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1139350

	registered interest
	date	16/07/2019
	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	European Social Fund
	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 employment support projects that are funded by the European Social Fund.
	tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
	tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
	uin	277848
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>European Social Fund (ESF) projects aim to increase labour market participation, promote social inclusion and develop the skills of the potential and existing workforce, including amongst the most vulnerable people in society.</p><p> </p><p>To date, 363 projects have set out to achieve this within the current England ESF programme (this figure excludes technical assistance projects), amounting to total investment worth £3.65 billion, around £2 billion of which is EU funded. This figure will increase as further projects are agreed and delivered over the lifetime of the programme.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 22/07/2019 14:34:47 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Lord Sharma
	tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1108738

	registered interest
	date	01/04/2019
	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 potential (a) cost to the public purse and (b) benefits of universal credit claimants receiving an up-front payment after making a valid claim for universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
	tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
	uin	239300
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Department is committed to ensuring that Universal Credit works for all claimants. We listen to the concerns and views of organisations and individuals and have delivered improvements to better support claimants, and will continue to do so.</p><p> </p><p>New claimants can apply for a Universal Credit new claim advance, worth up to 100 per cent of a claimant’s indicative award, and are available up front, if there is a need. Advances are paid back over a period of 12 months and in the Autumn Budget 2018, we announced that from October 2021, the payback period for these advances will be extended further, up to 16 months.</p><p>This is just one of a number of measures the Department has put in place to support claimants such as paying those claimants moving from Housing Benefit onto Universal Credit a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/04/2019 16:57:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Lord Sharma
	tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

990322

	registered interest
	date	18/10/2018
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to offer more hours to employees of her Department who are in receipt of universal credit; and how many employees of her Department in receipt of universal credit have secured such extra hours in order to comply with conditionality requirements.
	tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
	tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
	uin	181309
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>DWP employees claiming Universal Credit have no obligation to inform DWP they are on any benefit and DWP policy is clear that employees claiming benefits will not be treated more or less favourably than other staff.</p><p> </p><p>All requests for an increase in working hours are considered and agreed at a local level. Such requests will be handled in the same way regardless of the fact the employee is a Universal Credit claimant. Similarly, we keep no separate data as to whether requests for increase in hours are from employees on benefits or not. The fact that employees claim benefits has no bearing on the business decisions of DWP at organisational or individual level.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants who are in work with earnings above the Administrative Earnings Threshold are not currently expected to undertake any mandatory activity. Therefore there is currently no conditionality requirement.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/11/2018 12:08:32 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Lord Sharma previous answer version 80410 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Lord Sharma
	tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

904842

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2018
	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: Self-employed
	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 self-employed claimants on universal credit full service who have remained self-employed once the Minimum Income Floor is applied at the end of their first 12 months of trading.
	tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
	tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
	uin	144410
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2018 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 21/05/2018 13:50:50 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Lord Sharma
	tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

838569

	registered interest
	date	07/02/2018
	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: Telephone Services
	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 communications sent out by Jobcentre Plus that include reference to the premium rate universal credit helpline number since 18 October 2017.
	tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
	tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
	uin	127389
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2018 answer text <p>The Universal Credit telephone numbers previously used by the Department were not premium rate numbers and it is misleading to refer to them in this way. The 0345 numbers that were in use were charged at local rate and are included in the call packages of most mobile and landline phone deals.</p><p> </p><p>Any customer who raised a concern about the costs of calling the Department was offered a call back. We have no evidence that people did not call because they believed the service was a premium rate number.</p><p> </p><p>To ensure that customers dial the correct numbers, the Department has embarked on an exercise to update all its products. The Department’s electronic media, such as SMS text messages and Gov.uk website, were updated as the new freephone numbers were introduced. System generated notifications for Universal Credit Full Service were updated on 28 November. System notifications for Universal Credit Live Service were updated between 28 November and 31 January 2018.</p><p> </p><p>During the period that our products were being updated, any calls to a 0345 number were played a message that told them that that number had been replaced with a Freephone number, whilst giving them the new Freephone number to use.</p><p> </p><p>The current monthly cost to the Department for playing the recorded messages to provide the new freephone numbers is approximately £300.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 127438 127440 127442 question first answered 20/02/2018 11:45:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Lord Sharma
	tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

838618

	registered interest
	date	07/02/2018
	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: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who did not call the Universal Credit helpline as a result of believing that it was a premium rate number.
	tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
	tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
	uin	127438
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2018 answer text <p>The Universal Credit telephone numbers previously used by the Department were not premium rate numbers and it is misleading to refer to them in this way. The 0345 numbers that were in use were charged at local rate and are included in the call packages of most mobile and landline phone deals.</p><p> </p><p>Any customer who raised a concern about the costs of calling the Department was offered a call back. We have no evidence that people did not call because they believed the service was a premium rate number.</p><p> </p><p>To ensure that customers dial the correct numbers, the Department has embarked on an exercise to update all its products. The Department’s electronic media, such as SMS text messages and Gov.uk website, were updated as the new freephone numbers were introduced. System generated notifications for Universal Credit Full Service were updated on 28 November. System notifications for Universal Credit Live Service were updated between 28 November and 31 January 2018.</p><p> </p><p>During the period that our products were being updated, any calls to a 0345 number were played a message that told them that that number had been replaced with a Freephone number, whilst giving them the new Freephone number to use.</p><p> </p><p>The current monthly cost to the Department for playing the recorded messages to provide the new freephone numbers is approximately £300.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 127389 127440 127442 question first answered 20/02/2018 11:45:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Lord Sharma
	tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

838620

	registered interest
	date	07/02/2018
	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: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the premium rate helpline number for universal credit is not included in communications by JobCentre Plus.
	tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
	tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
	uin	127440
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2018 answer text <p>The Universal Credit telephone numbers previously used by the Department were not premium rate numbers and it is misleading to refer to them in this way. The 0345 numbers that were in use were charged at local rate and are included in the call packages of most mobile and landline phone deals.</p><p> </p><p>Any customer who raised a concern about the costs of calling the Department was offered a call back. We have no evidence that people did not call because they believed the service was a premium rate number.</p><p> </p><p>To ensure that customers dial the correct numbers, the Department has embarked on an exercise to update all its products. The Department’s electronic media, such as SMS text messages and Gov.uk website, were updated as the new freephone numbers were introduced. System generated notifications for Universal Credit Full Service were updated on 28 November. System notifications for Universal Credit Live Service were updated between 28 November and 31 January 2018.</p><p> </p><p>During the period that our products were being updated, any calls to a 0345 number were played a message that told them that that number had been replaced with a Freephone number, whilst giving them the new Freephone number to use.</p><p> </p><p>The current monthly cost to the Department for playing the recorded messages to provide the new freephone numbers is approximately £300.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 127389 127438 127442 question first answered 20/02/2018 11:45:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Lord Sharma
	tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

838622

	registered interest
	date	07/02/2018
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Telephone Services
	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 cost to her Department of the continued use of a premium rate number to play a recorded message to callers diverting them elsewhere.
	tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
	tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
	uin	127442
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2018 answer text <p>The Universal Credit telephone numbers previously used by the Department were not premium rate numbers and it is misleading to refer to them in this way. The 0345 numbers that were in use were charged at local rate and are included in the call packages of most mobile and landline phone deals.</p><p> </p><p>Any customer who raised a concern about the costs of calling the Department was offered a call back. We have no evidence that people did not call because they believed the service was a premium rate number.</p><p> </p><p>To ensure that customers dial the correct numbers, the Department has embarked on an exercise to update all its products. The Department’s electronic media, such as SMS text messages and Gov.uk website, were updated as the new freephone numbers were introduced. System generated notifications for Universal Credit Full Service were updated on 28 November. System notifications for Universal Credit Live Service were updated between 28 November and 31 January 2018.</p><p> </p><p>During the period that our products were being updated, any calls to a 0345 number were played a message that told them that that number had been replaced with a Freephone number, whilst giving them the new Freephone number to use.</p><p> </p><p>The current monthly cost to the Department for playing the recorded messages to provide the new freephone numbers is approximately £300.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 127389 127438 127440 question first answered 20/02/2018 11:45:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Lord Sharma
	tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

810718

	registered interest
	date	21/12/2017
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Leasehold
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Ministerial statement HCWS384 on 21 December 2017 on commonhold and leasehold reform, what plans he has to provide local authorities with the additional resources necessary to enable trading standards to provide leaseholders with comprehensive information on the various routes to redress.
	tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
	tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
	uin	121063
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/01/2018 answer text <p>We are in discussions with Trading Standards and the Leasehold Advisory Service on the process for providing leaseholders with comprehensive information on routes to redress and will provide more details shortly.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/01/2018 16:21:04 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Lord Sharma
	tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

784798

	registered interest
	date	06/11/2017
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Social Rented Housing: Evictions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of people (a) served with a section 21 notice by a council or registered housing provider, who are universal credit claimants; and what information his Department holds on the number of people who have been served with such a notice as a result of delays in payment of a universal credit claim.
	tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
	tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
	uin	111546
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/11/2017 answer text <p>The information requested is not held by the Department.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 13/11/2017 17:09:44 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Lord Sharma
	tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury