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1007135

	registered interest
	date	14/11/2018
	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	Zero Hours Contracts: Young People
	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 her Department's press release entitled Youth unemployment down 50% since 2010, published on gov.uk on 16 October 2018, what proportion of recorded employment was under a zero-hours contract.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	191422
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>The Office for National Statistics (ONS) use the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to provide estimates for the number of people employed on zero hours’ contracts.</p><p> </p><p>The ONS figures for people in employment on zero hours’ contracts broken down by age, do not go back to 2010 and are only currently available up to April-June 2018. Therefore no directly comparable figures to the youth unemployment statistics cited are available.</p><p> </p><p>The majority of young people are not employed on zero hours’ contracts. In 2018 (Apr-Jun) there were 261,000 16-24 year olds on a zero hours’ contracts – representing only 6.9% of employed 16-24 year olds.</p><p> </p><p>This is down from 299,000 young people (7.8% of employed young people) in 2017 (Apr-Jun), but a slight increase from the first comparable data available, which shows in 2014 (Apr-Jun) there were 235,000 young people on a zero hours’ contract (or 6.3% of employed young people).</p><p> </p><p>Many people in full-time education are employed on zero hours’ contracts, in part because of the flexibility they provide. 18.5% of all people in 2018 (Apr-Jun) on zero hours’ contracts were in full-time education – compared to 2.3% of people not on a zero hours’ contract.</p><p> </p><p>The ONS data shows that the majority of people on zero hours’ contracts are happy with the hours provided by their zero hours’ contract.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/11/2018 16:24:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 85857 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1006972

	registered interest
	date	14/11/2018
	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	Pensions: Advisory Services
	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 have had (a) a telephone appointment, (b) a face to face appointment and (c) completed a digital journey with the Pension Wise guidance service in the 12 month period ending October 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	191266
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>In the 12 month period ending 31 October 2018, there were (a) 32,440 telephone appointments, (b) 78,961 face to face appointments and (c) 44,969 digital journey completions.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 20/11/2018 14:18:54 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 85865 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1006974

	registered interest
	date	14/11/2018
	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	Pensions: Advisory Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to encourage uptake of the Pension Wise guidance service.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	191267
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>Take up of the Pension Wise guidance service is growing with more and more people having appointments. Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, take up of appointments more than doubled and continues to increase.</p><p> </p><p>Pension schemes and providers are required to signpost people to Pension Wise at key contact points. Pension providers are consistently cited by around half of the people who contact Pension Wise as the place they first heard of the service. The FCA have consulted on changes to these requirements with a view to increasing the take up of Pension Wise guidance.</p><p> </p><p>The Pension Wise marketing strategy across TV, Radio, web, Press and Video on Demand, as well as search engine optimisation, aims to get maximum reach amongst the target audience. This has proven to an effective way of both raising awareness of the service and driving take-up of appointments.</p><p> </p><p>Pension Wise is also working with employers nationally and locally to engage with their employees at their place of work. Pension Wise delivery partners also undertake local promotional activities, raising awareness of the service at local events.</p><p> </p><p>The Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018 establishes a new Single Financial Guidance Body which will bring together the services currently provided by the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise. The new body will make it easier for people to access information and guidance to help them make effective financial decisions. This Act also set a framework for implementing a stronger final nudge towards Pension Wise at the point people seek to access their pension and we are engaging with providers to find the most effective approach.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 20/11/2018 14:56:11 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1006977

	registered interest
	date	14/11/2018
	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	Pensions: Advisory Services
	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 Pension Wise guidance service, what information her Department holds on the (a) demographic characteristics of and (b) actions and decisions taken as a result of that guidance being sought by people who have completed a (i) telephone appointment, (ii) face-to-face appointment and (iii) digital journey with that service in the 12 month period ending October 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	191268
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>Information on demographic characteristics of Pension Wise Customers and actions and decisions taken as a result of the guidance are published in the Pension Wise Service Evaluation. The latest published report covers 2016/17 and can be found here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/653621/pension-wise-service-evaluation-full-year-findings.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/653621/pension-wise-service-evaluation-full-year-findings.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p>The demographic profiles of telephone and face-to-face customers are given and compared in Section 2: Customer profiles (pages 4-9). The steps and decisions taken by Pension Wise appointment customers are covered in Section 7: Steps taken and Section 8: Making a decision (pages 32-42).</p><p> </p><p>The Pension Wise Service Evaluation report for 2017/18 is forthcoming and will be similarly available on GOV.UK once published. The sampling for the annual Service Evaluation surveys is based around appointments delivered in the autumn of each year. As there are few seasonal differences in customer profiles, we would expect the data in the successive reports to reflect the profiles, experiences and outcomes of customers across the financial year that they relate to.</p><p> </p><p>The Service Evaluation for 2018/19, is currently in the field and publication of the report is expected to be in Autumn 2019.</p><p> </p><p>Customers completing the digital journey are not covered by the published research findings or the forthcoming report. We are looking to include this channel in the 2018/19 Pension Wise Service Evaluation survey sampling and reporting.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 20/11/2018 14:57:39 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 85872 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1007758

	registered interest
	date	15/11/2018
	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: Maintenance
	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 reduce waiting times for reassessment of child maintenance following a change in circumstances.
	tabling member constituency	Crewe and Nantwich
	tabling member printed	Laura Smith
	uin	191985
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>The processing of changes of circumstance remains a key priority for the Child Maintenance Service. The numbers of people working within the Child Maintenance Service is reviewed regularly to ensure we have sufficient resources to answer customer calls and progress cases.</p><p>So far in 2018, we have recruited 835 people into the Child Maintenance Service, with these people joining us between February 2018 and October 2018, and we have plans in place for a further 40 people to join the Child Maintenance Service between November 2018 and January 2019.</p><p>The performance and timeliness of progressing changes to circumstances is under regular review and forms part of our external publication offering. We continue to explore opportunities to introduce improvements and efficiencies within the Child Maintenance Service and we are currently in the process of implementing Real Time Information from HMRC which will ensure that we have access to the latest income information to make efficient changes to assessments.“</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 20/11/2018 16:33:51 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4648 label Biography information for Laura Smith

1007792

	registered interest
	date	15/11/2018
	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	Access to Work Programme
	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 spent on promoting Access to Work in the last financial year.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	191850
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>I refer the Honourable Member for east Ham to written question 188910, answered on 16 November 2018: <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-11-06/188910" target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-11-06/188910</a></p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 20/11/2018 17:33:51 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1007794

	registered interest
	date	15/11/2018
	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	Access to Work Programme
	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 plans to spend on Access to Work in the 2018-19 financial year.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	191852
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>Access to Work is a demand led scheme. As the amount spent reflects the number and nature of those demands we do not routinely publish forecast spend.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 20/11/2018 17:42:54 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1007889

	registered interest
	date	15/11/2018
	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	Carer's Allowance
	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 potential merits of making carer's allowance available to (a) pensioners and (b) students in full-time education.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	191917
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>The Government recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by informal carers who provide invaluable support for relatives, partners, friends and neighbours who may be ill, frail or disabled. We are already supporting carers in a number of ways, including through the benefit system. Since 2010 the rate of Carer’s Allowance (CA) has increased from £53.90 to £64.60 a week, meaning an additional £550 a year for carers. By 2022/23 we are forecast to spend £3.7bn a year on CA, a real terms increase of more than a third since 2016/17.</p><p> </p><p>Access to CA for pensioners and full-time students reflect long-standing principles of the benefit system and we have no plans to change the rules.</p><p> </p><p>Although there is no age limit to claiming CA, it cannot normally be paid with the State Pension. CA replaces income where the carer has given up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to care for a severely disabled person, while State Pension replaces income in retirement. For this reason, social security rules operate to prevent them being paid together, to avoid duplicate provision for the same need. However, if a carer’s State Pension is less than CA, State Pension is paid and topped up with CA to the basic weekly rate of CA. Where CA cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to the benefit. This gives access to the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit of £36.00 a week, and even if a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, he or she may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.</p><p>The Government thinks it is right that people in full-time education should be supported by the educational maintenance system, via its range of loans and grants, and not the social security benefit system. That is why, as a general principle, full-time students are usually precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits. Part-time students may be able to claim CA though.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 20/11/2018 17:52:21 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1007890

	registered interest
	date	15/11/2018
	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: Medical Examinations
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to require people who request an extension to their deadline day as part of the process of managed migration on the grounds of ill health to provide medical evidence in support of that claim.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	191918
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>This is one of the areas of detailed design where we will be looking to work collaboratively with external organisations, which will allow DWP to develop the detailed design drawing on the collective experience, evidence and insight of organisations who also actively support our claimants.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/11/2018 15:31:28 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1006898

	registered interest
	date	14/11/2018
	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: Fraud
	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 tackle benefit fraud.
	tabling member constituency	Upper Bann
	tabling member printed	David Simpson
	uin	191358
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to reducing benefit fraud across all benefits administered by or on behalf DWP.</p><p> </p><p>DWP’s key focus is on preventing potential benefit fraud before it occurs. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances.</p><p>The Department’s Risk and Intelligence Service uses data and analytics to identify fraud and uses that information to direct investigations. The Department is investing significantly in this area, which will enhance its future risk assessment capability.</p><p>DWP takes effective action against people who commit benefit fraud. This includes the use of tough financial penalties referred to as administrative penalties and where appropriate prosecution. DWP convicted nearly 5,000 people of benefit fraud last year alone, as well as issuing over 5,500 Administrative Penalties.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 20/11/2018 13:58:37 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	1597 label Biography information for David Simpson