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1002123

	registered interest
	date	05/11/2018
	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	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 representations she has received from (a) trades union and (b) the Trade Union Congress in relation to the managed migration of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	188268
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>No meetings have been held by DWP with trade unions or the Trade Union Congress regarding Managed Migration specifically. However, the Trade Union Congress and some individual trade unions responded to the Social Security Advisory Committee report on the draft Universal Credit Managed Migration Regulations 2018, published on 5 November 2018 which can be accessed at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-universal-credit-managed-migration-regulations-2018-ssac-report-and-government-statement" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-universal-credit-managed-migration-regulations-2018-ssac-report-and-government-statement</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 188269 question first answered 10/12/2018 17:06:16 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 84616 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1002124

	registered interest
	date	05/11/2018
	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	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 she will publish the meetings held by her Department (a) trades unions and (b) the Trade Union Congress on the managed migration of universal credit in 2018; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	188269
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>No meetings have been held by DWP with trade unions or the Trade Union Congress regarding Managed Migration specifically. However, the Trade Union Congress and some individual trade unions responded to the Social Security Advisory Committee report on the draft Universal Credit Managed Migration Regulations 2018, published on 5 November 2018 which can be accessed at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-universal-credit-managed-migration-regulations-2018-ssac-report-and-government-statement" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-universal-credit-managed-migration-regulations-2018-ssac-report-and-government-statement</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 188268 question first answered 10/12/2018 17:06:16 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 84617 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1002762

	registered interest
	date	06/11/2018
	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	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 funding the Government has allocated for transitional payments for people moving onto universal credit; and by what process claimants will receive such payments.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	188877
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/12/2018 answer text <p>We recently laid the draft Universal Credit (Managed Migration) Regulations 2018 in Parliament. These will introduce a transitional payment to those eligible claimants who were in receipt of the Severe Disability Premium whilst on an existing benefit and who have already moved to Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>As announced in the 2018 Autumn Budget, the income related elements of Employment and Support Allowance and Jobseeker’s Allowance, and Income Support will continue for two weeks after a claim for Universal Credit has been made from July 2020. Claimants will therefore receive one two week run-on payment when being migrated to Universal Credit. Both of these measures are subject to parliamentary approval. These payments are in addition to the 2 week run-on of Housing Benefit, which we introduced in April 2018.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has also committed to ensuring that claimants who are moved onto Universal Credit as part of the managed migration process see no decrease in their benefit entitlement, providing their circumstances remain the same.</p><p> </p><p>The Government will be spending over £3bn on transitional protection over the next 10 years to ensure that claimants who are migrated onto Universal Credit as part of the managed migration process do not experience a financial loss at the point of transition.</p><p> </p><p>Transitional protection will be calculated based on the claimant’s circumstances on the last day of their entitlement to existing benefits. To do this we will make a comparison between the total amount of all relevant existing benefits to which the claimant was entitled at this point and the total amount of Universal Credit to which the claimant would be entitled as calculated based on the same set of circumstances. If the entitlement to the existing benefits is the greater amount then the difference will be awarded as a Transitional Element. When awarded, this Transitional Element will be taken into account with any other applicable Elements to determine a claimant’s Universal Credit award in each Assessment Period.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 13/12/2018 14:37:05 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 84612 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1006052

	registered interest
	date	13/11/2018
	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	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the Government plans to publish its internal review of universal support.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	190904
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>The Work and Pensions Select Committee recently published its report on Universal Support. As part of this it recommends that the Department sets out the conclusions of its internal review and we will respond to the Committee’s recommendations in due course.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/11/2018 15:38:50 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 85881 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1007058

	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	Employment Schemes: Young People
	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 11 September to Question 171273, what plans she has to publish data on the outcomes for people receiving support through the Youth Obligation.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	191251
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2018 answer text <p>The Department monitors requests we receive for new statistics and will consider whether we can produce and release analysis that will helpfully inform public debate.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is looking at this issue and considering what statistics could be produced.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 21/11/2018 16:31:49 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 85855 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

