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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

1017207

	registered interest
	date	29/11/2018
	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: Zero Hours Contracts
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department’s policy is on the sanctioning of claimants of universal credit that receive the limited capability for work element in the event of a (a) refusal of an offer of a zero-hours contract and (b) voluntary termination of a zero-hours contract.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	197460
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/12/2018 answer text <p>Claimants on Universal Credit who are found to have Limited Capability for Work are set work preparation activity: they are not required to carry out work search or undertake work. Should a claimant with LCW take up, and then leave a zero hour contract they would not be subject to sanctions.</p><p> </p><p>Zero-hours contracts offer flexibility which can be valuable for some individuals. Universal Credit payments adjust automatically depending on the amount a claimant earns, so that a claimant whose hours may change are financially supported and do not need to switch their benefit claim. Therefore, a Universal Credit claimant who is subject to all work related requirements can be expected to apply for a zero-hours contract job if it is considered suitable for their individual circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>Where there is good reason why a Universal Credit claimant is unable to take a zero-hours contract job this is taken into account. Sanctions are only applied if no good reason is established. Additionally, sanctions are only applied for leaving a zero-hours contract job voluntarily if no good reason is found.</p><p /><p>Sanctions are only used in a small percentage of cases, and that is when people fail to meet their agreed commitments without good reason. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good reason, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 197461 question first answered 05/12/2018 10:11:10 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 90066 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

1017208

	registered interest
	date	29/11/2018
	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: Zero Hours Contracts
	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 her Department’s policy is to sanction universal credit claimants for (a) refusing and (b) voluntarily terminating a zero-hours contract.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	197461
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/12/2018 answer text <p>Claimants on Universal Credit who are found to have Limited Capability for Work are set work preparation activity: they are not required to carry out work search or undertake work. Should a claimant with LCW take up, and then leave a zero hour contract they would not be subject to sanctions.</p><p> </p><p>Zero-hours contracts offer flexibility which can be valuable for some individuals. Universal Credit payments adjust automatically depending on the amount a claimant earns, so that a claimant whose hours may change are financially supported and do not need to switch their benefit claim. Therefore, a Universal Credit claimant who is subject to all work related requirements can be expected to apply for a zero-hours contract job if it is considered suitable for their individual circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>Where there is good reason why a Universal Credit claimant is unable to take a zero-hours contract job this is taken into account. Sanctions are only applied if no good reason is established. Additionally, sanctions are only applied for leaving a zero-hours contract job voluntarily if no good reason is found.</p><p /><p>Sanctions are only used in a small percentage of cases, and that is when people fail to meet their agreed commitments without good reason. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good reason, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 197460 question first answered 05/12/2018 10:11:10 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 90067 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

891535

	registered interest
	date	25/04/2018
	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: Young People
	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 in receipt of premiums claimed for universal credit after the age of 20; and how many of those people requested a mandatory reconsideration of the work capability assessment.
	tabling member constituency	Midlothian
	tabling member printed	Danielle Rowley
	uin	138098
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2018 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">The data requested is going through quality assurance clearance procedures in line with National Statistic and Official Statistics publication standards. We will announce the release date, as per the protocol of release of statistics, when they are ready.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</ins></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 30/04/2018 15:05:28 question first ministerially corrected 17/05/2018 16:22:02 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 54947 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4628 label Biography information for Danielle Rowley

999658

	registered interest
	date	01/11/2018
	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: Written Questions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, (a) how many and (b)what proportion of her Department's Answers to Written Parliamentary Questions on universal credit stated that the requested information was (a) not collected and (b) not collected centrally in each of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	186962
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/11/2018 answer text <p>This information is publically available on the parliamentary website: <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/" target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/</a></p><p> </p><p>A search conducted on the website for the time period 6 November 2015 to 6 November 2018 for answered written questions about Universal Credit that contain the search terms “not collected” or “not collated centrally” returns 29 results, where the answer was either wholly or partially given as either of those terms. This is less than 1.5% of all Parliamentary Questions relating to Universal Credit answered in that time period.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/11/2018 17:32:55 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 83719 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

985777

	registered interest
	date	11/10/2018
	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: Terminal Illnesses
	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 a fast track process to ensure that a claimant who has submitted a DS1500 receives the first Universal Credit payment within seven days; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	178221
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2018 answer text <p>The Department and the Universal Credit Programme have regular meetings with key stakeholders to understand how our policies are working and discuss potential areas for improvement. The design of Universal Credit for terminally ill claimants is based on the well tested processes that have been in place in Employment and Support Allowance, as have the documentation of illness requirements. We will continue to keep these under review to ensure that they work as effectively as possible.</p><p> </p><p>If the claimant does not have a DS1500 but is deemed as terminally ill then we will fast track the Work Capability Assessment process so that the report is provided within 48 hours.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant has been diagnosed as terminally ill with a prognosis of 6 months or less and been provided with a DS1500 or one has already been provided, Universal Credit will automatically award the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity element without the requirement to refer this for a Work Capability Assessment decision.</p><p> </p><p>All claimants are able to apply for an advance of their Universal Credit to ensure they do not face financial hardship whilst they are awaiting the assessment of their Universal Credit award.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 22/10/2018 11:03:36 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 78969 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

985780

	registered interest
	date	11/10/2018
	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: Terminal Illnesses
	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 who have submitted a DS1500 form have waited (i) two weeks; (ii) three weeks; (iii) four weeks; (iv) five weeks or more to receive their first Universal Credit payment in the most recent twelve month period for which data are available.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	178222
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2018 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available, as it is not collated centrally, and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 22/10/2018 11:08:16 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 78971 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

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

971465

	registered interest
	date	10/09/2018
	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: Single Parents
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many unemployed single parent households are in receipt of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Eastbourne
	tabling member printed	Stephen Lloyd
	uin	172584
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2018 answer text <p>The table below provides the estimated number of households on Universal Credit occupied by single parents in June 2018 by employment status. The accompanying notes should be read in conjunction with the figures provided.</p><p> </p><p>Estimated number of households on Universal Credit occupied by single parents, by employment status, Great Britain, June 2018</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong> </strong> <strong>Employment Status</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of households</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Employed</strong></p></td><td><p>91,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Unemployed</strong></p></td><td><p>107,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong>Source:</strong> Household and people on Universal Credit datasets</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><p> </p><ol><li>Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand. Individual figures may not add up to the total due to rounding.</li></ol><p> </p><ol start="2"><li>These figures have been calculated by matching the Universal Credit household dataset, which contains information about family type, with the people on Universal Credit dataset, which contains information about employment. The figure for households occupied by single parents has been deduced where the household has a family type of ‘single with child dependant(s)’. It has not been possible to determine the employment status of approximately 8,000 single parent households.</li></ol><p> </p><ol start="3"><li>A count date of the second Thursday of the month is used when calculating the statistics for the people and households on Universal Credit. An individual on Universal Credit at the count date will be recorded as in employment if they have employment earnings recorded within their completed Universal Credit assessment period closest to the count date. They may not be in employment on the count date.</li></ol><p> </p><ol start="4"><li>Further information on the background and methodology can be accessed here:</li></ol><p>https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/739399/universal-credit-statistics-background-methodology.pdf</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 25/10/2018 08:53:44 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 75821 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3968 label Biography information for Stephen Lloyd

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