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1133325

	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	Young People: Gender
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the Youth Voice Census Report 2019, published in June 2018, what assessment she has made of the effect of gender on a young person's level of engagement with school and employment.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	266814
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>No assessment has been made of gender on a young person’s level of engagement with school and employment.</p><p> </p><p>However, the Government is committed to providing targeted support for all young people so that everyone, no matter what their start in life, is given the very best chance.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has raised the participation age to ensure that all young people are supported to continue their education until at least age 18, and invested nearly £7 billion during academic year 2018/19, to ensure there is a place in education or training for every 16 to 19-year old.</p><p> </p><p>Local Authorities (LAs) have a statutory duty to identify and track the participation of 16 and 17 year olds, supporting those who are not participating to do so and making sure that there is sufficient, suitable education and training provision to meet their needs. The September Guarantee places a further duty on LAs to ensure that all year 11 pupils (and year 12 pupils on one year courses) receive an offer of a place in education/training for the following September. It aims to ensure that all young people, regardless of what they achieved in school, understand that there are opportunities that will help them to progress, and to ensure that they get the advice and support they need to find a suitable place.</p><p> </p><p>The latest data for the end of 2017 (provisional) shows that 86.8% of 16-18-year-old females are in Education and Training, compared to 85.1% of males. Source is the ‘Participation in education, training and employment: 2017’ published statistics.</p><p> </p><p>In January to March 2019 the number of young people aged 16-24 who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in the UK was at a near record low (764,000) – down 364,000 since 2010. As part of this the number of women aged 16-24 who were NEET was at a near record low (383,000) – down 238,000 since 2010. The number of men aged 16-24 who were NEET was also near a record low – at 381,000 – down 126,000 since 2010.</p><p> </p><p>The latest figures from the independent ONS, show that in February-April 2019 UK employment rate is at a joint record high of 76.1% - and as part of this the female employment rate is at a record high (72.0%). The male employment rate was 80.3% - up 5.3% points since 2010.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 24/06/2019 15:38:46 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1132493

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	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: Payment Methods
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of universal credit received payments into a Post Office Card Account in each of the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	265586
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department’s standard method of payment for pensions and benefits is into a bank, building society or credit union account. For claimants who cannot open one of these accounts, or provide the details for their own account to access their payment, the Department can offer two alternatives: The Post Office Card Account and HM Government Payment Exception Service, both of which guarantee access to their payment of pension and or benefit.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has been contacting claimants using Post Office Card Accounts since September 2015 offering information to claimants to move to standard payment methods.</p><p> </p><p>As a claimant may receive more than one payment of Universal Credit in each month, we have supplied the total volume of Universal Credit payments made into Post Office Card Accounts in each of the last 12 months in the table below. Increasing volumes of Universal Credit payments into these types of account reflect those naturally migrating from legacy benefits and taking their payment method with them.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Month</p></td><td><p>Payments Made</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>June 2018</p></td><td><p>10,322</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>July 2018</p></td><td><p>9,699</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2018</p></td><td><p>10,686</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 2018</p></td><td><p>10,494</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>October 2018</p></td><td><p>10,302</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>November 2018</p></td><td><p>12,160</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>December 2018</p></td><td><p>12,649</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>January 2019</p></td><td><p>12,571</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2019</p></td><td><p>13,807</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2019</p></td><td><p>14,209</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2019</p></td><td><p>14,377</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May 2019</p></td><td><p>15,724</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/06/2019 14:50:39 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1132143

	registered interest
	date	13/06/2019
	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, how many occasions universal credit claimants have registered concerns, questions, or complaints on Real Time Information in each of the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	264335
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department has been working closely with HMRC since Universal Credit went live in 2013 to support and inform employers who report earnings to emphasise the importance of timely reporting via the Real Time Information (RTI) system.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC have updated their guidance to reiterate to employers the importance of reporting accurate dates and the impact on payment cycles; the Financial Secretary to the Treasury is also working closely with HMRC and employers to do this.</p><p> </p><p>RTI concerns, questions and complaints data is not centrally collated and could only be supplied at disproportionate to the Department.</p><p> </p><p>The Department received over 31 million RTI notifications from employers for Universal Credit claimants in the last 12 months (17 June 2018 to 16 June 2019). These records were used to produce over 18.5 million individual earnings calculations and 77,952 of those calculations were disputed by claimants, of which around a fifth were upheld.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 264334 question first answered 21/06/2019 13:28:30 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132084

	registered interest
	date	13/06/2019
	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, how many universal credit claimants (a) received and (b) did not receive an advance payment in 2018-19.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	264328
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit new claim advances provide access to a payment for those in financial need, which can be accessed on the same day, until their first payment is due. Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, for which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months. From October 2021, this maximum repayment period will be extended from 12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p>The Department ensures claimants are made aware of their maximum advance entitlement and informed that their Universal Credit award will be adjusted over the relevant recovery period to take into account the advance of benefit they received.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>There were 1,046,000 claims made to Universal Credit during January to December 2018 which went into payment. Of these claims, 598,000 (57%) received an advance by end of February 2019 and 449,000 (43%) did not receive an advance.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><ol><li>Figures relate to Universal Credit full service</li><li>Figures capture all advances types</li><li>Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000</li><li>Advances paid are provided for claims which went into payment in the 2018 calendar year to ensure enough time has elapsed to be certain these claims did actually progress to payment</li></ol> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 14:57:13 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132229

