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100520

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2014
	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 his Department spent on short term benefit advances for claimants of universal credit in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15 to date.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	211598
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p>Short Term Benefit Advances (STBA) are only available against legacy benefits. Universal Credit has it's own system of benefit advances. The equivalent support to STBA is provided by either the Universal Credit (new claim) advance or the Universal Credit (change of circumstance) advance.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Currently these costs are not reported separately. UC benefit expenditure is published in the table in the attached link</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2014" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2014</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper question first answered 29/10/2014 17:40:28 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

100534

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2014
	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 people have been allowed backdated universal credit claims to date.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	211595
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2014 answer text <p>The information you have requested is not currently available. The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit in September 2013 which can be found at:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>These statistics however will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring data for Universal Credit, therefore it is not yet possible to give a definitive list of what statistics will be provided in the future.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper question first answered 28/10/2014 15:00:39 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

100536

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2014
	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 people claiming universal credit have accessed short term benefit advances to date.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	211597
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p>Short Term Benefit Advances (STBA) are only available against legacy benefits. Universal Credit has its own system of benefit advances. The equivalent support to STBA is provided by either the Universal Credit (new claim) advance or the Universal Credit (change of circumstance) advance.</p><p> </p><p>The information you have requested is not currently available. The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit in September 2013 which can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics</a></p><p> </p><p>These statistics however will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.</p><p>As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring data for Universal Credit, therefore it is not yet possible to give a definitive list of what statistics will be provided in the future.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper question first answered 29/10/2014 17:50:01 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

100919

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2014
	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 make an assessment of the potential merits of universal credit access to childcare accounts equivalent to those proposed in the Childcare Payments Bill for claimants of tax-free childcare.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	211857
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p /> <p>Universal credit prepares claimants for the world of work in which around 75% of employees are paid monthly and in arrears. Monthly payment of benefit, which includes support for childcare costs that have been paid out, makes for more straightforward reporting and helps households to budget on a monthly income, which eases the transition into paid work.</p><p> </p><p>Moving to a system of ‘childcare accounts’ which ring-fences childcare costs would complicate the system for these claimants. It would add complexity to the Universal Credit system, which is being rolled out in a safe and controlled manner and could potentially increase the administration costs of running two systems in parallel.</p><p> </p><p>We have worked with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to support claimants that may wish to switch between Universal Credit and Tax Free Childcare. It will be easy for parents to register and open a childcare account online for Tax Free Childcare, and those who wish to move back to Universal Credit may do so without having to report the change to HMRC. Both systems are designed to be simple, responsive and flexible.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise the importance of providing information and support to help parents make an informed choice about which scheme to access. Alongside wider guidance and information, we will provide support and online tools for parents choosing between Universal Credit and Tax-Free Childcare.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Steve Webb question first answered 29/10/2014 14:39:47 answering member 220 label Biography information for Steve Webb
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

58306

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2014
	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 the value of universal credit assets is; and what changes there were to this value.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds West
	tabling member printed	Rachel Reeves
	uin	199313
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2014 answer text <p /> <p /> <p>The value of the Universal Credit assets is set out in the Department for Work and Pensions Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13. Ref HC20, published in December 2013 <strong>     </strong></p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 10/06/2014 10:56:38 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
	tabling member	4031 label Biography information for Rachel Reeves

58307

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2014
	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 steps he is taking to ensure that his Department is able to cross-check data on housing costs within the universal credit programme in order to counter fraud.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds West
	tabling member printed	Rachel Reeves
	uin	199312
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2014 answer text <p /> <p /> <p>The universal credit system is already protected against fraud and error and security experts are involved at each stage of UC design. It is not in the public interest to disclose detailed plans or processes.</p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 12/06/2014 16:25:48 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey previous answer version 520 answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
	tabling member	4031 label Biography information for Rachel Reeves

58309

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2014
	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 couple claims have been made for universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds West
	tabling member printed	Rachel Reeves
	uin	199315
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2014 answer text <p /> <p>New claims for Universal Credit will be made available for couples for the first time, from this summer. <br></p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 10/06/2014 16:43:13 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
	tabling member	4031 label Biography information for Rachel Reeves

58310

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2014
	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 full-time equivalent staff are employed by his Department to work exclusively on universal credit in (a) total, (b) communications, (c) IT development and (d) project delivery.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds West
	tabling member printed	Rachel Reeves
	uin	199314
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2014 answer text <p /> <p /> <p>Current resourcing data shows the full time equivalent staff employed to work exclusively on Universal Credit. In total this is (a) 535.8 comprising of (b) 21 in Communications (c) 80.8 in IT Development and (d) 434 in Project Delivery.</p><p> </p><p>These figures exclude contractors.</p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 12/06/2014 16:16:28 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey previous answer version 524 answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
	tabling member	4031 label Biography information for Rachel Reeves

58368

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2014
	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 staff will be employed in the specialist housing teams that will be established in univesral credit centres.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	199393
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2014 answer text <p /> <p /> <p>A team exists to support current live service. This will expand as the rollout continues.</p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 12/06/2014 16:20:29 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey previous answer version 525 answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

60438

	registered interest
	date	06/06/2014
	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 assessment he has made of the risk of fraud in (a) the pathfinders for universal credit and (b) the roll out of the universal credit system.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds West
	tabling member printed	Rachel Reeves
	uin	199461
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p /> <p /> <p>DWP has taken a number of steps to design out Fraud and Error in the Universal Credit system.</p><p> </p><p>Prior to the introduction of Universal Credit (UC), DWP assessed the risk of fraud and error and concluded the risk would be mitigated by restricting the initial claims in Pathfinder areas to those with the lowest risk of fraud, and to exclude more complex claims where fraud or error was more likely. DWP also implemented an automated data-matching capability to defend the UC system against the top causes of fraud or error. This Counter Fraud Capability introduced an automated pre-payment check for the first time to prevent fraud. It checked the very first UC claim and has checked every claim made since. This process also conducts a weekly scrutiny of all the data DWP holds against all UC claims to detect any fraud that may have subsequently started so we can take action immediately.</p><p>To provide a secure roll out of UC nationally, DWP's specialists in security and counter-fraud work are working with the UC Programme to ensure that the essential security and counter-fraud controls are in place before the digital 'end state' service can go live. By drawing on security and counter-fraud knowledge from across Government and external security expertise, we are ensuring that the core digital service is 'secure by design' from the outset, and that the service is also supported by the right online security and counter fraud capabilities.</p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 16/06/2014 16:48:21 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey previous answer version 835 answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
	tabling member	4031 label Biography information for Rachel Reeves