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1056655

	registered interest
	date	07/02/2019
	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: Fife
	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 effect of the roll-out of universal credit in Fife on provision of services for lone parents and disadvantaged families by (a) local authorities and (b) third sector organisations.
	tabling member constituency	Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
	tabling member printed	Lesley Laird
	uin	218361
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/02/2019 answer text <p>We have not made an assessment of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit in Fife on provision of services for lone parents and disadvantage families by Local Authorities and third party sector organisations.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to helping parents into work. Childcare is essential in enabling parents to work, although we recognise that this can cause additional financial difficulty.</p><p>Universal Credit claimants are able to claim up to 85 per cent of their childcare costs, compared to 70% on the legacy system. People with an offer of paid work can also get childcare costs paid a month in advance.</p><p> </p><p>On 11 January 2019, Secretary of State Rt. Hon Amber Rudd MP announced measures that will provide increased support for Universal Credit (UC) claimants. This included piloting a more flexible approach to claimants reporting childcare costs, which will allow people to be reimbursed for childcare even when they aren’t able to provide immediate evidence.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 13/02/2019 14:07:55 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson previous answer version 101521 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4660 label Biography information for Lesley Laird

816933

	registered interest
	date	05/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his policy is on closing universal credit claims when income in any monthly assessment period results in a zero payment; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	121360
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2018 answer text <p>When a claimant’s Universal Credit award ceases (because their income has reduced their Universal Credit entitlement to nil), they can reclaim Universal Credit if their circumstances have changed within 6 months of their claim ending, and they now wish to receive financial support.</p><p> </p><p>The reclaiming process is designed to be very quick, light touch and claimants only need to update us with their change in circumstances.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 11/01/2018 17:46:24 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 33445 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

818766

	registered interest
	date	08/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Social Security Benefits
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications were made for a short term benefit advance in the most recent 12 months for which data is available; and how many of those applications were (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	121530
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2018 answer text <p>The most recently available data on Short Term Benefit Advances (STBA) is shown in the table below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p><strong>January 2016 - December 2016</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>STBA Applications Received by the Department</p></td><td><p>197,514</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>STBA Awarded to individual national insurance numbers</p></td><td><p>98,633</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>The data covers the period January 16 to December 16. Data after this date is not currently available.</p><p> </p><p>Data is also not available for unsuccessful applications and the difference between ‘received’ and ‘awarded’ applications in the table above does not equate to unsuccessful applications. This is because there are a large proportion of applications in which the primary benefit is paid, which negates the need for a STBA.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><p>Only Working Age Benefits (i.e. Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support) are included in the above information for STBA applications as the number of applications received for State Pension Credit and Carer’s Allowance is not available.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Source:</strong></p><p><strong>STBA Applications Received </strong>- Management Information System Programme (MISP). This collation is based on clerical counts submitted by the each Centre and is Internal MI which has been agreed for use in publications of Parliamentary questions and Freedom of Information requests.</p><p> </p><p><strong>STBA Awarded</strong> - Benefit Expenditure Business Information system</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/01/2018 12:52:41 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 33706 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

818779

	registered interest
	date	08/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Self-employed
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason a self-employed claimant who earns less than the minimum income floor in some months but over the course of a year earns more than twelve times the minimum income floor will receive less Universal Credit than an employed person with the same annual earnings.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	121543
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2018 answer text <p>We are aware that for many self-employed, particularly those with seasonal businesses, their earnings often fluctuate from month to month, and they need to budget and plan for this. Self-employed Universal Credit claimants are no different in this regard.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit supports people in self-employment, where self-employment is the best route for them to become financially self-sufficient. As part of that, for those claimants expected to seek work, who are gainfully self-employed and not within a year of starting their self-employment, we apply a Minimum Income Floor (MIF). This is an assumed level of monthly earnings, based on what they could expect to earn each month at the National Minimum Wage.</p><p> </p><p>The MIF is designed to encourage those reporting very low self-employed income to increase their monthly earnings. This means that, where a self-employed claimant’s monthly earnings are below their MIF level, the MIF level is taken into account in assessing the claimant’s monthly Universal Credit payment. For this reason, they can receive a lower amount of Universal Credit than an employed claimant earning a comparable monthly sum, but not subject to the MIF.</p><p> </p><p>Some self-employed claimants will respond to this by increasing their monthly earnings from self-employment, some will choose to work as an employee, and others will combine the two. All are potentially good outcomes for them, their families and the taxpayer.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/01/2018 12:59:20 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 33707 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

820711

	registered interest
	date	11/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Poverty
	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 reinstate the universal credit child poverty forecast; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Preston
	tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
	uin	122129
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2018 answer text <p>Tackling child poverty and disadvantage is a priority for the Government. Work is the best route out of poverty, and Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives for parents to move into and progress in work. However, the impact of Universal Credit cannot be considered in isolation– it is a key component of a broader strategy to move Britain to a higher wage, lower welfare, and lower tax society.</p><p> </p><p>This strategy includes the increase to the personal tax allowance, the introduction of the National Living Wage and the doubling of free childcare from 15 to 30 hours for working parents. Taken together, these reforms are designed to support people into employment and then enable them to progress in work and generate more income for themselves.</p><p> </p><p>We expect claimants to respond positively to the improved incentives Universal Credit introduces and increase their income. The previous forecast is static and, as it does not capture these dynamic effects, it is of limited value in evaluating the impact of Universal Credit on poverty. The Government therefore has no plans to reinstate it.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/01/2018 13:02:06 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 34662 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

891535

	registered interest
	date	25/04/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Young People
	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 receipt of premiums claimed for universal credit after the age of 20; and how many of those people requested a mandatory reconsideration of the work capability assessment.
	tabling member constituency	Midlothian
	tabling member printed	Danielle Rowley
	uin	138098
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2018 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">The data requested is going through quality assurance clearance procedures in line with National Statistic and Official Statistics publication standards. We will announce the release date, as per the protocol of release of statistics, when they are ready.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</ins></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 30/04/2018 15:05:28 question first ministerially corrected 17/05/2018 16:22:02 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 54947 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4628 label Biography information for Danielle Rowley

896529

	registered interest
	date	02/05/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Disqualification
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there are any targets relating to the number of sanctions made against claimants of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Midlothian
	tabling member printed	Danielle Rowley
	uin	140851
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2018 answer text <p>There are no Departmental targets relating to the number of sanctions made against claimants of Universal Credit.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 10/05/2018 15:48:54 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 56788 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4628 label Biography information for Danielle Rowley

924139

	registered interest
	date	14/06/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to ensure that claimants previously in receipt of severe disability premium of employment and support allowance are not financially worse off after moving to universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	153760
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2018 answer text <p>We are committed to supporting disabled people and continue to review the Universal Credit claimant experience and processes.</p><p> </p><p>Earlier this month we announced that claimants in receipt of the Severe Disability Premium will qualify for transitional protection when they move to Universal Credit. We will backdate these payments for those who have already moved to Universal Credit, to cover the period between their move to Universal Credit and the introduction of the new payment.</p><p> </p><p>Further detail can be accessed in the Secretary of State’s Written Statement HCWS745, made on 7 June:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-06-07/HCWS745" target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-06-07/HCWS745</a></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/06/2018 15:31:04 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 64481 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

934280

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	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 advance payments that have been applied for as a result of the roll-out of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Blackburn
	tabling member printed	Kate Hollern
	uin	160237
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2018 answer text <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.</p><p>Advances are available to all Universal Credit claimants who need them as part of a package of support to manage their transition to Universal Credit. Also, as promised last November, following the Autumn Budget, we have now introduced new functionality for advances to be claimed through a claimant’s online Universal Credit account.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 09/07/2018 15:42:39 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 68154 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4363 label Biography information for Kate Hollern

937623

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Children: Day Care
	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 2018 to Question 155896 on Children: Day Care, for what reason she will not make that analysis available.
	tabling member constituency	Batley and Spen
	tabling member printed	Tracy Brabin
	uin	162117
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2018 answer text <p>Entitlement to Universal Credit is determined by first assessing what a claimant qualifies for, for example, housing costs and caring responsibilities. This can include childcare of up to 85% of eligible costs, up to a limit of £1,108.04 for two or more children.</p><p>The conclusion that very few people are affected by the limits described comes from analysis using the DWP Policy Simulation Model, based on the Family Resources Survey. [The PSM is a static microsimulation model which describes the tax and benefit system of the GB population]. It produces financial outputs on a representative sample of the GB population simulating a policy. The analysis in question is based on forecasts which we produce for planning purposes and forecasting during fiscal events. It models the legacy and Universal Credit system, and in particular the childcare policy described above. Upon interrogation of the models, we found that while a handful of cases were affected by the limits above, the number of these were too few to report statistically.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 13/07/2018 13:25:55 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 69379 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4588 label Biography information for Tracy Brabin