	registered interest
	date	14/06/2019
	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: Self-employed
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants are categorised as self-employed in (a) Arfon, (b) Wales and (c) the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	264732
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department plans to publish statistics on Universal Credit and self-employment, including claimant numbers, in the future. The Government’s commitment remains to helping self-employed claimants with viable businesses to thrive, while protecting public funds.</p><p>We provide tailored support to our claimants who are in self-employment through our work coaches to help them to increase their productivity and earnings. Work coaches can also sign-post claimants to the extensive business support which is already funded by the Government.</p><p>As we announced in the Autumn Budget 2018, we will be extending the 12-month start-up period where claimants are exempt from the Minimum Income Floor to all gainfully self-employed claimants who are new to Universal Credit. This start-up period will provide time for self-employed claimants to establish and grow their business, or to adjust to Universal Credit.</p><p>The Department has also extended mentoring support from New Enterprise Allowance mentors to Universal Credit claimants with earnings below their Minimum Income Floor, to help them to develop a plan to grow their earnings.</p><p /> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 24/06/2019 13:38:46 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1132085

	registered interest
	date	13/06/2019
	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, how many universal credit claimants had (a) an advance payment repayment deduction, (b) a historic debt repayment and (c) both attached to their claim in 2018-19.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	264329
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. Under Universal Credit there is a structured approach to deductions from benefit, which simplifies the complex arrangements that exists within legacy benefits. From October 2019 the maximum rate of deductions from a claimant’s standard allowance will be reduced from 40% to 30%. From October 2021 we are increasing the recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months, further supporting those in financial need.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant considers that they are facing financial hardship because of the amount that is being deducted from their Universal Credit award, they can ask the Department to consider reducing their deductions. Furthermore, work coaches can pause some repayments in certain circumstances to ensure they are manageable. This is called a financial hardship decision.</p><p> </p><p>During 2018/19 there were: (a) 1.043m claimants with deductions from UC for UC Advance repayments; (b) 0.749m claimants with deductions from UC for non-UC debts; and; (c) 0.491m claimants with deductions from UC for both UC Advance repayments and non-UC debts in 2018/19 (this volume is included in volumes for (a) and (b).</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 15:20:34 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132284

	registered interest
	date	14/06/2019
	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, how much compensation his Department has paid out as a result of late payments of universal credit; how many claimants have received compensation; and what the criteria is for eligibility for compensation.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	264782
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at Disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 19/06/2019 14:35:41 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1132259

	registered interest
	date	14/06/2019
	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, how much her Department has spent on legal costs in the case of R (Johnson and Ors) v SSWP [2019] EWHC 23 (Admin) as of 14 June 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	264777
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2019 answer text As at 14th June 2019, the Department has spent £52,446 on legal costs defending and appealing the case of Johnson & Others v SSWP. This includes Government Legal Department litigation fees, counsel’s fees and other disbursements, as well as VAT where payable. This does not include payment of the claimants’ solicitor’s costs. Time spent by Government advisory lawyers is not recorded in a manner that allows it to be attributed to individual cases. answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 19/06/2019 13:58:43 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1132056

	registered interest
	date	13/06/2019
	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, if he will bring forward the extension of the repayment period of the Advance Payment Loan available to universal credit claimants.
	tabling member constituency	Ogmore
	tabling member printed	Chris Elmore
	uin	264452
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>Advances are not loans; they are an interest free advance payment of benefit, available to help people who need immediate financial support, which is then recovered over an agreed period.</p><p> </p><p>We have carefully considered the impact and deliverability of the measures announced in the Autumn Budget 2018 for Universal Credit. The delivery dates we announced achieve the best balance between continually improving Universal Credit to respond to claimant need and ensuring the service is technically and operationally scalable as the volumes on Universal Credit continue to rise through 2019 and 2020.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 21/06/2019 13:14:28 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4572 label Biography information for Chris Elmore

1132412

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	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	Basic Income: Sheffield
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to monitor the roll out of a universal basic income pilot by Sheffield City Council; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	265451
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>We are aware of experiments in universal basic income (UBI) around the world and we do not believe there is a case for UBI. We believe Universal Credit is the right approach for the UK because it simplifies the benefit system, promotes and incentivises work, including progression in work, and provides targeted support to those in most need in a way that is affordable.</p><p> </p><p>In February 2018 the OECD concluded in <a href="https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/oecd-economic-surveys-finland-2018_eco_surveys-fin-2018-en#page45" target="_blank">its survey of the Finnish Economy</a> that the complexity of the current benefits system in Finland was an obstacle to stepping into work and that the basic income experiment, whilst possibly enhancing work incentives, may increase poverty and would require increasing income taxation by nearly 30%. More recently, findings from the evaluation of the Finnish basic income experiment show some improvement in perceived wellbeing, but that it did not increase the employment level of the participants in the first year of the experiment. The OECD also developed a scenario for Finland inspired by the UK’s Universal Credit (UC). They found that this ‘would consistently improve work incentives and reduce complexity, with limited changes to the income distribution and limited fiscal cost.</p><p> </p><p>This <a href="https://oecdecoscope.blog/2018/02/28/why-would-a-universal-credit-be-better-than-a-basic-income-for-finland/" target="_blank">OECD blog</a> post is particularly useful on the OECD’s work to compare UBI and UC.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/06/2019 15:59:10 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane