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1123703

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2019
	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	Food Poverty: 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 Food Foundation's Children’s Future Food Inquiry report published on 24 April 2019, what steps the Government is taking to support children who live in food insecure households.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	248684
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2019 answer text <p>This Government is committed to helping families into work, as the best route out of poverty. We are also supporting over 1 million children with free school meals, investing up to £26 million in school breakfast clubs, providing approximately 2.3 million children aged 4-6 with a portion of fresh fruit or vegetables each day at school, and, through the Healthy Start Programme, hundreds of thousands of low income families benefit from vouchers which can be redeemed against fruit, vegetables, milk and infant formula. In 2019/20, the government will be spending more than £95 billion a year on working-age benefits. The new set of food insecurity questions introduced into the existing Family Resources Survey from April will build a better understanding of household food needs, to help ensure we’re targeting support to those most in need.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 02/05/2019 10:21:47 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1110554

	registered interest
	date	09/04/2019
	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: Mortgages
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department has issued to mortgage lenders to help them to assess a claimant's payments under in universal credit in order to enable lenders to make a informed assessment on an applicant's disposable income.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	242894
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/04/2019 answer text <p>The Department does not provide mortgage lenders with guidance or information regarding a UC claimant’s entitlement or award. It is a claimant’s responsibility to disclose information required by potential lenders, to enable them to accurately assess their disposable income.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 16/04/2019 14:15:11 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

1131195

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2019
	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, what steps she is taking to bring forward proposals to simplify the process by which social housing landlords advise her Department of a rent increase in order for a tenant in receipt of universal credit to receive an uplift in housing benefit.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	263186
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit payments are designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly payments reflecting the way many working people are paid. This model of monthly payments allows claimants to take responsibility for budgeting their own income and helps prepare them for getting back to work.</p><p> </p><p>Many claimants are capable of managing their own financial affairs and for these claimants a Managed Payment to Landlord is not appropriate. However, we recognise that additional support is sometimes necessarily to ensure rent is paid on time.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Our Trusted Partner scheme allows social landlords to play a key role in engaging with their tenants who are on Universal Credit, helping those who cannot manage their housing payments to access the support available and to help put managed payments in place where appropriate. We are rolling out the scheme alongside the Landlord Portal, which provides social landlords with the ability to submit information directly to the Universal Credit online system, supporting the timely and accurate payment of housing costs to Universal Credit claimants.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is developing a facility whereby social landlords whose tenants are on the landlord portal are able to advise Universal Credit about an annual rent change through the platform. This will help reduce administration for landlords and ensure the correct housing costs are paid.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 17/06/2019 15:07:19 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

1132858

	registered interest
	date	18/06/2019
	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 17 June 2019 to Question 263186 on Universal Credit, what the timeframe is for the (a) Landlord portal going live and (b) platform within the Landlord portal to enable social landlords to notify his Department of annual rent increases.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	266176
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department maintains guidance on GOV.UK, relevant for private and social sector landlords, with information about Universal Credit including the landlord portal which has existed since 2017. This can be accessed at: <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-rented-housing--2/universal-credit-and-rented-housing-guide-for-landlords" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-rented-housing--2/universal-credit-and-rented-housing-guide-for-landlords</a></p><p> </p><p>The Department will deliver improvements which include: (a) an online form for all landlords to request a managed payment for rent from Universal Credit, and (b) an upload facility for social landlords to notify annual rent changes via the existing landlord portal. Both systems are expected to be fully operational by the end of 2019 following completion of rigorous testing.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 24/06/2019 13:28:17 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

1133288

	registered interest
	date	19/06/2019
	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	Local Housing Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to restore local housing allowance rates to cover the cheapest third of local rents.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	266787
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2019 answer text <p>The benefit freeze is coming to an end in March 2020. Specific decisions on how to uprate benefits from April 2020 (including the Local Housing Allowance) will form part of the discussions in support of fiscal events later this year.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 28/06/2019 12:16:24 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1133920

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2019
	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	Early Years Ministerial Group On Family Support
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the recommendations of the Inter Ministerial Group on early years family support have been agreed by her Department; and what further steps she has taken to improve early years family support.
	tabling member constituency	South Northamptonshire
	tabling member printed	Andrea Leadsom
	uin	267744
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The Early Years Family Support Ministerial Group is considering how the Government can improve the coordination and cost-effectiveness of early years (conception to age 2) family support and identify gaps in available provision. The group has now made recommendations to Secretaries of State.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 26/06/2019 10:14:35 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom

1108887

	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	Employment: Veterans
	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 support armed forces veterans into employment.
	tabling member constituency	Romford
	tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
	uin	239329
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/04/2019 answer text <p>The Armed Forces Covenant has been in place since May 2011 and sets out the relationship between the nation, the Government and the Armed Forces. The covenant is a written and publicised voluntary pledge from businesses and other organisations who wish to demonstrate their support for the armed forces community.</p><p> </p><p>The covenant can be signed by a business or other organisation of any size, and from any industry whether they are an employer of a member of the armed forces community or simply wish to acknowledge publically their support for the armed forces.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) National Employer and Partnership Team (NEPT) actively promote the Armed Forces Covenant to those employers and partner organisations they work with. This has been adopted into routine business to ensure that those new to DWP’s employer portfolio are aware of the opportunity and benefits of support to the Armed Forces community.</p><p> </p><p>Every Jobcentre Plus District has an Armed Forced Champion (AFC) who is key to delivering our commitments under the covenant. The AFC will ensure that any concerns and issues raised which affect Service Personnel and their families are integrated within the wider work of Jobcentre Plus. AFCs ensure Work Coaches and other DWP staff can effectively support serving personnel, service leavers, veterans and their families.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to the local activity in Jobcentres to support veterans our National Employer and Partnership Team (NEPT) also work closely with the Ministry of Defence to align engagement activity in support of the veteran’s strategy. In particular NEPT work closely with the MOD Careers Transition Partnership (CTP) and the Defence Relationship Management (DRM) team to encourage large employers, trade body associations and partner organisations to provide practical support to the Armed Forces Covenant, particularly the employment of veterans.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/04/2019 12:15:41 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

1127882

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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 effect of a five-week wait for a first payment of universal credit on trends in the level of food bank usage.
	tabling member constituency	Romford
	tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
	uin	257005
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/05/2019 answer text <p>No Universal Credit (UC) claimant has to wait five weeks for their first payment and there are many reasons why people use foodbanks.</p><p> </p><p>If required, advances of up to 100 per cent of their expected UC award are available to claimants from day one of their claim. 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, allowing claimants up 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 such as paying those claimants moving from Housing Benefit onto UC 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 Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 29/05/2019 13:48:24 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

1122064

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2019
	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	Domestic Abuse
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department provides to help women to leave abusive relationships.
	tabling member constituency	Lanark and Hamilton East
	tabling member printed	Angela Crawley
	uin	245861
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2019 answer text <p>The Department has a range of measures designed to support people who flee abusive households. This includes easements to benefit conditionality to give claimants the space and time needed to stabilise their lives, special provisions in both Housing Benefit and Universal Credit housing support when a claimant is temporarily absent from their home through fear of violence, and exemptions from Child Maintenance application fees.</p><p> </p><p>When a victim of domestic abuse comes into a Jobcentre fleeing abuse, we can support them by helping them to open a new claim, and can put in place a rapid advance where needed, which provides access to funds in 2-3 hours.</p><p> </p><p>As a department, we focus on helping frontline colleagues to recognise signs of domestic abuse and to support victims by signposting to expert organisations who can help. All work coaches undergo mandatory training on how to support vulnerable claimants, including recognising the signs of domestic abuse. Furthermore, any individual can be accompanied by a third party organisation to provide expert support when disclosing domestic abuse to a Work Coach, and a private area can be provided to disclose any information if requested.</p><p> </p><p>The Department published information on DWP support to victims of domestic abuse on gov.uk in January 2018. This can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-violence-and-abuse-help-from-dwp" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-violence-and-abuse-help-from-dwp</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 25/04/2019 10:45:26 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4469 label Biography information for Angela Crawley

1126163

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2019
	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 support her Department provides for universal credit (a) claimants and (b) intended beneficiaries who are victims of economic abuse arising from provision of a single payment to one family.
	tabling member constituency	Lanark and Hamilton East
	tabling member printed	Angela Crawley
	uin	253650
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>DWP is committed to doing all we can do support victims of domestic and economic abuse, including giving split payments when requested, easements in benefit conditionality, and referrals to local support.</p><p> </p><p>When an individual suffering from economic abuse requests a split payment, the Department will make split payments available to them. Whilst we are not intending to introduce split payments by default, we respond positively to such requests.</p><p>Both members of a couple do not need to be present to arrange a split payment and consent is not required from the other partner to authorise a split payment. Claimants can request a split payment during a face to face meeting, a phone call, or online via their journal and do not have to provide evidence of abuse in order to be granted a split payment.</p><p>If a victim of abuse feels able to flee their relationship, we can implement same-day advances to support them.</p><p>The Department can take other actions to support those experiencing economic abuse, such as making a managed payment of rent direct to landlords. We also ensure that claimants who disclose abuse are signposted to specialist organisations for support. All work coaches undergo mandatory training regarding how to support vulnerable claimants, including recognising the signs of domestic abuse. We are also looking at what more we can do to ensure that the main carer more often receives the Universal Credit payment direct.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/05/2019 16:23:54 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4469 label Biography information for Angela Crawley