roles as a result of the impact of COVID-19.</ins></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 16/03/2021 16:56:30 question first ministerially corrected 09/04/2021 13:02:04 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 90758 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4119 label Biography information for Jonathan Reynolds

1301873

	registered interest
	date	11/03/2021
	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: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many additional staff her Department has employed on fixed-term contracts during the covid-19 outbreak; and if she will list when each of those contracts will end.
	tabling member constituency	Stalybridge and Hyde
	tabling member printed	Jonathan Reynolds
	uin	167196
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2021 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">Since 1 April 2020 we have recruited 11,400 people on fixed term contracts. Of those who have started since 1 April 2020, we have 10,642 employees who remain in the business. Their contract end dates are set out in the following table reflecting, the position as at 28 February 2021, which is a continuously changing picture, given that people are actively being extended and recruited, and we will also lose people naturally through turnover before their end dates are due.</del></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial"> </del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial"> </del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial"> </del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>Contract end dates</strong></del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Mar-21</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">2102*</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Apr-21</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">417*</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">May-21</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">264*</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Jun-21</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">130*</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Jul-21</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">348*</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Aug-21</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">82*</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Sep-21</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">234</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Oct-21</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">135</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Nov-21</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">1523</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Dec-21</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">766</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Jan-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">1204</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Feb-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">1327</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Mar-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">16</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Apr-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">1063</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">May-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">728</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Jun-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">81</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Jul-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">142</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Aug-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">55</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Sep-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">1</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Oct-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">6</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Nov-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">7</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Dec-22</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">5</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Jan-23</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">6</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>Total</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>10642</strong></del></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">*Some contract end dates for people due to leave in these months are in the process of being extended.</del></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Since 1 April 2020 we have recruited 11,556 people on fixed term contracts. Of those who have started since 1 April 2020, we have 10,507 employees who remain in the business. Their contract end dates are set out in the following table reflecting, the position as at 28 February 2021, which is a continuously changing picture, given that people are actively being extended and recruited, and we will also lose people naturally through turnover before their end dates are due.</ins></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>Contract end dates</strong></ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Mar-21</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">2102*</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Apr-21</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">412*</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">May-21</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">261*</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Jun-21</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">122*</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Jul-21</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">348*</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Aug-21</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">81*</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Sep-21</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">228</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Oct-21</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">135</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Nov-21</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">1499</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Dec-21</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">763</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Jan-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">1176</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Feb-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">1322</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Mar-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">16</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Apr-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">1056</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">May-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">707</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Jun-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">78</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Jul-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">125</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Aug-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">54</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Sep-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">1</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Oct-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">6</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Nov-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">4</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Dec-22</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">5</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Jan-23</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">6</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>Total</strong></ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>10507</strong></ins></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">*Some contract end dates for people due to leave in these months are in the process of being extended.</ins></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 16/03/2021 17:03:01 question first ministerially corrected 09/04/2021 13:02:22 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 90762 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4119 label Biography information for Jonathan Reynolds

1240223

	registered interest
	date	05/10/2020
	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	Pension Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of automatically registering all eligible pensioners for pension credit.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	99017
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2020 answer text <p>It is a long-established policy of all governments, that provision of income-related benefits is contingent on a person making a valid claim. Like other means-tested benefits, Pension Credit eligibility and award amounts are determined by a person’s financial and personal circumstances and it is the responsibility of the person making a claim to provide the correct and accurate information required to establish entitlement.</p><p /><p>Pension Credit is intended to target help at the poorest pensioner households. It would not therefore be practical to automatically register everyone of State Pension age for Pension Credit when the majority of them will simply not qualify. There may also be pensioners, who might qualify for Pension Credit, who do not wish to claim it.</p><p> </p><p>In 2010 the Department ran an innovative pilot scheme to try to boost take-up of Pension Credit. The trial involved automatically paying Pension Credit to some 2,000 people who the Department had identified as possibly having entitlement to Pension Credit without them having to make an actual claim first. At the end of the trial the group were invited to go on and make a claim. The level of take-up was surprisingly low and disappointing, with less than 9% of those involved going on to take up their entitlement. It was therefore not considered a viable and cost effective mechanism to take forward. A copy of the evaluation of the pilot is available at <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/214583/rrep796.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/214583/rrep796.pdf</a>.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 08/10/2020 14:48:58 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1240226