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

1011516

	registered interest
	date	21/11/2018
	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	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time is for a person calling the universal credit helpline to be connected to an agent.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	194163
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2018 answer text <p>Universal Credit is a 24 hour, seven day a week digital service that allows claimants to check their Universal Credit benefit payments, notify us of changes and record notes via an online journal facility. We also see claimants regularly face-to-face in jobcentres and they can contact us via the telephone outside of these appointments. In addition, this summer we introduced a new approach where established claimants who call the Universal Credit helpline are connected directly to the person or team who are dealing with the case.</p><p> </p><p>The average waiting time for a person calling the Universal Credit Full Service helpline in the month of October 2018 was 3 minutes and 58 seconds.</p><p> </p><p>Our Average Speed of Answer (ASA) measure is the average customer wait time from the point of entering a queue to connection to an agent. This excludes any time spent in pre-queue messaging and any wait time for calls ultimately abandoned by callers prior to answer.</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p> </p><p>Data Source: BT - OPMIS and Historical Management Information (GI2 – HMI)</p><p>Outsourced partner data is included.</p><p>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> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 28/11/2018 10:31:50 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 87211 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

816933

	registered interest
	date	05/01/2018
	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	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 his policy is on closing universal credit claims when income in any monthly assessment period results in a zero payment; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	121360
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2018 answer text <p>When a claimant’s Universal Credit award ceases (because their income has reduced their Universal Credit entitlement to nil), they can reclaim Universal Credit if their circumstances have changed within 6 months of their claim ending, and they now wish to receive financial support.</p><p> </p><p>The reclaiming process is designed to be very quick, light touch and claimants only need to update us with their change in circumstances.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 11/01/2018 17:46:24 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 33445 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

818766

	registered interest
	date	08/01/2018
	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
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications were made for a short term benefit advance in the most recent 12 months for which data is available; and how many of those applications were (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	121530
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2018 answer text <p>The most recently available data on Short Term Benefit Advances (STBA) is shown in the table below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p><strong>January 2016 - December 2016</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>STBA Applications Received by the Department</p></td><td><p>197,514</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>STBA Awarded to individual national insurance numbers</p></td><td><p>98,633</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>The data covers the period January 16 to December 16. Data after this date is not currently available.</p><p> </p><p>Data is also not available for unsuccessful applications and the difference between ‘received’ and ‘awarded’ applications in the table above does not equate to unsuccessful applications. This is because there are a large proportion of applications in which the primary benefit is paid, which negates the need for a STBA.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><p>Only Working Age Benefits (i.e. Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support) are included in the above information for STBA applications as the number of applications received for State Pension Credit and Carer’s Allowance is not available.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Source:</strong></p><p><strong>STBA Applications Received </strong>- Management Information System Programme (MISP). This collation is based on clerical counts submitted by the each Centre and is Internal MI which has been agreed for use in publications of Parliamentary questions and Freedom of Information requests.</p><p> </p><p><strong>STBA Awarded</strong> - Benefit Expenditure Business Information system</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/01/2018 12:52:41 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 33706 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

818779

	registered interest
	date	08/01/2018
	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	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, for what reason a self-employed claimant who earns less than the minimum income floor in some months but over the course of a year earns more than twelve times the minimum income floor will receive less Universal Credit than an employed person with the same annual earnings.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	121543
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2018 answer text <p>We are aware that for many self-employed, particularly those with seasonal businesses, their earnings often fluctuate from month to month, and they need to budget and plan for this. Self-employed Universal Credit claimants are no different in this regard.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit supports people in self-employment, where self-employment is the best route for them to become financially self-sufficient. As part of that, for those claimants expected to seek work, who are gainfully self-employed and not within a year of starting their self-employment, we apply a Minimum Income Floor (MIF). This is an assumed level of monthly earnings, based on what they could expect to earn each month at the National Minimum Wage.</p><p> </p><p>The MIF is designed to encourage those reporting very low self-employed income to increase their monthly earnings. This means that, where a self-employed claimant’s monthly earnings are below their MIF level, the MIF level is taken into account in assessing the claimant’s monthly Universal Credit payment. For this reason, they can receive a lower amount of Universal Credit than an employed claimant earning a comparable monthly sum, but not subject to the MIF.</p><p> </p><p>Some self-employed claimants will respond to this by increasing their monthly earnings from self-employment, some will choose to work as an employee, and others will combine the two. All are potentially good outcomes for them, their families and the taxpayer.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/01/2018 12:59:20 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 33707 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms