Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1138406

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit: 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 claimants over the age of 60 in receipt of universal credit have been sanctioned in the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Ipswich
	tabling member printed	Sandy Martin
	uin	276287
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>Statistics on Universal Credit sanctions by age are published and can be found at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance for users is available at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://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 16/07/2019 14:52:09 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4678 label Biography information for Sandy Martin

1138457

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit: Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests for spilt payments of universal credit have been (a) made and (b) accepted in each of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	276271
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>The requested information for part (a) is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In response to part (b), the number of Households on UC that make use of the Split Payment option 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></p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://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 16/07/2019 14:40:51 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1138458

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit: Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests for alternative payment arrangements of universal credit have been (a) made and (b) accepted for (i) twice monthly payments and (b) four twice monthly payments in each of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	276272
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>However, information on the number of Households on Universal Credit that have an Alternative Payment Arrangement 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></p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p><p /> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 16/07/2019 14:49:09 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1138074

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	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	Sahaviriya Steel Industries UK: Redundancy
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timetable is for the publication of its final report on the effectiveness of programmes to protect former SSI steelworkers from long-term unemployment.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	275684
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) Task Force, funded by the Government to support individuals and businesses directly affected by the closure of SSI in Redcar, has published 3 annual reports (the most recent in 2018) setting out progress with helping the people affected by the liquidation of SSI. Further details are at: <a href="https://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/SSITaskForce" target="_blank">https://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/SSITaskForce</a></p><p> </p><p>The Task Force has commissioned the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to analyse the outcomes of workers affected by the closure.</p><p> </p><p>The DWP has been working to identify; quality assure; integrate and securely store and handle data on former SSI UK employees and workers in its supply chain to fulfil the commission of the Task Force. The department’s analysis will innovatively combine data from the official receiver; local tracking data from collected by Job Centre Plus; DWP/HMRC administrative data; and published ONS data.</p><p> </p><p>The analysis is currently being finalised and will be published in due course by the Department for Work and Pensions.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 14:30:53 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1138133

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	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	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 people on universal credit who have turned down a job offer in the last 12 months have cited lack of affordable childcare as the reason; and how many of those people received (a) a civil penalty and (b) a sanction.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	275817
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>On Universal Credit, claimants are able to claim up to 85 per cent of their childcare costs, compared to 70 per cent on the legacy system. Where the initial month’s childcare costs may prevent a claimant from starting work, Jobcentres can use the Flexible Support Fund to help claimants. This is a non-repayable award, which can be used to meet the upfront costs of childcare to help support a claimant into work.</p><p> </p><p>Civil Penalties may be imposed by both DWP and Local Authorities, where an individual incurs a recoverable overpayment as a result of failing to provide accurate information as part of their benefit claim or in connection with an award of benefit, and have not taken reasonable steps to correct the error. Civil Penalties are not imposed in the event of a claimant refusing to accept a job offer.</p><p> </p><p>The information request about those receiving a sanction is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 15:15:03 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1138168

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit
	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 18 June 2019 to Question 263677, for what reason the letter sent to a universal credit claimant’s journal to confirm an advance payment does not specify the (a) amount to be repaid each month or (b) number of months that the repayments will last; and if he will add that information to that letter.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	275662
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department encourages all Universal Credit claimants to actively consider how best to manage their personal budget, with additional advice and support available from work coaches and case managers. When an advance payment is appropriate, claimants decide what percentage of their expected monthly award to apply for and over what period to repay it, up to a maximum of 12 monthly instalments.</p><p>Claimants have the ability to make the decision for themselves on the time period for repayment. Most claimants (around 85%) choose to repay their advance over a 12-month period, with others repaying in a shorter timeframe.</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>Claimants can view their Universal Credit statement online to see how their award is calculated and a breakdown of what deductions are being made.</p><p>We are committed to keeping all Universal Credit services and processes, under review and will make improvements where necessary.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 15:51:24 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1138172

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the extent to which fraudulent claims for universal credit have been made by people using a loophole in the online application process to make an application and claim an advance using another person’s information.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	275665
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department is committed to bringing fraudsters to justice. Last year we, working alongside local authorities, recovered more than £1.1bn in fraud and error across all benefits and brought almost 5,000 prosecutions in 2017/18.</p><p> </p><p>As of June 2019, the Department has received around 42,000 fraud referrals from staff relating to potential fraudulent advance claims, which equates to less than 1 per cent of all Universal Credit claims.</p><p> </p><p>Our investigations are ongoing and we are therefore unable to provide details of how many may have used another person’s identity to make their claim, or to quantify the amount spent on investigations of this type. However, any cases in which this has occurred will be treated accordingly, with the continued use of both prosecutions and tough financial penalties to deter this fraudulent behaviour.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 275666 question first answered 15/07/2019 15:21:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1138177

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on how much has been spent on investigating fraudulent universal credit claims that have been made by people using a loophole in the online application process to make an application and claim an advance using another person’s information.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	275666
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department is committed to bringing fraudsters to justice. Last year we, working alongside local authorities, recovered more than £1.1bn in fraud and error across all benefits and brought almost 5,000 prosecutions in 2017/18.</p><p> </p><p>As of June 2019, the Department has received around 42,000 fraud referrals from staff relating to potential fraudulent advance claims, which equates to less than 1 per cent of all Universal Credit claims.</p><p> </p><p>Our investigations are ongoing and we are therefore unable to provide details of how many may have used another person’s identity to make their claim, or to quantify the amount spent on investigations of this type. However, any cases in which this has occurred will be treated accordingly, with the continued use of both prosecutions and tough financial penalties to deter this fraudulent behaviour.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 275665 question first answered 15/07/2019 15:21:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1138178

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the proportion of successful universal credit claims which are fraudulent; and how that figure compares to legacy benefits.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	275667
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>Under Universal Credit (UC) claimants will only have one claim to benefit, whereas under Legacy, they may have made claims to multiple benefits. It is therefore not possible to draw a direct comparison between the caseloads of UC and Legacy benefits. UC will also incorporate Tax Credits which is currently administered by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, who record their overpayments differently.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is open and transparent about the cost of fraud and error in the benefit system, publishing our National “Fraud and Error in the Benefit System” statistics each year which detail the amount we estimate is lost to both fraud and error across all benefits.</p><p> </p><p>Most welfare losses, across Government, arise from claimants failing to report changes of circumstances, Universal Credit (UC) provides a single, digital interface through which claimants can more easily report these changes. As such, once UC is fully rolled out, we expect cross-welfare losses to fraud, error and overpayments to be reduced by around £1 billion per year. UC also allows us to adjust benefit entitlement in line with changing circumstances in real time. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping to inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances.</p><p /><p>As of June 2019, the Department has received around 42,000 fraud referrals from staff relating to potential fraudulent advance claims, which equates to less than 1 per cent of all Universal Credit claims.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 15:11:50 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1138234

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	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	Unemployment
	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 (a) make representations to the Office for National Statistics on (a) compiling and (b) publishing monthly data on long-term unemployment in each parliamentary constituency; and (b) allocate funding for the compilation of those statistics.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	275688
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>Estimates of the number of people who are unemployed for sub-regional geographies in the UK are compiled by the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is done using the Annual Population Survey (APS), a large household survey of people in the UK.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – along with the Department for Education; the Ministry of Defence; Public Health England; the Welsh Government; and the Scottish Government – contributes funding for the ONS to conduct the APS. The department’s officials work with the ONS to offer advice on the design and delivery of the survey.</p><p> </p><p>It is not possible to produce robust estimates of the number of people who are long-term unemployed (12 months or more) for parliamentary constituency areas, due to the size of the survey sample at this level of geography.</p><p> </p><p>It is also not considered technically feasible to alter the APS to allow for the production of robust monthly estimates of the number long-term unemployed people at parliamentary constituency area.</p><p> </p><p>The ONS are working on alternative approaches to producing labour market estimates, as part of the ONS’s Census and Data Collection Transformation Programme. The outcome of this work may enable the requested data to be produced, however this programme is still in its research and development stage.</p><p> </p><p>The DWP publishes, via its Stat Xplore website, official statistics on the duration people have claimed Universal Credit by parliamentary constituency area.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 14:43:28 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1137726

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	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	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, with reference to page 43 of the NAO report on the cost of administering benefit sanctions published in 2016, what estimate she has made of the cost of administering conditions and sanctions for social security benefits in the most recent year for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	275218
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 15:32:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1137770

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	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, what estimate she has made of the number of local authorities that run local welfare assistance schemes.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	275105
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 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 target flexible help to support local welfare needs. The Government has no further plans to review provision.</p><p> </p><p>We passed funding over to local authorities and devolved administrations from April 2013. This gave them maximum flexibility to deliver services as they see fit according to local needs.</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 275106 275107 275109 question first answered 15/07/2019 15:57:44 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1137793

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	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, what estimate he has made of the number of people that benefited from local welfare assistance schemes in 2017-18.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	275106
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 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 target flexible help to support local welfare needs. The Government has no further plans to review provision.</p><p> </p><p>We passed funding over to local authorities and devolved administrations from April 2013. This gave them maximum flexibility to deliver services as they see fit according to local needs.</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 275105 275107 275109 question first answered 15/07/2019 15:57:44 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1137829

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	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	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 proportion of claimants have successfully applied for universal credit (a) once, (b) twice and (c) three or more times in the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	275219
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The proportion of claimants, between July 2018 and June 2019, that have successfully applied for Universal Credit</p><p>a) Once was 91%</p><p>b) Twice was 7%</p><p>c) Three or more times was 1%</p><p> </p><p>A successful application to Universal Credit is defined as a contract for which at least one statement is provided i.e. has received at least one payment.</p><p> </p><p>There are many reasons why a claimant might be required to make a claim on more than one occasion, such as a claimant entering temporary work and then reclaiming at the end of their employment.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><em>Notes: Percentages are rounded to the nearest percent</em><em>.  </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 15:43:12 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1137840

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	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, if he will reintroduce a cash grant to local authorities for local welfare assistance schemes.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	275107
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 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 target flexible help to support local welfare needs. The Government has no further plans to review provision.</p><p> </p><p>We passed funding over to local authorities and devolved administrations from April 2013. This gave them maximum flexibility to deliver services as they see fit according to local needs.</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 275105 275106 275109 question first answered 15/07/2019 15:57:44 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1137853

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	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, what estimate he has made of the number of local authorities that have reduced spending on local welfare assistance schemes by more than half since 2015-16.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	275109
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 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 target flexible help to support local welfare needs. The Government has no further plans to review provision.</p><p> </p><p>We passed funding over to local authorities and devolved administrations from April 2013. This gave them maximum flexibility to deliver services as they see fit according to local needs.</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 275105 275106 275107 question first answered 15/07/2019 15:57:44 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1137460

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit: Wales
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Wales on the roll-out of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Newport West
	tabling member printed	Ruth Jones
	uin	274662
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>The most recent detailed discussion took place on a visit to Wales on 4th April 2019, where the Secretary of State accompanied the Secretary of State for Wales to the Cardiff Charles Street Jobcentre Plus office, where they had a general discussion around Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>The roll out of Universal Credit (UC) is now complete and is available in every Jobcentre across the country.</p><p> </p><p>As planned, the testing of moving legacy claimants to Universal Credit will take place in Harrogate and will begin this month. The goal of the pilot is to learn as much as possible and to increase numbers as slowly and gradually as necessary. Testing the system and our processes will allow us to make sure we can provide the best possible service to those claimants who will need to move to Universal Credit from their legacy claim as planned, by the end of 2023.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 16/07/2019 09:57:07 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4716 label Biography information for Ruth Jones

1137617

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	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	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 claimants who received advance payments (a) below the value of, (b) the same value as and (c) above the value of their first universal credit payment in the most recent month for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	274559
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2019 answer text <p>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. From October 2021, this maximum repayment period will be extended from 12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p>The Department ensures claimants are made aware of their maximum advance entitlement and informed that their Universal Credit award will be adjusted over the relevant recovery period to take into account the advance of benefit they received.</p><p> </p><p>The available data shows that in the 12-month period up to the end of April 2019.</p><p> </p><p>(a) Around 20% of claimants take an advance which is less than 50% of their actual award value</p><p>(b) Around 75% of claimants take an advance which is between 50-100% of their actual award value</p><p>(c) Around 5% of claimants take an advance which is over 100% of their actual award value.</p><p> </p><p><em>To note on C): in a small number of cases the information provided by the claimant at the point of their new claim initially indicates a higher award than is actually applicable when the first assessment period has been completed.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 11/07/2019 15:28:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1136896

	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	Universal 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 publish the (a) forecast number of new claims for universal credit between April 2018 and March 2019, (b) date on which that forecast was made and (c) actual number of new claims made during that period.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	273365
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not available as the Department does not forecast new claims to Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>The actual number of claims made between April 2018 and March 2019 can be found under the ‘Claims to Universal Credit’ dataset available at: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/07/2019 14:01:25 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1136924

	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	Electronic Government: Proof of Identity
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the viability of the Verify scheme; and what role the private sector is planned to play in the future of that scheme.
	tabling member constituency	Eastbourne
	tabling member printed	Stephen Lloyd
	uin	273377
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government Digital Service (GDS) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have been working together on improvements to GOV.UK Verify for access to DWP digital services and the number of claimants who are successful when attempting to use GOV.UK Verify is steadily increasing.</p><p> </p><p>DWP will continue to consider options to provide the easiest and most secure digital services for claimants and as such we're considering a range of other identity verification options which are easy to use and cost-effective for the Department. The Verify solution is part of the suite of products offered in this area. The assessment of all DWP identity solutions is a continuous process to ensure that we are meeting customer needs in the most cost effective way.</p><p> </p><p>Discussions between Cabinet Office Government Digital Services, the owners of GOV.UK Verify are ongoing as to the role of the private sector post March 2020 and DWP, alongside all other Departments that use GOV.UK Verify, will be engaging in those conversations at the appropriate time.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/07/2019 13:46:43 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3968 label Biography information for Stephen Lloyd

1136964

	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	William Hill: Closures
	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 support staff of William Hill following the announcement that 700 branches will close; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	273427
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2019 answer text <p>DWP stands ready to support any affected by the proposed closures, with our Rapid Response Service (RRS) offer. This is a redundancy service designed to give support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with the prospect of redundancy. It is coordinated nationally by the National Employer and Partnership Team (NEPT) and is managed by Jobcentre Plus.</p><p> </p><p>Each Jobcentre Plus district deploy resources according to the situation and the requirements of the workforce. This service is available to be deployed nationally should William Hill require support from Jobcentre Plus. The RRS is delivered in partnership with a range of national and local partners, including National Careers Service and local service providers.</p><p> </p><p>The range of support available from Jobcentre Plus and partners may include:</p><ul><li>Information advice and guidance.</li><li>Connecting people to jobs in the labour market.</li><li>Help with job search including CV writing, interview skills, where to find jobs and<br>how to apply for them.</li><li>Help to identify transferable skills and skills gaps (linked to the local labour<br>market).</li><li>Training to update skills, learn new ones and gain industry recognised<br>certification that will improve employability.</li><li>Help to overcome barriers to attending training or securing a job or <br>self-employment such as child care costs, necessary tools, work clothes, travel<br>costs etc.</li><li>On-site presentations to those affected.</li><li>Jobs Fairs and Job Clubs where appropriate.</li></ul> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 09/07/2019 09:34:57 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1136530

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	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	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 and what proportion of universal credit payments were subject to a deduction, excluding sanctions, in the latest month for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	272806
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2019 answer text <p>Of all eligible claims to Universal Credit Full Service due a payment in Feb 2019, 57 per cent (840,000 claims) had a deduction.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p>Deductions include advance repayments and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties which are reductions of benefit rather than deductions.</p><p>Claim numbers may not match official statistics caseloads due to small methodological differences.</p><p>Claim numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/07/2019 13:39:38 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1136531

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	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	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 a deduction for any arrears in the first month of their claim for the last month for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	272807
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2019 answer text <p>In February 2019, 2 per cent of claims which were due their first payment had a deduction for arrears.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p>Figure relates to Universal Credit full service.</p><p>Figures are rounded to the nearest per cent.</p><p>Figures included arrears for gas, electric, water, rent and service charges.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/07/2019 13:29:50 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1136666

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit: East Ayrshire
	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 the oral contribution of 1 July 2019, Official Report, Column 903, what additional funding has been made available to East Ayrshire Council to mitigate the costs associated with the roll-out of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	272890
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2019 answer text <p>New Burdens funding has been provided to councils to cover additional costs associated with Universal Credit. In 2017/18 the Department paid £13m in New Burdens funding and paid £14m in New Burdens for 2018/19. Last year we worked with a number of Local Authorities to refresh these costs resulting in £18m in New Burdens being paid in 2019/20. 67 Local Authorities received a total of £4.7m in extra payments to recognise alleged additional costs caused in the early stages of roll out.</p><p> </p><p>The East Ayrshire Council has received £169k from the Department in New Burden funding.</p><p> </p><p>We continue to work with number of Local Authorities to further understand their service costs to inform future funding requirements.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 272891 question first answered 12/07/2019 13:52:47 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

1136668

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit: East Ayrshire
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her oral contribution on 1 July 1 2019, Official Report Vol 662, whether her investigation on the costs associated with the rollout of universal credit will consider the economic effects of that rollout on East Ayrshire Council.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	272891
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2019 answer text <p>New Burdens funding has been provided to councils to cover additional costs associated with Universal Credit. In 2017/18 the Department paid £13m in New Burdens funding and paid £14m in New Burdens for 2018/19. Last year we worked with a number of Local Authorities to refresh these costs resulting in £18m in New Burdens being paid in 2019/20. 67 Local Authorities received a total of £4.7m in extra payments to recognise alleged additional costs caused in the early stages of roll out.</p><p> </p><p>The East Ayrshire Council has received £169k from the Department in New Burden funding.</p><p> </p><p>We continue to work with number of Local Authorities to further understand their service costs to inform future funding requirements.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 272890 question first answered 12/07/2019 13:52:47 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

1136684

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit
	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 24 June to Question 266642, for what reasons her Department holds information on the number of universal credit claimants with an existing advance who also receive a maximum budgetary advance and have offered to repay that advance over the maximum time period allowed but does not hold information on the proportion of those people who have repaid their budget advance within the pre-agreed time period.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	272736
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The Department does collect information on advances paid and repayments for all advances through the Universal Credit award. However, each advance’s repayment progress would need to be tracked separately and a date in which repayment is completed would need to be calculated.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 17:02:17 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1136685

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit
	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 28 June to Question 266643, how many people received a universal credit payment between June 2015 and May 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	272737
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit payments are made at a household rather than individual level. The official Households on Universal Credit statistics series starts in August 2015 and the latest month that has been published so far is February 2019.</p><p> </p><p>2,600,000 households on Universal Credit received at least one payment between August 2015 and February 2019.</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p> </p><p>1) Figures have been rounded to nearest 100,000.</p><p>2) Figures relate to both Universal Credit full service and Universal Credit live service.</p><p>3) If a household has a Managed Payment to Landlord in place, then some or all of their Universal Credit payment may have been paid directly to the landlord.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p /> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 16:50:05 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1136692

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit
	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 June 2019 to Question 266646, what recourse is available to a member of a joint claim whose partner has falsely confirmed that their partner knows and agrees to a universal credit advance.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	272738
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Advances are in place to ensure those in genuine need are able to receive financial support. They are not additional money: they are simply an advance of entitlement.</p><p> </p><p>Either member of a couple can apply for an advance payment on behalf of the couple. Since both claimants have a joint and individual liability for the repayment of the advance, they are given written notice at the time of taking out the advance, via their Universal Credit (UC) journal, which includes the amount of the advance and of their liability to repay the advance. They will also be alerted to this UC Journal entry.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 16:56:29 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1136694

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit
	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 24 June 2019 to Question 266647 on Universal Credit, for what reason his Department does not hold data on the number of claimants of universal credit that were refused an advance during the that period.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	272739
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Information on advances refused is not held in a format that is readily accessible. To identify and collate the total number of applications refused for an advance would incur disproportionate cost to the Department.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 17:00:11 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1136718

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit
	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 3 July 2019 to Question 269775, whether the practice of loansharks applying on behalf of an individual for a universal credit advance payment which is then issued as a loan to the individual is being investigated by her Department.
	tabling member constituency	Leigh
	tabling member printed	Jo Platt
	uin	272943
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Any exploitation of advance payments is not acceptable, and takes advantage of a process designed to support claimants during their first assessment period. We are seeking to identify the perpetrators and will take appropriate prosecution action.</p><p>The Department is committed to reducing fraud and works hard to identify perpetrators of fraud. We have a dedicated team of investigators working on this issue and we regularly raise awareness with our front line staff who understand the risks and raise concerns as appropriate.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 16:58:38 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4673 label Biography information for Jo Platt

1136357

	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	Universal Credit
	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 24 June 2019 to Question 264329 on universal credit, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debits, how many of those tax credit overpayments were repaid by each year to which those overpayments were made to those claimants.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	272126
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Tax Credit overpayments were referred to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Debt Management from 2016/17.</p><p> </p><p>The table shows Tax Credit recoveries for 2018/19 apportioned across the financial year in which the Tax Credit overpayment ended*.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Tax Credit Overpayment</strong> <strong> Period End Date</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Percentage of Recoveries by Value</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Unknown</p></td><td><p>Less than 0.05%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2003-04</p></td><td><p>0.10%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2004-05</p></td><td><p>0.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2005-06</p></td><td><p>0.4%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2006-07</p></td><td><p>0.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2007-08</p></td><td><p>1.2%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2008-09</p></td><td><p>2.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>1.6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>2.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>4.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>4.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>6.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014-15</p></td><td><p>7.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015-16</p></td><td><p>9.0%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016-17</p></td><td><p>14.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>26.7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018-19</p></td><td><p>18.2%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Universal Credit (UC) is expected to lead to savings across welfare as we are able to adjust benefit entitlement in line with changing circumstances in real time. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>When recovering benefit overpayments, the DWP ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants from any undue financial hardship.</p><p> </p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the DWP. All figures have been rounded to one decimal place. Due to this rounding, the figures will not sum 100%. </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 16:50:19 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1136380

	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	Universal Credit: Overpayments
	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 257458 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how many overpayments were waived in (a) full and (b) part as a result of applications made by (i) claimants and (ii) their representatives in 2014-15.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	272129
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>In 2014/15 there were fewer than 5 successful applications for the full waiving of a Universal Credit overpayment and fewer than 5 successful partial waiver applications for UC overpayments*.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has an obligation to ensure that public funds are administered responsibly and to abide by the principles set out in Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on Managing Public Money (which can be found on gov.uk). Waivers are only granted in limited circumstances including where the recovery of an overpayment is causing substantial financial and/or medical hardship and clear supporting evidence of this is provided.</p><p> </p><p>We are unable to provide a breakdown of how many applications were made by claimants or their representatives as this information is not stored.</p><p> </p><p><em>*The figures provided in this response have been sourced from internal management information and were not intended for public release. They should therefore not be compared to any other figures subsequently released by the Department. We are not able to report exact figures that are lower than 5, therefore this have been listed as “less than 5”.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 16:53:18 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1136399

	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	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether welfare advisers have the discretion not to impose job seeking conditions on a claimant in their (a) customer agreement and (b) claimant commitment when that claimant is no longer entitled to employment and support allowance and is advised to claim universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	272130
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>When people move from ESA to UC due to a change of circumstances (e.g. house move) not connected to their WCA, they will move into the equivalent conditionality group. Work search requirements are not imposed on people who have been found to have Limited Capability for Work or Limited Capability for Work and Work Related activity.</p><p> </p><p>When people move from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit (UC) due to being found ‘fit for work’ at their work capability assessment (WCA) their UC conditionality will be decided based on their individual and household circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>There are a range of circumstances on UC where work-related requirements must be switched off temporarily because people are experiencing difficult personal circumstances and our work coaches do have the discretion to reduce or suspend job seeking conditions on their Claimant Commitment. Even for people who have been found fit for work, work coaches may still agree to tailor the number of hours, type, and location of work, to take account of the person’s health condition. Work coaches receive training on how to adjust conditionality to reflect a person’s individual circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>People who are full time carers or have caring responsibility for a child under 1 will not be asked to complete any work related requirements when they move to UC in recognition of their current situation.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 17:00:22 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1135809

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	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	Social Security Benefits: EU Nationals
	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 informed any EU nationals that they have no recourse to public funds since June 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Salford and Eccles
	tabling member printed	Rebecca Long Bailey
	uin	271477
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2019 answer text <p>Whether someone has recourse to public funds is a matter for the Home Office. However, where a person’s claim for benefit has been refused, DWP will inform the claimant of this decision and how they can request a reconsideration.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 09/07/2019 14:18:37 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4396 label Biography information for Rebecca Long Bailey

1135825

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	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	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 people working in the gig economy that are in receipt of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	271364
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>The term “gig economy” covers a wide range of roles and working practices and the information requested is not held.</p><p> </p><p>The Department provides tailored support to our claimants who are in self-employment through our work coaches to help them to increase their productivity and earnings.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit encourages all claimants with a work expectation to find and progress in work. To support those already in, or considering self-employment, we have extended the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) scheme from April 2019 onwards. The NEA provides support and mentoring for claimants who are looking to start or develop their business.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/07/2019 14:40:37 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1135920

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	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	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 he has made of the cost to the public purse of universal credit payments and administration in each year since 2014.
	tabling member constituency	Bridgend
	tabling member printed	Mrs Madeleine Moon
	uin	271423
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2019 answer text <p>The table below shows the cost to the public purse of Universal Credit Payments, this information has been published in the Spring Statement in April 2019 and can also be found via this link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2019" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2019</a></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2013/14</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014/15</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015/16</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016/17</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017/18</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2018/19</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Expenditure by benefit, £ million, nominal terms</strong></p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>56</p></td><td><p>491</p></td><td><p>1,585</p></td><td><p>3,322</p></td><td><p>8,116</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The table below shows the estimate of the total cost of Benefit Handling Processes in UC for each financial year from 2014. Benefit Handling Processes are the cost DWP has incurred administering claims to UC and making UC payments.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>2018/19</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Benefit Handling Processes, £ million</p></td><td><p>10.6</p></td><td><p>75.3</p></td><td><p>142.5</p></td><td><p>261.8</p></td><td><p>272.0</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 09/07/2019 13:41:11 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	1490 label Biography information for Mrs Madeleine Moon

1135962

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	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	Social Security Benefits: EU Nationals
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether an EU national granted settled status in the UK is classified as having a right to be habitually resident for the purposes of applying for (a) universal credit and (b) other benefits.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	271381
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>Eligibility for income-related (means-tested) benefits, such as Universal Credit, depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. Claimants must be exercising a legal right to reside and be habitually resident before they are eligible to claim. This is assessed through the Habitual Residence Test (HRT).</p><p> </p><p>EU nationals who have been granted settled status (indefinite leave to remain) by the Home Office will satisfy the legal right to reside element of the HRT. All claimants, regardless of nationality, must also demonstrate that they are factually habitually resident in the UK in order to be eligible to claim UC. In general, a period of 3 months residence is sufficient to meet this requirement.</p><p> </p><p>For certain non-contributory benefits, such as Personal Independence Payment, an individual must also satisfy the Past Presence Test (PPT), which requires them to have been present in Great Britain for 104 weeks out of the previous 156 weeks.</p><p> </p><p>Information on the nationality of those refused Universal Credit within the last 12 months is still being analysed, not readily available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 271382 question first answered 04/07/2019 14:33:02 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

1135963

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit: EU Nationals
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many EU nationals have been refused universal credit in the last 12 months on the grounds that they have not demonstrated a right to be habitually resident.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	271382
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>Eligibility for income-related (means-tested) benefits, such as Universal Credit, depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. Claimants must be exercising a legal right to reside and be habitually resident before they are eligible to claim. This is assessed through the Habitual Residence Test (HRT).</p><p> </p><p>EU nationals who have been granted settled status (indefinite leave to remain) by the Home Office will satisfy the legal right to reside element of the HRT. All claimants, regardless of nationality, must also demonstrate that they are factually habitually resident in the UK in order to be eligible to claim UC. In general, a period of 3 months residence is sufficient to meet this requirement.</p><p> </p><p>For certain non-contributory benefits, such as Personal Independence Payment, an individual must also satisfy the Past Presence Test (PPT), which requires them to have been present in Great Britain for 104 weeks out of the previous 156 weeks.</p><p> </p><p>Information on the nationality of those refused Universal Credit within the last 12 months is still being analysed, not readily available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 271381 question first answered 04/07/2019 14:33:02 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

1135484

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	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	Social Security Benefits
	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 27 June 2019 to Question 268401, what information she holds on the reasons why those 156,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts are not repaying their debts.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	270705
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The table below provides information on why the specified claimants were not repaying their debts.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Zero balance**</p></td><td><p>92,776</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Business as usual/head of work (Includes future instalment confirmation)</p></td><td><p>48,196</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Awaiting Financial Reconciliation</p></td><td><p>12,452</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>In progress – Awaiting further information (e.g. customer correspondence/contact)</p></td><td><p>4,214</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Managed by external contractor (Debt collection agency)</p></td><td><p>618</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Awaiting appeal outcome</p></td><td><p>534</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Waiting for customer to call back</p></td><td><p>306</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other</p></td><td><p>477</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department.</em></p><p> </p><p><em>** The zero balance category is made up of debts that have been fully repaid, but are yet to be removed from the Debt Manager system. It is important to note that no further recovery action will be taken in these cases</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 15:06:25 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1135491

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	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 proportion of people applying for an advance claim for universal credit receive the payment (a) on the same day as their application, (b) on the following day, (c) within two days, (d) within three days, (e) within four days and (f) after four days.
	tabling member constituency	Delyn
	tabling member printed	David Hanson
	uin	270707
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>The data requested is not held. We aim to pay advances on Universal Credit within 72 hours. However, an advance can be paid on the same day to the claimant, where necessary.</p><p> </p><p>Applications for a Universal Credit advance can be made in a number of ways: in person, by telephone and also online. To identify and collate the total number of applications made would incur disproportionate cost. Consequently, we do not hold the information requested.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 11:28:44 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	533 label Biography information for David Hanson

1135492

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	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, how many claims for universal credit have been closed due to the claimant not responding to an email or online request broken down by length of time in each year since its introduction.
	tabling member constituency	Delyn
	tabling member printed	David Hanson
	uin	270708
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not held by the Department.</p><p> </p><p>The following table shows the number of claims closed and reason for closure for both new claims prior to payment and claims that were in payment:</p><p><a href="http://qna.files.parliament.uk/qna-attachments/964153/original/Universal%20Credit%20claim%20closurer%20reasons.pdf" target="_blank">http://qna.files.parliament.uk/qna-attachments/964153/original/Universal%20Credit%20claim%20closurer%20reasons.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 11:06:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	533 label Biography information for David Hanson

1135496

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	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 recent assessment she has made of the reasons for unsuccessful applications for universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Delyn
	tabling member printed	David Hanson
	uin	270712
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Where claim closure is considered, a number of checks are conducted before claim closure is undertaken.</p><p> </p><p>The assessment we have made of the Universal Credit Full Service claims that were declared in January 2019 is as follows: Applications were unsuccessful and closed prior to the first payment for a variety of reasons. These include ineligibility, nil entitlement, insufficient evidence, claim withdrawal and non-compliance with the Universal Credit process.</p><p> </p><p>For claimants that need support with their Universal Credit application, the Citizen’s Advice Help to Claim service is available, offering tailored, practical support online, over the phone, and face-to-face.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 16:55:29 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	533 label Biography information for David Hanson

1135595

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	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, when the universal credit managed migration pilot is planned to begin in Harrogate.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	270819
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>On 3 May 2019, the High Court handed down a judgment in relation to Universal Credit and the Severe Disability Premium (SDP). The judgment quashed the SDP related parts of the draft Universal Credit (Managed Migration Pilot and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019.The Department is currently considering the options open to us and will respond in due course.</p><p> </p><p>We plan to begin the “Move to UC” pilot in July 2019.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 270820 question first answered 03/07/2019 12:35:48 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1135597

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	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: Severe Disability Premium
	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 the letter from the Leader of the House to the hon. Member for High Peak on 7 June 2019 on universal credit managed migration regulations, when she plans to make an announcement on her Department's policies on the migration of people who received severe disability premium from legacy benefits to universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	270820
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>On 3 May 2019, the High Court handed down a judgment in relation to Universal Credit and the Severe Disability Premium (SDP). The judgment quashed the SDP related parts of the draft Universal Credit (Managed Migration Pilot and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019.The Department is currently considering the options open to us and will respond in due course.</p><p> </p><p>We plan to begin the “Move to UC” pilot in July 2019.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 270819 question first answered 03/07/2019 12:35:48 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1135167

