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1668847

	registered interest
	date	09/11/2023
	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: Refugees
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what provision his Department makes for Winter Fuel Payments in cases where Ukrainian refugees receiving Universal Credit payments are not paying bills in the homes of their host families.
	tabling member constituency	East Worthing and Shoreham
	tabling member printed	Tim Loughton
	uin	1005
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2023 answer text <p>Winter fuel payments are an age-related payment payable this winter to all people who have reached State Pension age on or before 24 September <del class="ministerial">1957</del> <ins class="ministerial">2023</ins> and who are ordinarily resident in the UK, including Ukrainian refugees. There is no need to be in receipt of a social security benefit in order to qualify.</p><p> </p><p>Winter fuel payments are made on a household basis. If there is more than one eligible person in a household, the payment will be divided between them. The sharing of bills is a matter for the house owner and any guests they may be hosting.</p><p> </p><p>The Government understands the cost-of-living pressures people are currently facing which is why we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals with their bills.</p><p> </p><p>Pensioners who are entitled to a winter fuel payment this winter will receive a pensioner Cost of Living Payment of £300 per household paid with their normal payment, meaning over 8 million pensioner households across the UK will receive an increased winter fuel payment of £500/£600 depending on age.</p><p> </p><p>Over 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits will receive additional Cost of Living Payments totalling up to £900 in the 2023/24 financial year and over 6 million individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will have received a £150 payment to help with the additional costs they face.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 14/11/2023 15:47:31 question first ministerially corrected 22/11/2023 16:28:29 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard previous answer version 527 answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	114 label Biography information for Tim Loughton

1682874

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2024
	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, what information his Department holds on the 18% of Universal Credit claims which contain an element of fraud.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	10109
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2024 answer text <p>The 18% figure shown in Table 12 of the estimates on Fraud and Error in the benefit system during the financial year 2022 to 2023 is based on a randomly selected sample of UC claims. More detail on the causes of fraud and error in Universal Credit can also be found in Tables 3 and 4 of those statistics.</p><p> </p><p>The full estimates for fraud and error in the benefit system for 2022/2023, including the relevant tables, can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-2022-to-2023-estimates" target="_blank">Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2022 to 2023 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 22/01/2024 16:20:08 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1683150

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2024
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Equality
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many equalities impact assessments his Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Harborough
	tabling member printed	Neil O'Brien
	uin	10252
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2024 answer text <p>Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (the Duty) all public authorities, including Government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions. While ‘equality impact assessments’ may be produced, there is no legal requirement for duty assessments to be recorded in a specific format.</p><p>Notwithstanding this, the information requested is not held centrally in the Department and to provide what might be available would incur disproportionate cost. The Department promotes awareness of the Duty and relevant analytical and other tools to help ensure compliance with it.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 25/01/2024 15:56:48 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4679 label Biography information for Neil O'Brien

1683048

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2024
	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	Health and Safety Executive
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the Health and Safety Executive's annual budget is for accessing scientific papers and other academic journals; to which academic journals it subscribes; and whether there are any relevant academic journals to which it does not have access in the context of its work on UK REACH.
	tabling member constituency	Newport West
	tabling member printed	Ruth Jones
	uin	10263
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2024 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Annual Budget for accessing scientific papers and other academic journals was £52k in the 22/23 financial year. This value can vary year on year depending on requirements of HSE staff, changes to cost of access to journals etc</p><p> </p><p>On subscriptions, HSE’s Divisions will organise access to specialist journals depending on need. Examples include:</p><p> </p><p>a. British Medical Journal<br> b. Ergonomics in Design<br> c. Flight International<br> d. Human Factors<br> e. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics<br> f. Journal of Pyrotechnics<br> g. New Scientist<br> h. Science in Parliament<br> i. Business Green<br> j. Future Farming<br> k. MIT Technology Review<br> l. The Economist</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, HSE has access to Elsevier’s Government edition of ScienceDirect which provides users access to over 2,000 online journals and e-chapters. <br> <br> HSE staff can also request articles and full journals from the British Library interlibrary loans service and utilise a commercial provider “Reprints Desk” for articles that are urgently required. When required HSE can also purchase articles directly from publishers.</p><p>As part of the above arrangements, HSE has been able to access all published material that it has needed to deliver the programme of work on UK REACH</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/01/2024 15:15:46 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4716 label Biography information for Ruth Jones

1683062

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2024
	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, with reference to Q26 of the evidence given by Neil Couling to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on 10 January 2024, HC 417, whether it is his policy that where a claim is subject to checking that claim is not suspended and there is no interruption to payments so long as the claimant cooperates with that process.
	tabling member constituency	North Down
	tabling member printed	Stephen Farry
	uin	10272
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2024 answer text <p>Where customers provide all evidence requested, within the timescales requested, to enable DWP to verify entitlement to benefit then no payment will be interrupted. If the evidence is not provided within the timescale or there is a high risk of fraud and/or error DWP’s Enhanced Review Team (ERT) may suspend payments to prevent further loss and the customer to build up possible debt.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/01/2024 15:13:24 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4856 label Biography information for Stephen Farry

