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1012125

	registered interest
	date	21/11/2018
	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	Social Security Benefits: Families
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 20 November (HL11324), in which period the UK spent 3.8 per cent of GDP on expenditure classified by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development as “family benefits”; and whether "family benefits" include (1) tax breaks, and (2) cash benefits and services.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL11652
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/12/2018 answer text <p>The latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data is for 2013. The “family benefits” category includes both cash benefits and services. It does not include tax breaks.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 05/12/2018 13:42:41 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1012129

	registered interest
	date	21/11/2018
	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	Poverty
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will take further action to address relative poverty in the UK in response to the Statement on Visit to the United Kingdom, by Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, published on 16 November.
	tabling member printed	The Marquess of Lothian
	uin	HL11656
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/12/2018 answer text <p>The Government will carefully consider the findings set out in the Special Rapporteur’s interim report published on 16 November. Professor Alston’s final report will be presented to the June 2019 session of the of the Human Rights’ Council. Any formal comments made by the Government in response will be published alongside the final report on the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ website.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Under this Government, income inequality has fallen and remains lower than in 2010; the number of children in workless households is at a record low; and there are 1 million fewer people in absolute poverty (before housing costs) compared with 2010, including 300,000 children.</p><p> </p><p>The Autumn Budget announced a number of changes to Universal Credit ahead of further expansion including an increase of £1,000 in work allowances from April 2019 allowing 2.4 million households to keep an extra £630 of income each year.</p><p> </p><p>Work continues to offer people the best opportunity to move out of poverty. Children living in households where all adults are working are five times less likely to be in relative poverty after housing costs than those in workless families.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 05/12/2018 13:42:00 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	259 label Biography information for The Marquess of Lothian

1012147

	registered interest
	date	21/11/2018
	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	Mental Health Services: Employment
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to making the provision of mental health first aid mandatory in the workplace.
	tabling member printed	Lord Ouseley
	uin	HL11674
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/12/2018 answer text <p>The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 already allow for the consideration of mental health alongside physical health when undertaking a needs assessment. On the 21<sup>st</sup> November 2018 the Health and Safety Executive published guidance to clarify this point for employers.</p><p> </p><p>Key evidence reviews of the impact of mental health-type training in a workplace environment show that there are a number of knowledge gaps which mean it is not possible to say whether the training is effective in improving the management of mental health in workplaces, or whether it is the only effective mechanism for support. The research also identifies additional prevention and management actions that employers should put in place to create a comprehensive approach.</p><p> </p><p>In January 2017, the Prime Minister commissioned Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer, the Chief Executive of Mind, to conduct an independent review into how employers can better support all employees, including those with mental ill health or wellbeing, to remain in and thrive at work. “<em>Thriving at Work: The Stevenson / Farmer review of mental health and employers</em> was published in October 2017.”</p><p> </p><p>In November 2017, the joint DWP/DHSC Work and Health Unit (WHU) published “<em>Improving Lives: the Future of Work, Health and Disability” </em>setting out plans for three key settings: welfare system, workplace and health system, and also set out the Government’s response to “<em>Thriving at Work”</em>. This response welcomed a key recommendation from the ‘Thriving at Work’ review for employers to adopt a set of core mental health standards that will provide a comprehensive approach to transforming mental health in the workplace. Government is committed to working with the authors of the review and key stakeholders across the public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure that employers of all sizes act to implement the core and enhanced standards and help them, and their employees, realise the benefits of healthy, inclusive workplaces.</p><p>Therefore, the Government’s view is that the best way to secure employer action is to engage with employers on a voluntary basis to implement the comprehensive mental health core standards approach rather than legislate on a single issue.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 05/12/2018 14:38:13 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	2170 label Biography information for Lord Ouseley

1012529

	registered interest
	date	22/11/2018
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how the additional funding announced for claimants migrating to Universal Credit will be spent.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Meacher
	uin	HL11721
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>At Autumn Budget 2018 we announced a package worth £4.5 billion across the next five years, to support those on Universal Credit. These measures include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>A £1000 annual increase in the Work Allowance from April 2019,which will provide a £630 boost for households with children, and for people with disabilities.</li><li>Reducing, from October 2019, the maximum rate at which deductions can be made from a Universal Credit award from 40 per cent to 30 per cent of the standard allowance. Additionally, from October 2021, the recovery period for advances will increase from 12 to 16 months. This will help over 600,000 families to manage their debts at any one point when roll-out is complete, providing them with, on average, £295 extra a year as their debts are repaid over a longer period.</li><li>Introducing, from July 2020 a two week transitional run on (similar to the Housing Benefit run-on introduced earlier this year) of income related legacy benefits (Income Support, income related Employment and Support Allowance and income based Jobseeker’s Allowance) for two weeks after a claim for Universal Credit has been made. This measure means that around 1.1 million households will see a one-off gain of approximately £200, between 2020/21 and 2023/24.</li><li>Commencing from July 2020, supporting the transition to Universal Credit for all self-employed people, by extending the 12-month grace period (the period before the Minimum Income Floor applies) to all gainfully self-employed people; giving claimants time to grow their businesses to a sustainable level. This will be implemented fully from September 2020.</li><li>An extension in the surplus earnings disregard exception for up to £2500 for another year from 2019 to 2020</li></ul> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 11/12/2018 14:37:11 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	3810 label Biography information for Baroness Meacher

1012530

	registered interest
	date	22/11/2018
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to identify individuals who will need support in making Universal Credit claims; and what support they will provide to all claimants.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Meacher
	uin	HL11722
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/12/2018 answer text <p>All claimants, including those who are vulnerable or with mental health conditions, receive continuous tailored support through their personal work coaches, and all DWP staff working with claimants complete extensive training that prepares them for their role. Specific training is provided for working with different vulnerable groups, with guidance to signpost claimants to relevant support, and these circumstances will be recorded on a claimant’s online account.</p><p> </p><p>We take a number of steps to identify individuals who will need support in making a claim to Universal Credit. For example, we identify claimants either prior to or at the initial claim stage, to discuss what support mechanisms need to be in place to make a claim. This can be through discussions with their Work Coach, the Universal Credit helpline and/or through home visits.</p><p> </p><p>For those individuals identified as requiring support, Universal Support provides advice and assistance to help claimants manage their Universal Credit claim, with a focus on budgeting advice and digital support. Since 2017, Universal Support has been delivered by individual local authorities, funded by grants from DWP.</p><p> </p><p>From April 2019 Citizens Advice (England and Wales) and Citizens Advice Scotland will take on the responsibility for delivering a strengthened Universal Support service, a move which will ensure a consistent and streamlined service for claimants across the country. This new partnership will ensure vulnerable claimants get the support they need to make a claim and manage their money.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 05/12/2018 16:25:15 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	3810 label Biography information for Baroness Meacher

1012531

	registered interest
	date	22/11/2018
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether people moving from legacy benefits to Universal Credit will be subject to a hard stop to their benefit payments.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Meacher
	uin	HL11723
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/12/2018 answer text <p>The Universal Credit (Managed Migration) 2018 regulations which have been laid before Parliament for approval contain our proposed measures for the managed migration of claimants on legacy benefits to Universal Credit. These include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Notifying claimants that they need to move to Universal Credit, and giving them a minimum of three months to make their claim. They can submit their application at any point during this period and will receive reminders if they have not done so, as the end of this period approaches;</li><li>Having unlimited flexibility to extend the period of time a claimant has to make a Universal Credit claim if there is a good reason;</li><li>The automatic backdating of all claims made once the above period has ended, if a Universal Credit claim is made within one calendar month after this. Transitional protection will also be applied to the Universal Credit award.</li></ul><p>Our objective is to ensure that all legacy benefit claimants migrate safely across to Universal Credit and to that end we will also:</p><p> </p><ul><li>have a lengthy period of careful and robust testing before we move to scale;</li><li>work closely with a large and diverse group of stakeholders to design the process so that we can draw on their insight and experience;</li><li>be producing guidance for work coaches and case managers to identify and protect vulnerable claimants.</li></ul> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 06/12/2018 12:48:25 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	3810 label Biography information for Baroness Meacher

1014696

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2018
	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	Social Security
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Draft Political Declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, published on 22 November, which aspects of social security will be co-ordinated with the EU.
	tabling member printed	Lord Wigley
	uin	HL11825
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>The details of which aspects of social security will be coordinated with the EU under the future relationship are subject to further negotiation with the EU.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 10/12/2018 14:48:07 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	547 label Biography information for Lord Wigley

1017032

	registered interest
	date	28/11/2018
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to undertake a comprehensive review of the impact of Universal Credit on vulnerable groups; and if so, what are their plans.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL11877
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/12/2018 answer text <p>We routinely publish reviews of Universal Credit. Testing of managed migration will commence in July 2019, before taking on larger volumes from 2020. In the first year of managed migration, we expect to only move 10,000 people. In our response the Social Security Advisory Committee on the 5th November we committed to conducting detailed Equality Assessments of migration plans. This is an iterative process and will be fully evaluated with equality impacts reassessed in accordance with the evaluation. We will publish an assessment of the impacts of managed migration prior to increasing the scale.</p><p> </p><p>These include the Universal Credit Impact Assessment (December 2012) and the Universal Credit Programme Full Business Case Summary (June 2018), which sets out the rationale for Universal Credit as well as the financial impacts it is expected to have.</p><p> </p><p>I will also take this opportunity to draw attention to a recent comparison between Universal Credit and the social welfare system in Finland. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report concludes that their universal credit approach for Finland would outperform their existing system and their proposed universal basic income, in terms of reducing poverty, providing a safety net, better targeting of finite resources and improved incentives to work. The OECD report is attached to this answer.</p><p> </p><p>We plan to publish a full evaluation of Universal Credit when it has been fully implemented.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL11879 HL11880 HL11881 question first answered 12/12/2018 14:44:50 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe attachment 1 file name OECD article 28 Feb 18.pdf title OECD Article 28.2.18
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1017033

	registered interest
	date	28/11/2018
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants have additional support needs; and how are such claimants identified, monitored and supported.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL11878
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/12/2018 answer text <p>The information requested is not currently held in a consistent format by the Department.</p><p> </p><p>We are continuously reviewing and improving the service for vulnerable people who claim Universal Credit to ensure that it is accessible and responsive to their needs.</p><p> </p><p>To assist identification and claimant support, each Jobcentre Plus site has a complex needs toolkit in place. These are maintained and reviewed locally and contain a named single point of contact for areas such as Homelessness, Care leavers and Prison leavers.</p><p> </p><p>Work coaches receive training to help them identify and support vulnerable claimants, building a relationship to encourage claimants to openly discuss any concerns or problems as they emerge. We have introduced a function to ‘pin’ key profile notes so they are instantly visible to all staff helping a claimant.</p><p> </p><p>To help claimants who may struggle using online services or managing a monthly payment, Universal Support is available. This is advice, assistance or support to help Universal Credit claimants with managing their claim or award of Universal Credit administered by Citizen’s Advice following our brand new partnership.</p><p> </p><p>We have also increased the numbers of Disability Employment Advisers who now provide additional support to the work coaches so they can better personalise support as we continuously improve the offer available.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 12/12/2018 14:56:09 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1017034

	registered interest
	date	28/11/2018
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Equality Impact Assessment of Universal Credit will be updated to include lessons learned from the areas in which full service has been rolled out; and if so, when.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL11879
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/12/2018 answer text <p>We routinely publish reviews of Universal Credit. Testing of managed migration will commence in July 2019, before taking on larger volumes from 2020. In the first year of managed migration, we expect to only move 10,000 people. In our response the Social Security Advisory Committee on the 5th November we committed to conducting detailed Equality Assessments of migration plans. This is an iterative process and will be fully evaluated with equality impacts reassessed in accordance with the evaluation. We will publish an assessment of the impacts of managed migration prior to increasing the scale.</p><p> </p><p>These include the Universal Credit Impact Assessment (December 2012) and the Universal Credit Programme Full Business Case Summary (June 2018), which sets out the rationale for Universal Credit as well as the financial impacts it is expected to have.</p><p> </p><p>I will also take this opportunity to draw attention to a recent comparison between Universal Credit and the social welfare system in Finland. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report concludes that their universal credit approach for Finland would outperform their existing system and their proposed universal basic income, in terms of reducing poverty, providing a safety net, better targeting of finite resources and improved incentives to work. The OECD report is attached to this answer.</p><p> </p><p>We plan to publish a full evaluation of Universal Credit when it has been fully implemented.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL11877 HL11880 HL11881 question first answered 12/12/2018 14:44:50 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe attachment 1 file name OECD article 28 Feb 18.pdf title OECD Article 28.2.18
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham