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 printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label attachment file name title
tabling member	label

Search

1138285

	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government to what extent bona fide applicants for Universal Credit suffer penalties, if fraudulent applications are made in respect of them.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
	uin	HL17082
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2019 answer text <p>The Department takes the prevention of fraud extremely seriously. Part of its strategy includes ensuring Universal Credit transactions are secure, including tackling loopholes fraudsters may seek to exploit, which sadly can target some of our most vulnerable claimants.</p><p> </p><p>It is, however, important to recognise that the vast majority of advances on Universal Credit are legitimate and ensure those in need of financial support get the help they need during their transition to Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>All claims where fraud may have been committed are investigated. We are committed to the use of penalties such as prosecutions and tough financial penalties, where appropriate, to discourage this fraudulent behaviour. The Department considers all cases on their own merits and decisions are made on the strength of the evidence provided.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, we have a dedicated team of investigators to address this issue, and are working with Social Media sites to shut down posts which promote this fraud. The Department also operates a policy of explicit consent to help reduce the risk of fraud by ensuring that our claimants’ data is kept safe from unscrupulous organisations and individuals.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is also raising awareness of this issue through a campaign being run on social media to remind people of the importance of safeguarding their identity. We have also been working to further improve knowledge and awareness of advances fraud amongst Jobcentre and Service Centre staff and guidance has been issued to ensure that staff are aware how to refer cases of suspected fraud to the Department’s Counter-fraud team.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott grouped question UIN HL17081 question first answered 05/09/2019 11:37:06 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1138284

	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent fraudulent applications for Universal Credit, in particular for loans, other than issuing warnings about keeping personal details secret.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
	uin	HL17081
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2019 answer text <p>The Department takes the prevention of fraud extremely seriously. Part of its strategy includes ensuring Universal Credit transactions are secure, including tackling loopholes fraudsters may seek to exploit, which sadly can target some of our most vulnerable claimants.</p><p> </p><p>It is, however, important to recognise that the vast majority of advances on Universal Credit are legitimate and ensure those in need of financial support get the help they need during their transition to Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>All claims where fraud may have been committed are investigated. We are committed to the use of penalties such as prosecutions and tough financial penalties, where appropriate, to discourage this fraudulent behaviour. The Department considers all cases on their own merits and decisions are made on the strength of the evidence provided.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, we have a dedicated team of investigators to address this issue, and are working with Social Media sites to shut down posts which promote this fraud. The Department also operates a policy of explicit consent to help reduce the risk of fraud by ensuring that our claimants’ data is kept safe from unscrupulous organisations and individuals.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is also raising awareness of this issue through a campaign being run on social media to remind people of the importance of safeguarding their identity. We have also been working to further improve knowledge and awareness of advances fraud amongst Jobcentre and Service Centre staff and guidance has been issued to ensure that staff are aware how to refer cases of suspected fraud to the Department’s Counter-fraud team.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott grouped question UIN HL17082 question first answered 05/09/2019 11:37:06 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1140016

	registered interest
	date	17/07/2019
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that Universal Credit payments begin within a week of a person registering for that benefit.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
	uin	HL17251
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/09/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit payments are available on the first day of a claim in the form of an advance payment of benefit. Advances of up to 100 per cent of a claimant’s expected Universal Credit award are available from day one of their claim, if required. Advances are paid back over a maximum 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, to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p>This is just one of a number of measures the Department has put in place to support claimants during their first assessment period, such as removing waiting days and 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 printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 02/09/2019 15:49:10 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1140485

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	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: Medical Examinations
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what controls and penalties are in place to ensure that providers of medical assessors for social security benefits maintain high standards of accuracy and integrity; and on how many occasions any such controls or penalties have been used since June 2018.
	tabling member printed	The Countess of Mar
	uin	HL17318
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/08/2019 answer text <p>The department is committed to ensuring claimants receive high quality assessments. We set our assessment providers challenging targets and monitor performance closely against a range of measures including through independent audit to improve accuracy and decision making. Contractual remedies are in place if assessment providers fail to deliver against the service standards.</p><p>Contractual remedies for underperformance against a range of service levels are recovered through service credit mechanisms and through deductions of payments (a ‘No Pay’ mechanism). The extent of underperformance and application of related mechanisms varies significantly and the regularity of such remedies should not be seen as a measure of overall performance.</p><p>In relation to the HDAS contract covering Work Capability Assessments, service credits (the contractual remedy for SC1 – Quality) have been applied in 12 out of the 14 months from June 2018 to July 2019 (the date of the most recent statistical information available).</p><p>In relation to the Personal Independence Payment contracts, “No Pay” (the contractual remedy for SC1 – Quality) has been applied in one or more Lots in each month from June 18 to June 19 (the date of the most recent statistical information available).</p><p>Below is the breakdown of the totals by Lot:</p><p>Lot 1 – No pay was applied to SC1 in 8 of those months</p><p>Lot 2 – No pay was applied to SC1 in 5 of those months</p><p>Lot 3 – No pay was applied to SC1 in 11 of those months.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 12/08/2019 15:58:29 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	1861 label Biography information for The Countess of Mar

1140484

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	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	Housing Benefit: Private Rented Housing
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how much has been paid in housing benefit to those in private rented accommodation in each year since 2004.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McDonagh
	uin	HL17317
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/08/2019 answer text <p>The information you have requested can be found in the following table:</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="5"><p><strong>Housing Benefit Expenditure </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="5"><p>Private Rented Sector tenants (£ million, nominal terms)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2004/05</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2005/06</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2006/07</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2007/08</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2008/09</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3,354</p></td><td><p>3,716</p></td><td><p>4,276</p></td><td><p>4,698</p></td><td><p>5,624</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2009/10</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2010/11</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2011/12</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012/13</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013/14</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>7,572</p></td><td><p>8,672</p></td><td><p>9,216</p></td><td><p>9,272</p></td><td><p>9,275</p></td></tr><tr><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></tr><tr><td><p>9,098</p></td><td><p>8,783</p></td><td><p>8,291</p></td><td><p>7,709</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 05/08/2019 15:06:57 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	3701 label Biography information for Baroness McDonagh

924166

	registered interest
	date	14/06/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Hogan Lovells: South Africa
	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 comments by the Deputy Director General of the South African Treasury in relation to Hogan Lovells LLP; and what plans, if any, they have to let government contracts to Hogan Lovells LLP in future.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hain
	uin	HL8645
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2018 answer text <p>The Government is aware of this situation and is monitoring it. Any bidder, including Hogan Lovells, which bids for a Government contract covered by the Public Contracts Regulations, would be subject to the rules on exclusions.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 28/06/2018 17:03:04 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	567 label Biography information for Lord Hain

891859

	registered interest
	date	25/04/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Capita: Procurement
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what IT or data services are provided to central government departments by Capita.
	tabling member printed	Lord Scriven
	uin	HL7298
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2018 answer text <p>Capita provides a wide range of IT and data services to central government departments. These include hosting, IT services, support and maintenance.</p><p>Details of contracts with a value over £10,000 are published on the Contracts Finder website.<a href="https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search" target="_blank"> https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search</a></p><p /><p /> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 10/05/2018 16:26:06 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	4333 label Biography information for Lord Scriven

892444

	registered interest
	date	26/04/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Intelligence Services: Recruitment
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 13 April (HL6781), how many of the “over 1,900 additional security and intelligence staff” stated in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 have been successfully recruited and trained and remain in the relevant organisations.
	tabling member printed	Viscount Waverley
	uin	HL7351
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2018 answer text <p>For reasons of national security, It has been the policy of successive Government not to go into detail regarding the ongoing recruitment, training and retention profile of security and intelligence staff. However, progress against each of the commitments made in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 is closely monitored, and reported annually to Parliament. The Second Annual Report, included in the National Security and Capability Review, was published in March 2018 attached. The Second Annual Report set out that we remain on track to meet this commitment.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 10/05/2018 16:05:47 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott attachment 1 file name National Security Capability Review .pdf title National Security Capability Review
	tabling member	1744 label Biography information for Viscount Waverley

892445

	registered interest
	date	26/04/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	National Security
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 11 and 13 April (HL6782 and HL6848), how the Fusion Doctrine from the 2018 National Security Capability Review is now being used to “improve our collective approach to national security”; and how many new reservists or other resources to deal with hybrid threats, based on the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, have been recruited and trained.
	tabling member printed	Viscount Waverley
	uin	HL7352
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2018 answer text <p>The Fusion Doctrine acts as a framework for our National Security Strategy so that we can identify the most effective and efficient combination of methods to achieve the Government’s objectives. The doctrine will ensure that in defending our national security we make better use of all of our capabilities: from economic levers; through cutting-edge military resources; to our wider diplomatic and cultural influence on the world’s stage.</p><p>Our response to the Salisbury attack is an example of the Fusion Doctrine in practice. We are deploying the full range of our National Security capabilities to counter the threats of hostile activity wherever it may come from.</p><p>The 2018 National Security Capability Review (NSCR) makes clear the Government’s commitment to addressing a complex and evolving threat picture to safeguard national security. The UK Volunteer Reserve Forces trained strength continues to grow, totalling 32,240 (as of January 2018). Both reservists and regulars contribute manpower and specialisms to two innovative Brigades which were established in direct response to hybrid threats as identified in the SDSR 2015, these units provide specialist capabilities in strategic communications, cyber and intelligence.</p><p>The two Brigades are:</p><p>· 77 Brigade which is comprised of approximately 200 Regular and 270 Reserve Service Personnel;</p><p><strong>· </strong>1 Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Brigade comprised of approximately 2,800 Regulars and around 2,100 Reservists.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 10/05/2018 16:03:30 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	1744 label Biography information for Viscount Waverley

892447

	registered interest
	date	26/04/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Cybersecurity
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 13 April (HL6849), whether they consider they have sufficient financial resources to pre-empt and address a hybrid threat, with the knowledge that government departments are already prioritising their budgets to mitigate risks and in the light of the end of the £1.9 billion commitment to improve cyber resilience in the current funding round.
	tabling member printed	Viscount Waverley
	uin	HL7354
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2018 answer text <p>The National Cyber Security Strategy clearly outlines how the Government is developing defences against the cyber threat we face. We are investing £1.9 billion through the National Cyber Security Programme and have opened a new National Cyber Security Centre that is activity working with international partners, industry and civil society to tackle this threat. The activities of the NCSP are aligned with robust physical and personnel security measures to guard against hybrid attacks.</p><p>We are working across government to ensure that effective defence against cyber and hybrid attacks remains a key priority for all departments up to and beyond March 2021.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 10/05/2018 16:00:00 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	1744 label Biography information for Viscount Waverley