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1316894

	registered interest
	date	20/05/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Food Poverty
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on steps taken in response to the Trussell Trust's State of Hunger report, published on 12 May 2021.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
	uin	4722
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/05/2021 answer text <p>This Government has long-championed the principle that the best and most sustainable way to tackle poverty is by supporting people to move into and to progress in work wherever possible. Before the pandemic, this approach had seen record levels of employment, the strongest growth in household incomes for almost 20 years, and 1.3 million fewer people, including 300,000 children, in absolute poverty, after housing costs compared with 2010.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Throughout the pandemic, Government departments have worked together to deliver support to help people cope with its the financial effects including, for example, on the Covid Winter Support Package. Part of this package included the Covid Winter Grant and Covid Local Support Grant, together totalling £269m administered by local authorities to help the most vulnerable stay warm and well fed, with the principal focus on children.</p><p><em> </em></p><p>The Holiday Activities and Food Fund, which provides healthy meals, enriching activities and nutritional education, as well as signposting families to wider local support, has received £220m of funding for the major school holidays in 2021.</p><p><em> </em></p><p>As we recover from the pandemic, Departments will continue to work together to deliver a number of key cross-cutting outcomes linked to the 2020 Spending Review. These outcomes include addressing poverty through enabling progression into work and increasing financial resilience. DWP is leading this work in collaboration with other Departments including, in particular, HMT, DfE, MHCLG and Defra.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 27/05/2021 14:05:20 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 2690 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1353288

	registered interest
	date	07/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	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 potential merits of keeping the £20 uplift to universal credit in place to support households in receipt of that benefit.
	tabling member constituency	Ynys Môn
	tabling member printed	Virginia Crosbie
	uin	44488
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2021 answer text <p>No such assessment has been made. The Chancellor announced a temporary six-month extension to the £20 per week uplift at the Budget on 3 March to support households affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. Universal Credit has provided a vital safety net for six million people during the pandemic.</p><p> </p><p>There have been significant positive developments in the public health situation since the uplift was first introduced with the success of the vaccine rollout. Now the economy is reopening and as we continue to progress with our recovery our focus is on helping people back into work.</p><p> </p><p>Through our Plan for Jobs, we are targeting tailored support schemes of people of all ages to help them prepare for, get into and progress in work. These include: Kickstart, delivering tens of thousands of six-month work placements for UC claimants aged 16-24 at risk of unemployment; we have also recruited an additional 13,500 work coaches to provide more intensive support to find a job; and introduced Restart which provides 12 months’ intensive employment support to UC claimants who are unemployed for a year. Our Plan for Jobs interventions will support more than two million people.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/09/2021 14:03:56 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4859 label Biography information for Virginia Crosbie

1354215

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	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 retaining the £20 uplift to the standard allowance of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Ynys Môn
	tabling member printed	Virginia Crosbie
	uin	45952
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2021 answer text <p>We expect this would cost around £6bn per year. The cost of funding one year of the uplift is the equivalent of adding 1p on the basic rate of income tax in addition to a 3p increase in fuel duty.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 14/09/2021 17:10:22 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4859 label Biography information for Virginia Crosbie

1341433

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	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, what estimate she has made of the costs her Department has incurred as a result of the judicial review proceedings on its decision not to extend the £20 uplift to legacy benefit claimants.
	tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
	tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
	uin	23274
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/07/2021 answer text <p>We do not comment on specific legal matters including costs of litigation.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 06/07/2021 15:59:34 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

1328085

	registered interest
	date	26/05/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Food Banks
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information she holds on the number of households in (a) in Bristol West constituency and (b) the UK who used a (i) food bank, (ii) food club and (iii) similar organisation for the first time during the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol West
	tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
	uin	7850
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2021 answer text <p>Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and the Department for Work and Pensions does not have any role in their operation. There is no consistent and accurate measure of food bank usage at a constituency or national level.</p><p> </p><p>We take the issue of food insecurity seriously, which is why we added internationally used food security questions to the Family Resources Survey in 19/20 and published the data in March this year. (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2019-to-2020" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2019-to-2020</a>). Food insecurity data from the Family Resources survey for 20/21 is not yet available.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, including by increasing the living wage, and by spending an estimated £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2020/21. This included around £7.4 billion of Covid-related welfare policy measures.</p><p> </p><p>We introduced our Covid Winter Grant Scheme providing funding to Local Authorities in England to help the most vulnerable children and families stay warm and well fed during the coldest months. It will now run until June as the Covid Local Support Grant, with a total investment of £269m.</p><p> </p><p>We are investing up to £220m in the Holiday Activities and Food programme which has been expanded to every local authority across England this year. Children eligible for benefits-related Free School Meals will have the option to join a holiday club programme that provides healthy food and enriching activities during the summer, Christmas and Easter holidays in 2021. We also increased the value of Healthy Start Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25 in April.</p><p> </p><p>As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help people move into and progress in work as quickly as possible based on clear evidence around the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty in all its forms. We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 7852 question first answered 10/06/2021 16:36:38 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1328087