	registered interest
	date	05/10/2020
	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	Pension 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 and what proportion of eligible pensioners in each parliamentary constituency are (a) in receipt of and (b) have made claims for pension credit.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	99018
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2020 answer text <p>Information on the number of Pension Credit claimants in each parliamentary constituency as of February 2020 is published and available at <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk</a>.</p><p /><p>The information requested on the proportion of pensioners eligible to Pension Credit who are in receipt of the benefit is only available at the Great Britain level. The latest data for 2017/18 is available at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2017-to-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2017-to-2018</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The DWP publishes annual take-up statistics for income-related benefits, including Pension Credit. These are estimates based on data collected through the Family Resource Survey as well as DWP administrative data. However, the sample sizes available from the survey data are not large enough to enable reliable take-up statistics to be produced at sub-national level e.g. for parliamentary constituencies.</p><p> </p><p>We do not hold the information requested on the number and proportion of claims made by eligible pensioners for pension credit in each parliamentary constituency.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 08/10/2020 14:52:04 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1452938

	registered interest
	date	21/03/2022
	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: Artificial Intelligence
	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 10 November 2020 to Question 112080, Artificial Intelligence, what progress has been made with each of the items listed.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	143728
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2022 answer text <p>There has been no fundamental change from the answer of 10 November 2020.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 24/03/2022 16:46:19 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1503496

	registered interest
	date	02/09/2022
	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: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans for the Welsh language telephone service to be fully functioning.
	tabling member constituency	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
	tabling member printed	Jonathan Edwards
	uin	45155
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/09/2022 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions has a made a commitment in our Welsh Language Scheme to treat the Welsh and English languages equally and ensure that all services provided for the public in Wales are available in Welsh, as well as English.</p><p> </p><p>All DWP customers are able to access telephony services in Welsh either directly through a dedicated Welsh language helpline or by selecting the required Interactive Voice Response option. Callers to Carer’s Allowance (CA) and Attendance Allowance (AA) helplines who wish to speak to someone in Welsh currently receive a call-back from a Welsh speaker. A Welsh language option will be implemented on these telephone helplines in October 2022.</p><p> </p><p>All our service line telephone numbers are available on GOV.UK.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 07/09/2022 13:55:22 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3943 label Biography information for Jonathan Edwards

1542909

	registered interest
	date	16/11/2022
	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 benefit claims were subject to sanctions in the last three months for which data is available by constituency; and how much was the (a) total and (b) average sum of benefit income lost by claimants due to sanctions in each constituency.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	88916
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2022 answer text <p>Monthly Universal Credit full service sanction rate statistics are published every three months on <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Stat-Xplore</a>.</p><p>The information requested for part a) and b) is provided in the attached spreadsheet.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 22/11/2022 17:56:40 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman attachment 1 file name 88916 wo.xlsx title 88916 workbook previous answer version 36037 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1185321

	registered interest
	date	16/03/2020
	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	Pension 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 measure the effectiveness of the 12-week awareness campaign on Pension Credit take-up that started on 12 February 2020.
	tabling member constituency	Ochil and South Perthshire
	tabling member printed	John Nicolson
	uin	30051
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2020 answer text <p>The Government wants to make sure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are entitled. There are already around 1.6 million people claiming some £5.4 billion in Pension Credit but some people may be missing out. That is why on the 10<sup>th</sup> February we launched a 12 week nationwide campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit and encourage those over State Pension age to check whether they’re eligible. The campaign includes a short, animated video that is being shown in GP waiting rooms and in Post Offices. It is also being shown to Facebook users and supported by messaging on social media.</p><p> </p><p>As part of the campaign we are asking a sample of callers to the Pension Credit claim line whether they are calling as result of having seen the campaign materials and where they heard about Pension Credit. We are monitoring the Facebook activity using digital metrics which will give us insight on the performance of the adverts and how long people are watching the videos for. We are also monitoring the number of visits to the Pension Credit pages on <a href="http://www.gov.uk" target="_blank">www.gov.uk</a> and use of the Pension Credit Toolkit (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit</a>). At the end of the campaign, we will carry out a full evaluation based on these results in order to measure the effectiveness and impact of the campaign.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 24/03/2020 17:12:42 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4415 label Biography information for John Nicolson

1185847

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2020
	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	State Retirement Pensions: Coronavirus
	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 ensure safe and timely access to state pensions for older adults during the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow
	tabling member printed	Dr Lisa Cameron
	uin	30877
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2020 answer text <p>As both the Prime Minister and Chancellor have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID 19 and we have been clear in our intention that no one should be penalised for doing the right thing. These are rapidly developing circumstances, we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 25/03/2020 15:06:40 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4412 label Biography information for Dr Lisa Cameron