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1137366

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	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	Disadvantaged: Children and Young People
	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 report by Barnardo’s Overcoming Poverty of Hope, published on 8 July; and what steps they intend to take to improve how they (1) listen to, and (2) act upon, the concerns of younger generations.
	tabling member printed	Lord Bird
	uin	HL16973
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>We welcome the Overcoming Poverty of Hope report which provides valuable insight into young people’s views and concerns about their own future.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to providing support for young people so that everyone, no matter what their start is in life, is given the best chance of getting into work. The department has a variety of support for young people such as the Youth Obligation Support Programme which provides support tailored to the needs and ambitions of individual 18 to 21 year olds. We have been working with Barnardo’s to develop a pilot specifically for care leavers. The pilot offers enhanced work experience and a personal mentor to support the care leaver throughout the placement, building the skills and confidence needed to start a career.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 22/07/2019 12:41:10 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

1137372

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	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	Pension Credit
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding they provided to charities that work with older people to support the take-up of Pension Credit in (1) 2015–16, (2) 2016–17, and (3) 2017–18.
	tabling member printed	Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
	uin	HL16979
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to ensuring that older people receive the support they are entitled to. We work with a wide range of stakeholders, including charities to ensure that accurate information about benefits including Pension Credit is available in the places where people are most likely to go to seek information.</p><p> </p><p>The DWP knows that one of the best ways to reach eligible claimants is through trusted stakeholder organisations working in the community and that is why we have developed and resourced the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up.</p><p> </p><p>The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits.</p><p> </p><p>Stakeholders and potential claimants alike can use the Pension Credit calculator at gov.uk to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive.</p><p> </p><p>Most recently we have provided to relevant stakeholders a fact sheet about Pension Credit and the changes introduced on 15 May for mixed age couples to ensure they are able to communicate the most up-to-date information to potential claimants.</p><p> </p><p>DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 22/07/2019 12:57:17 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	579 label Biography information for Lord Foulkes of Cumnock

1139898

	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: Fraud
	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 15 July 2019 to Question 275665 on universal credit: fraud, what recourse is available to people who without their full knowledge have had their information used to make a fraudulent claim.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	278344
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department takes benefit fraud very seriously and ensures that all cases are investigated thoroughly.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant has been the victim of fraud, and has not benefitted financially in any way, they will not be asked to repay the money. The Department considers all cases on their own merits and decisions are made on the strength of the evidence provided.</p><p> </p><p>The Department remains committed to tackling the issue of fraudulent Universal Credit advance claims. We have set up a dedicated team of investigators to work on advances fraud cases, released a campaign on social media to raise awareness and remind people of the importance of safeguarding their identity and have been working with Social Media sites to shut down pages which promote this fraud, having shut down 52 so far.</p><p /><p>If any claimant has concerns about the safety of their personal information, they should speak to a member of Jobcentre staff or get help from Action Fraud.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 22/07/2019 14:46:55 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1138912

	registered interest
	date	15/07/2019
	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	Statutory Sick Pay
	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 increase access to statutory sick pay for low-paid workers.
	tabling member constituency	Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
	tabling member printed	Hugh Gaffney
	uin	277255
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>On Monday 15th July, the Government launched its consultation: `Health is everyone’s business: proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss.’ The consultation invites views on a range of matters including extending Statutory Sick Pay to the lowest paid. It closes on 7 October 2019 and can be found here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/health-is-everyones-business-proposals-to-reduce-ill-health-related-job-loss" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/health-is-everyones-business-proposals-to-reduce-ill-health-related-job-loss</a></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 22/07/2019 16:06:19 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4614 label Biography information for Hugh Gaffney

1138917

	registered interest
	date	15/07/2019
	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	Industrial Accidents: Scotland
	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 recorded workplace deaths in Scotland in each of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
	tabling member printed	Hugh Gaffney
	uin	277258
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>Notifications of workplace fatal injuries to workers are made under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The table below provides the number of fatal injuries to workers in Scotland reported under RIDDOR over the last 3 years.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Fatal injuries to workers in Scotland 2016/17 – 2018/19</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Number of fatal injuries to workers</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>17</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018/19</p></td><td><p>29*</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>*Data for 2018/19 is provisional.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>There has been an increase of 12 deaths between 2017/18 and 2018/19 in Scotland, mostly due to an increase in deaths in the Agriculture, forestry and fishing sector (from 3 in 2017/18 to 13 in 2018/19, though 2017/18 was a particularly low year for fatalities in the Agriculture, forestry and fishing sector in Scotland).</p><p> </p><p>Numbers from one-year to the next are subject to natural variation. The increase seen in the number of workplace deaths in Scotland in 2018/19 are within bounds of natural variation.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 22/07/2019 14:23:16 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4614 label Biography information for Hugh Gaffney

1138692

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	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: Disability
	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 administering reviews and appeals against disability benefits in each of the last ten years.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	276510
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>The table below gives the operational costs for disability benefits for the years from 2013/14 to 2018/19. This is the only comparable data available for the period requested due to changes in benefit delivery. The question asks for the cost of ‘administering reviews’ which is not a recognised DWP terminology so we have assumed the request is for the cost of Reconsiderations, as well as Appeals.</p><p>Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. The data should therefore be treated with caution.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>18/19</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>17/18</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>16/17</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>15/16</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>14/15</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>13/14</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>£m</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>£m</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>£m</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>£m</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>£m</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>£m</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Appeals and Reconsiderations</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>66.93</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>66.07</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>49.33</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>37.21</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>39.20</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>51.03</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 22/07/2019 13:09:36 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1139248

	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	Children: Day Care
	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 increase the (a) provision and (b) affordability of childcare for children of working parents in school summer holidays.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	277637
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to Question 273325, answered on 9 July 2019 -</p><p>The Government recognises that childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to both obtain and maintain employment and is committed to removing barriers that prevent parents moving into work.</p><p>To overcome this barrier to employment, Universal Credit claimants are able to claim up to 85 per cent of their childcare costs, compared to 70 per cent on the legacy system. This can be worth up to £13,000 a year for families with two children.</p><p>We recognise the difficulty that some claimants might have in paying childcare costs over the summer holidays and have undertaken significant work to increase work coach awareness, understanding and promotion of both the Universal Credit childcare offer and the wider government childcare offer. This is to ensure that parents who are eligible for the 15 hours of free childcare for disadvantaged families with 2-year-old children, and 30 hours of free childcare for working families, take these up. These free childcare offers can be used in combination with Universal Credit support for childcare.</p><p>In addition to this, budgeting advances are available for eligible claimants that can be used to cover the cost of paying additional upfront childcare costs or a deposit that might be needed during the school holidays.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 22/07/2019 16:01:09 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1138697

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	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	Welfare Assistance Schemes
	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 made an assessment of the potential merits of supplementing the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme with a centrally allocated fund.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	276576
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>The reforms to the Social Fund in 2013 allowed local authorities in England and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales to deliver their own local provision for people who are in need of urgent help. Local authorities are best placed to decide how to promote and target flexible help to support local welfare needs. The Government has no further plans to review provision.</p><p> </p><p>The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2015-16 identifies a notional amount relating to local welfare provision in each upper-tier and unitary authority’s general grant, totalling £129.6 million for England. The notional allocation for local welfare provision remains at £129.6 million in England in the Local Government Financial Settlement until 2019/20. There are no plans to ring-fence this notional allocation.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 276564 276565 question first answered 22/07/2019 15:11:48 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

1139323

	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	Universal Credit: Housing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the liability for the whole rent of a property is reflected in the calculation of universal credit in cases where a claimant of universal credit in a joint tenancy remains after a partner leaves; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	277617
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>The Universal Credit regulations provide that a claimant is to be treated as liable to make rent payments - where the person who is liable to make the payments is not doing so, the payments are required in order to continue occupation, and it would be unreasonable to expect them to make other arrangements. Therefore, in the example described, it would be possible for the whole liability to be considered as part of the UC calculation, subject to any usual restrictions such as the Local Housing Allowance or removal of the spare room subsidy.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 22/07/2019 13:01:27 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1138642

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	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	Personal Independence Payment: Multiple Sclerosis
	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 with multiple sclerosis in (a) Scotland, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Wales and (d) England (i) made new applications for personal independence payments and (ii) were reassessed from disability living allowance to personal independence payments in each year since 2013.
	tabling member constituency	East Lothian
	tabling member printed	Martin Whitfield
	uin	276584
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department does not hold the data requested on the disability of a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimant at the point of registration (application) for a claim. Data on a PIP claimant’s condition is not recorded until the claimant attends an assessment.</p><p> </p><p>The latest available data on PIP clearances can be broken down by main disabling condition for both new claims and DLA reassessment claims for those that attended an assessment (awarded and disallowed post referral to the AP due to failing assessment), for each month from the introduction of PIP in April 2013 to the last available data in April 2019. Data can also be split by geographical area within Great Britain (region).</p><p>Stat-Xplore can be found at <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html</a></p><p> </p><p>Please note that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is only responsible for benefits in Great Britain. Social security benefits, including PIP, are a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and your questions regarding PIP in Northern Ireland should be directed at the Department of Communities in Northern Ireland.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 22/07/2019 14:09:21 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4626 label Biography information for Martin Whitfield