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2019
	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 assessment she has made of the effect of the (a) wait for payment and (b) monthly payment of universal credit on the number of weeks of benefit paid annually to claimants compared with the number they were paid under their legacy benefits.
	tabling member constituency	Derby North
	tabling member printed	Chris Williamson
	uin	270345
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2019 answer text <p>There is no need to wait for a Universal Credit payment, as 100 per cent advances are available from day one of a claim. Advance payments are simply an advance of entitlement, meaning that by month 12 of a claim, a claimant would normally have received exactly the same Universal Credit regardless of whether they had an advance or not.</p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, frequency of payment should not affect the total amount of Universal Credit paid over the course of a year. Whilst legacy benefits were paid in two-weekly arrears, Universal Credit is paid in monthly arrears to help reduce welfare dependency by mirroring the world of work, where currently around 70 per cent of tax credit claimants are paid monthly or four weekly.</p><p> </p><p>We know that claimants are currently not getting all the entitlements for which they are eligible on legacy benefits. Requiring claimants to make a new Universal Credit claim will ensure that people will not miss out on any entitlements. This will result in an additional £2.4 billion going to 700,000 families who currently do not take up their full benefit entitlement.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 05/07/2019 13:04:00 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3976 label Biography information for Chris Williamson

1135227

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2019
	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, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of giving universal credit claimants the option of monthly payments or four weekly payments.
	tabling member constituency	Ochil and South Perthshire
	tabling member printed	Luke Graham
	uin	270402
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2019 answer text <p>The amount of Universal Credit paid to claimants reflects, as closely as possible, the actual circumstances of a household during each monthly assessment period.</p><p> </p><p>Monthly assessment periods align to the way the majority of employees are paid and how utility companies and other service providers collect payments. It also allows Universal Credit to be adjusted each month, this means that if a claimant’s income falls, they will not have to wait several months for a rise in their Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>We have recently reviewed and updated guidance to help ensure claimants, staff and representatives are aware of the importance of employers reporting accurate dates and the impact on payment cycles.</p><p> </p><p>We know that some people find managing their money challenging and Alternative Payment Arrangements (APA) can be provided to help them manage that change. These include: managed payment of the Universal Credit housing cost to landlords; making payments more frequently; and splitting the payment between partners within the household.</p><p> </p><p>APAs can be requested by a claimant at any point during their claim and are considered on a case by case basis and assessed by Universal Credit staff. Staff work closely with claimants and are trained to gauge a claimant’s financial needs at their initial interview, and throughout their claim, based on their personal circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>We continuously review Universal Credit using feedback from claimants and stakeholders. We are currently trialling new ways of working around more frequent payments, monitoring the outcomes to further inform improvements to the service.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 05/07/2019 13:54:32 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4622 label Biography information for Luke Graham

1135322

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2019
	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 recent improvements her Department has made to the online system for universal credit applications.
	tabling member constituency	Angus
	tabling member printed	Kirstene Hair
	uin	270438
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2019 answer text <p>We are building an agile, adaptable system, fit for the 21st century, to help people to transform their lives through work - while supporting those who cannot work and are most in need.</p><p> </p><p>Using feedback from stakeholders and claimants we have had more than 100 releases to the system since it was introduced, all resulting in improvements to the claimant’s experience.</p><p>Most recently these include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>adding a playback screen to the child details gather reducing error in moving on with incomplete child details;</li><li>changing an appointment booking error message;</li><li>improving password creation for new registrations;</li><li>developing estimated award tool to assist claimants in understanding potential UC award and indicative New Claim Advance value;</li><li>improving questions regarding other people who live with claimant, providing clarity about lodgers, family members, and anyone else living with the claimant.</li></ul> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 05/07/2019 11:47:45 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4675 label Biography information for Kirstene Hair

1135324

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2019
	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: Angus
	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 Angus receive universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Angus
	tabling member printed	Kirstene Hair
	uin	270439
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>As of May 2019 at a Local Authority level there were 4,400 people on UC (at the constituency level it is 3,835)</p><p> </p><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></p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 17:26:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4675 label Biography information for Kirstene Hair

1135341

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2019
	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	Refugees: Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether refugees resettled under the resettlement scheme will be subject to the two-child limit for universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	270446
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2019 answer text <p>Refugees resettled under resettlement schemes are able to work and have access to some DWP benefits upon arrival.</p><p>In the same way as other claimants, they are included in the policy not to provide extra benefit entitlements for more than two children unless those children were born before 6 April 2017 or an exception applies.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 02/07/2019 14:50:47 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1135342

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2019
	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: Overpayments
	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 257458 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how many successful applications there were for a reduction in an overpayment repayment rate in each year from 2013 to 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	270288
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not available.</p><p> </p><p>Our systems do not hold data on the recovery rates that were applied to debts that have either been fully repaid, or have been written off. It is therefore not possible to give a complete figure for the total number of successful, or unsuccessful applications for a reduction in an overpayment recovery rate.</p><p> </p><p>The Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who have deductions from their benefit to repay overpayments. If a claimant is struggling they can contact the Department’s Debt Management Team to discuss lowering their repayment rate. Any adjustment to the rate of repayment will be based on the individual circumstances of the claimant.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 02/07/2019 14:31:57 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead