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1130235

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	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: Repayments
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for modifiying the repayment of Universal Credit advance payments in order to take into account individual circumstances such as debts related to (1) utilities, (2) Council Tax, and (3) previous loans.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
	uin	HL16096
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. Universal Credit already has procedures and regulations in place to protect claimants from excessive deductions. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance, and from October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent.</p><p> </p><p>The average advance amount for new claims is around £400, which can be repaid over a period of 12 months, at a rate of £33.33 per month. Therefore, in the majority of cases, advance payment recovery is small in comparison to the whole Universal Credit award, with a current average award of £658 per month.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that exceptional circumstances may occur to claimants that were not foreseen when the advance was taken out. Help is available for those struggling to meet the recovery rate once recovery begins and if the claimant is facing unexpected financial hardship they can ask the Department for a deferral of the repayment of any advance they have taken out. The deferral periods are up to 3 months for a new claim, benefit transfer or change of circumstances advance and up to 6 months for a Budgeting advance.</p><p> </p><p>Where a claimant has a reduction in benefit due to a Fraud Penalty or Conditionally Sanction that equals or exceeds 40% of their Universal Credit standard allowance then no advance repayment will be taken. If there is insufficient Universal Credit in payment due to reductions such as earnings, other income and capital yield to take the full amount of advances repayment, a lesser amount will be taken.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 19/06/2019 11:35:17 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1130234

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	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	Poverty
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government when they last discussed (1) low and insecure incomes, (2) issues emerging from the rollout of Universal Credit, and (3) increased demand for food banks, with representatives of the relevant voluntary agencies; and what was the outcome of those discussions.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
	uin	HL16095
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2019 answer text <p>Ministers and officials have regular meetings with key stakeholders to discuss a diverse range of issues that fall within the Department’s remit and impact on the lives of claimants. Many of these contacts occur at a local level between Jobcentres and external stakeholders which serve or represent their local communities, and such contacts are not recorded centrally, and to provide this information would incur disproportionate cost to the Department.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit is designed to react and respond quickly to feedback from our stakeholders and claimants to improve the service we offer; ensuring welfare payments reach those who need them most, and effectively supporting those with insecure or fluctuating incomes. At a national level we meet regularly with stakeholders, partners and third party organisations to discuss Universal Credit and invite views and collaboration, for example, on the design of the processes for moving people onto Universal Credit. This includes identifying and tackling barriers and concerns.</p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, the Government is committed to building an economy that works for everyone. Through the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW) the Government protects the lowest paid within our society.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 19/06/2019 11:32:43 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1131844

	registered interest
	date	12/06/2019
	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, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June to Question 258971, what information her Department holds on the proportion of universal credit claimants who have successfully applied for a reduction in their deduction in the most recent period for which figures are available.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	263679
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>As at 13th June 2019 the proportion of Universal Credit claimants with a benefit overpayment, who have successfully applied for a reduction in the rate at which they are repaying that overpayment, was 9.2%.</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><p> </p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was never intended for public release. It is not comparable to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 16:22:13 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 123356 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1131675

	registered interest
	date	12/06/2019
	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 introduce a box on the universal credit application form through which claimants may give permissions for their data to be used to register their children for free school meals and other income-related educational benefits.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	263718
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department for Education (DfE) provides an Electronic Eligibility Checking Service (ECS) to all local authorities in England, which is used to confirm eligibility for free school meals.</p><p> </p><p>To support this, there are already data sharing agreements in place between DfE and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and other government departments who administer benefits which qualify families for free school meals. This enables local authorities and schools to quickly verify eligibility for free school meals, including where parent(s) have been awarded Universal Credit and have earnings below the prescribed threshold for free school meal eligibility.</p><p> </p><p>DWP therefore has no plans to ask claimants to give permission for their Universal Credit data to be used to provide an automatic entitlement to other benefits.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 16:13:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 123357 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1130974

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	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	Retirement: Health
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help reduce the number of people over the age of 60 that have had to retire as a result of ill-health.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	262373
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department set out its strategy to see one million more disabled people in work by 2027 in the 2017 Command Paper “Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability”. A key element of this is action to help keep people (including older workers) with health conditions in work. We are already investing in testing new interventions to support people, including our Health-Led Trials, and the Government is working to ensure employers and key stakeholders across all sectors adopt and implement the core and enhanced mental health standards set out in <em>Thriving at Work: The Stevenson / Farmer review of mental health</em>.</p><p>To support older people falling out of labour market due to health conditions, the Government has extended the right to request flexible working for all employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service with their employer. Access to flexible working practices, such as flexi-time, compressed hours and remote working, is key to helping older workers stay in the labour market.</p><p> </p><p>We are also exploring further ways to reduce the number of people who leave work each year for health reasons and will consult on measures to encourage and support all employers to play their part. This consultation will also propose ways to improve access to occupational health.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Background</strong></p><p> </p><p>In February 2017 Government published an employer-led Strategy <em>Fuller Working Lives: a partnership approach</em>, which sets out the importance of Fuller Working Lives for employers and individuals. It also sets out action Government is taking to support older workers to remain in the labour market.</p><p> </p><p><em>Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability</em> published in November 2017 set out an ambitious and comprehensive programme of action to support disabled people and people with long term physical and mental health conditions to get into and stay in work and progress in rewarding careers. This action spans the workplace, health and welfare settings.</p><p> </p><p>Since the launch of the publication, progress has been made in a number of areas including:</p><ul><li>Health Led Trials, the worlds largest trial of Individual Placement and Support, testing whether the internationally proven model to support people with severe mental health conditions to find sustained work can be as effective to those with different conditions.</li><li>More than doubled the number of Employment Advisors in IAPT services, ensuring that more people with mental health problems receive employment support to them get into or remain in work.</li><li>Undertaken a substantial package of activity within the health system itself, both to support healthcare professionals to have effective, appropriate, work conversations with their patients, and are exploring ways to reform the fit note.</li></ul> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 18/06/2019 16:10:19 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1131071

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	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	Work Capability Assessment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to collect and publish data on the numbers of people who die after (a) failing or (b) being found fit for work at an assessment for benefits relating to sickness or disability.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	262252
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department has no plans to collate and publish this information.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 18/06/2019 15:57:33 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1129515

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2019
	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	Occupational Money Purchase Schemes
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to legislate to introduce collective defined contribution schemes by the end of 2019.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hain
	uin	HL16000
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>This Government has recently published a response to a Collective Defined Contribution schemes consultation setting out its plans, and has engaged extensively with key stakeholders.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 18/06/2019 15:52:00 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	567 label Biography information for Lord Hain

1131065

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	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	Disability: Children
	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 recent Scope report Now is the Time 2018, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits of a cross-departmental approach to support the families of disabled children.
	tabling member constituency	Mid Dorset and North Poole
	tabling member printed	Michael Tomlinson
	uin	262453
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government’s vision for disabled children and young people is the same as for everyone else – to enable them to fulfil their potential, achieve well in education, and to live happy and fulfilled lives. To support this aim, the Disability and Society Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) was set up last year to drive forward action across Government to tackle the barriers disabled people face to realising their full participation in society. Whilst disability policy is the responsibility of all Departments, by working together we can improve disabled people’s participation, for which we are jointly responsible.</p><p>We are also committed to working with a wide and diverse range of people and organisations to shape and improve government's approach. We announced our new Regional Stakeholder Network in December 2018, which will bring the views of disabled people, local disability organisations, disabled people led organisations, and organisations that represent disabled people closer to government.</p><p>The UK Government has some of the strongest equalities legislation in the world and we will continue to ensure that these rights are protected, just as we will continue to develop policies to tackle the barriers faced by disabled people.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 18/06/2019 15:51:26 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4497 label Biography information for Michael Tomlinson

1129551

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2019
	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	Arcadia Group: Pensions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Ministers or officials have (1) written to, (2) had any meetings with, or (3) communicated in other forms with, Sir Philip Green, Lady Christina Green or the Pensions Regulator in connection with the Arcadia Group Pension Scheme.
	tabling member printed	Lord Myners
	uin	HL16036
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>Neither Ministers nor officials have written to, had meetings with, or communicated in other forms with Sir Philip Green or Lady Christina Green.</p><p> </p><p>Ministers and officials have quarterly meetings with the Pensions Regulator, but not specifically concerning Sir Philip Green or the Arcadia Group. This is because the Pensions Regulator is an independent body, and as such the Government cannot intervene or influence its actions. The Regulator also keeps DWP officials informed about its work in monitoring pension schemes.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 18/06/2019 15:51:18 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	3869 label Biography information for Lord Myners

1131067

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	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	Disability: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the role of the Minister for Disabled People is in co-ordinating children and families policy across Government.
	tabling member constituency	Mid Dorset and North Poole
	tabling member printed	Michael Tomlinson
	uin	262454
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The Minister for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance leads on policy for children and families within DWP – including the delivery of the Reducing Parental Conflict programme, the Child Maintenance Service, Maternity benefits and the Family Test which was developed to ensure that potential impacts on family relationships and functioning are considered in advice put to Ministers. To strengthen implementation of the Family Test, we are currently working across government with a newly created Family Test Network.</p><p> </p><p>To fulfil this role DWP works with a range of other departments to ensure the policy we deliver for children and families is effective, but it does not coordinate children and families’ policy across government.</p><p> </p><p>Part of the role of the Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work is to work across government to encourage development of policies to tackle the barriers disabled people face to realising their full participation in society. Whilst disability policy is the responsibility of all departments, by working together we can improve disabled people’s participation, for which we are jointly responsible.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 18/06/2019 15:50:44 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4497 label Biography information for Michael Tomlinson