1683090

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2024
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Equality
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has conducted an equality impact assessment of the use of machine learning in benefit fraud investigations.
	tabling member constituency	City of Durham
	tabling member printed	Mary Kelly Foy
	uin	10282
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2024 answer text <p>The Department has robust processes to ensure ethical use and impact of data is considered which includes Equality Impact Assessments for transformative initiatives that involve personal data, aligned with data-ethics frameworks, codes of practice, and working principles for analytical communities within the department that work with personal data.</p><p> </p><p>We do not use algorithms to make decisions regarding fraudulent claims, these are always made by humans.</p><p> </p><p>We will be providing further information in our 2023-24 Report and Accounts - <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/42012/documents/208912/default/" target="_blank">committees.parliament.uk/publications/42012/documents/208912/default/</a></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/01/2024 15:01:38 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4753 label Biography information for Mary Kelly Foy

1683107

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2024
	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	AEA Group: Pensions
	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 introduce legislation to allow the (a) Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and (b) Pensions Ombudsman to investigate complaints about the AEA Technology pension scheme.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	10297
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2024 answer text <p>Complaints about the AEAT scheme have previously been considered by relevant government bodies, including The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) and The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). Decisions on these complaints including whether they are able to investigate them have been taken according to the remits given to them by Parliament and other broader statutory constraints.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has no plans to bring forward new legislation for these bodies in relation to this scheme.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 22/01/2024 16:22:35 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1683311

	registered interest
	date	18/01/2024
	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	State Retirement Pensions: Fraud
	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 convicted for offences relating to the fraudulent encashment of state pension payments which were for deceased recipients in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
	tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
	uin	10402
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2024 answer text <p>The Department is unable to provide convictions data for State Pension fraud cases relating to deceased individuals.</p><p> </p><p>State Pension fraud and error is low, but it does exist, with £100m estimated to have been overpaid in State Pension in 2022/23.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/01/2024 10:43:53 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

1683378

	registered interest
	date	18/01/2024
	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	Council Housing: Romford
	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 has taken to work with local authorities to ensure that residents in council accommodation are supported during periods of cold weather in Romford constituency.
	tabling member constituency	Romford
	tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
	uin	10412
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2024 answer text <p>The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills.</p><p> </p><p>For people who require additional support in England, the current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024. This allows local authorities to continue to provide discretionary support to those struggling to afford the cost of essentials including energy bills and wider related essentials.</p><p> </p><p>The Household Support Fund is an intentionally flexible scheme designed to enable Local Authorities to respond to local need within the overall framework set by Department for Work and Pensions, since they can use their ties and knowledge to best determine how this support should be provided to local communities. The current scheme is the largest ever, worth £842 million across the current financial year. Of this, the allocation for Havering from April 2023 to March 2024 is £3,296,302, bringing their total allocation since October 2021 to £8,240,755.</p><p> </p><p>Cold Weather Payments are also available to help vulnerable people in receipt of certain income-related benefits in England and Wales to meet additional heating costs, during periods of unseasonably cold weather between 1 November and 31 March. Those eligible will automatically receive £25 when the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0°C or below over seven consecutive days.</p><p> </p><p>8.9 million pensioner households received a £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment as a top up to their Winter Fuel Payment from November 2023.  Increasing payments to £500 for households with someone aged 66-79 and £600 for households with someone aged 80 and over.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/01/2024 15:16:01 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

1683372

	registered interest
	date	18/01/2024
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution
	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 17 January to Question 8940, what accounts for the difference between the (a) number and (b) value of transactions of less than £500 reported in (i) that Answer and (ii) the equivalent figures for calendar year 2021 provided in the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 107067.
	tabling member constituency	Islington South and Finsbury
	tabling member printed	Emily Thornberry
	uin	10431
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2024 answer text <p>Pursuant to Answer of 17.01.24 to Question 8940, this was provided as physical card spend only as linked to Question 8701 which was received at the same time, whereas prior Question 107067 was provided as all eProcurement card spend, which includes Virtual cards (Lodged and Single Use)</p><p><br> To provide all eProcurement card spend for the periods requested in Question 8940 (under £500 spend):<br> <br> a) Total purchases 01/01/2022-31/12/2022 = 67,132 with a value of £6,916,350.32</p><p>b) Total purchases 01/01/2023-31/10/2023 = 80,627 with a value of £ £8,706,120.92</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/01/2024 11:18:30 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	1536 label Biography information for Emily Thornberry