	registered interest
	date	26/05/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Food Banks
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to eradicate the need for foodbanks.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol West
	tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
	uin	7852
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2021 answer text <p>Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and the Department for Work and Pensions does not have any role in their operation. There is no consistent and accurate measure of food bank usage at a constituency or national level.</p><p> </p><p>We take the issue of food insecurity seriously, which is why we added internationally used food security questions to the Family Resources Survey in 19/20 and published the data in March this year. (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2019-to-2020" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2019-to-2020</a>). Food insecurity data from the Family Resources survey for 20/21 is not yet available.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, including by increasing the living wage, and by spending an estimated £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2020/21. This included around £7.4 billion of Covid-related welfare policy measures.</p><p> </p><p>We introduced our Covid Winter Grant Scheme providing funding to Local Authorities in England to help the most vulnerable children and families stay warm and well fed during the coldest months. It will now run until June as the Covid Local Support Grant, with a total investment of £269m.</p><p> </p><p>We are investing up to £220m in the Holiday Activities and Food programme which has been expanded to every local authority across England this year. Children eligible for benefits-related Free School Meals will have the option to join a holiday club programme that provides healthy food and enriching activities during the summer, Christmas and Easter holidays in 2021. We also increased the value of Healthy Start Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25 in April.</p><p> </p><p>As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help people move into and progress in work as quickly as possible based on clear evidence around the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty in all its forms. We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 7850 question first answered 10/06/2021 16:36:38 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1327593

	registered interest
	date	24/05/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	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 implications for her policies of the recently published End Child Poverty data (a) nationally and (b) for Portsmouth South constituency; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
	tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
	uin	6440
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/05/2021 answer text <p>No assessment has been made.</p><p> </p><p>In 2019/20, 17% of children were in absolute poverty, before housing costs, a 1 percentage point reduction since 2010. There were also 700,000 fewer people in absolute poverty before housing costs than in 2010, including 100,000 fewer children.</p><p> </p><p>The Department now publishes supplementary official statistics on the number of children in low income families at constituency level. Children in Low Income Families data is published annually. The latest figures on the number of children who are in low income in Portsmouth South, covering 2019/20, can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2014-to-2020/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-fye-2015-to-fye-2020" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2014-to-2020/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-fye-2015-to-fye-2020</a>.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, including by increasing the living wage, and by spending an estimated £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2020/21. This included around £7.4 billion of Covid-related welfare policy measures.</p><p> </p><p>We also introduced the Covid Winter Grant, now the Covid Local Support Grant, together totalling £269m, administered by local authorities in England to help the most vulnerable children and families stay warm and well fed. For Portsmouth City Council this means funding of £1,211,956.46.</p><p> </p><p>As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help parents move into and progress in work as quickly as possible based on clear evidence around the importance of parental employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty. We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 28/05/2021 13:50:57 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1346950

	registered interest
	date	14/07/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	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 claimants had a managed payment to landlord arrangement in place in England in (a) January 2020 and (b) June 2021.
	tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
	tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
	uin	33319
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2021 answer text <p>Monthly statistics on the number of Households on Universal Credit, including those that make use of a Managed Payment to Landlord Arrangement, are published, and a breakdown by country to February 2021 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> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/07/2021 15:39:59 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1351556

	registered interest
	date	18/08/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Domestic Abuse
	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 authorisation of regulations defining safe accommodation under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, what her planned timeframe is for delivering an exemption from the spare room subsidy to victims of domestic abuse with sanctuary scheme properties.
	tabling member constituency	Walthamstow
	tabling member printed	Stella Creasy
	uin	40902
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2021 answer text <p>The Domestic Abuse Support (Relevant Accommodation and Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Sanctuary Schemes) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 were laid on 9 September 2021 and the sanctuary scheme exemption from the removal of the spare room subsidy will come in to force on 1 October 2021.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/09/2021 07:16:35 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 18932 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4088 label Biography information for Stella Creasy

1327390

	registered interest
	date	24/05/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the level of child poverty in (a) England and (b) East Ham constituency.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	6167
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/05/2021 answer text <p>This Government is wholly committed to tackling poverty. Throughout the pandemic, our priority has been to support the most vulnerable including through spending an additional £7.4billion to strengthen the welfare system, taking our total expenditure on welfare support for people of working age to an estimated £112 billion in 2020/21. Additionally, in December 2020 we introduced our Covid Winter Grant Scheme, providing funding to Local Authorities in England to enable them to support people with food and essential utility bills during the coldest months. It will now run until June as the Covid Local Support Grant, with a total investment of £269m.</p><p> </p><p>National Statistics on the number and percentage of children in low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. Data for East Ham is unavailable due to insufficient sample size.</p><p> </p><p>Latest statistics for the levels of children who are in low income in England, covering 2019/20, can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020</a> ,“children-hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2019-20-tables” in table 4.16ts (relative low income, before and after housing costs) and in table 4.22ts (absolute low income, before and after housing costs).</p><p> </p><p>In the three years to 2019/20, the absolute child poverty rate, before housing costs, in England was 18%, down 3 percentage points since the three years to 2009/10.</p><p> </p><p>The Department now publishes supplementary official statistics on the number of children in low income families at constituency level. Children in Low Income Families data is published annually.</p><p> </p><p>In 2019/20 the absolute levels of child poverty, before housing costs, in East Ham was 22%. The latest figures on the number of children who are in low income in East Ham and in England, covering 2019/20, can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2014-to-2020/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-fye-2015-to-fye-2020" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2014-to-2020/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-fye-2015-to-fye-2020</a></p><p> </p><p>Due to methodological differences, the figures in these two publications are not comparable.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 27/05/2021 13:13:36 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms