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1132014

	registered interest
	date	13/06/2019
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Chief Scientific Advisers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many meetings she has held with her Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 March 2019 and 31 May 2019.
	tabling member constituency	North Norfolk
	tabling member printed	Norman Lamb
	uin	264367
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions held no meetings with the Department’s Chief Scientific Advisor between 1 March 2019 and 31 May 2019.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/06/2019 13:04:55 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb

1132054

	registered interest
	date	13/06/2019
	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
	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 universal credit claimants paying rent weekly do not face a one-week shortfall in their universal credit housing element in 2020.
	tabling member constituency	Ogmore
	tabling member printed	Chris Elmore
	uin	264450
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>No-one will face a one-week shortfall in their Universal Credit (UC) housing element in 2020 as no year contains 53 weeks. This perceived issue of there being a one-week shortfall due to there being 53 weeks in a year arises where a landlord charges rent weekly on a Monday and, because of the way the calendar falls every 5 or 6 years, requiring 53 rent payments in a year, with the 53<sup>rd</sup> payment in part covering the tenancy for the first few days of the following year.</p><p> </p><p>Where a tenant makes a 53<sup>rd</sup> rent payment in a given year, this payment will cover some days in the subsequent year. This will mean the following month only has four payment dates and, as such, the claimant will be ‘overpaid’ for their housing and their shortfall will be recovered.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit payments are designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly payments reflecting the way many working people are paid. This model of monthly payments allows claimants to take responsibility for budgeting their own income and helps prepare them for getting back to work.</p><p> </p><p>We are aware of a separate issue with respect to the way the calculation in the Universal Credit regulations converts a weekly liability into a monthly allowance. The conversion is achieved by multiplying the weekly rent by 52 and then dividing by 12. This effectively means one day’s rent a year (two days in a leap years) are not covered by UC. We are currently considering whether this formulation around weekly rents, and potentially other weekly amounts in the UC calculation, should be amended.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/06/2019 11:44:35 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4572 label Biography information for Chris Elmore

1131763

	registered interest
	date	12/06/2019
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Statistics
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions her Department has received representations from the UK Statistics Authority on her Department's presentation and use of statistics in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	263734
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>Details on the UK Statistics Authority’s interventions are published in the correspondence, publications, and issues log sections of their website since 2010. <a href="https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>The Authority’s Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) also carry out regular assessments and systemic reviews, details of which can also be found on the Authority’s website. <a href="https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/osr/" target="_blank">https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/osr/</a></p><p> </p><p>In September 2018, the Authority published the first annual summary of its interventions for the financial year 2017/18. The report for 2018/19 will be published in the autumn. <a href="https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/annual-casework-review-20172018/" target="_blank">https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/annual-casework-review-20172018/</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/06/2019 12:30:39 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1131838

	registered interest
	date	12/06/2019
	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	Funerals: Costs
	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 7 May 2019 to Question 249851, what steps her Department takes to (a) make funerals accessible to everyone and (b) co-ordinate actions between the various bodies listed to ensure they are making funerals accessible to everyone.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	263674
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>The Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payments provides a significant contribution towards funeral costs for claimants on qualifying benefits. It continues to meet the necessary costs of a cremation or burial and up to £700 towards other costs. In 2017-18 around 25,500 Funeral Expenses Payment awards were made. This amounted to £37.1 million of support for funeral costs. Interest-free Social Fund Budgeting Loans and Universal Credit Budgeting Advances are now also available to assist with funeral costs.</p><p> </p><p>The Department holds regular discussions with funeral providers and related organisations, including a Ministerial Roundtable on 18th June 2019 to discuss the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payments scheme and listen to views for suggested future improvements.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/06/2019 12:07:19 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1131370

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2019
	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
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) increased data sharing with social landlords and (b) other enhancements of the Trusted Partner Status programme with housing associations.
	tabling member constituency	Walsall North
	tabling member printed	Eddie Hughes
	uin	263247
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department is continuing to consider how they can develop its Trusted Partner Status programme. This requires careful consideration and evaluation surrounding how we manage data security, whilst realising the advantages that data sharing with partner organisations brings to our claimants.</p><p> </p><p>We are working with a wide and diverse range of stakeholders to design any future processes.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 19/06/2019 16:38:17 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4635 label Biography information for Eddie Hughes

1131388

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2019
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Empty Property
	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 name and location of the land and buildings owned by her Department that is (a) sitting empty and (b) in the process of being sold or disposed of; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	263036
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2019 answer text <p>In 2017 the Office of Government Property published the Guide for the Disposal of Surplus Land, providing detailed guidance on how to plan for and execute land disposals.</p><p> </p><p>This guide mandates that departmental land holdings must be registered on the e-PIMs central record system. Land holdings deemed surplus are recorded on the Register of Surplus Land for at least 40 days for other government departments to express an interest.</p><p> </p><p>Homes England and Department for Education/LocatEd are given a higher allowance of 50 days to express an interest if the site could be developed for housing or a free school.</p><p> </p><p>After the 50-day period surplus land holdings are recorded <a href="https://www.gov.uk/find-government-property" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 19/06/2019 16:45:15 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1131049

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Complaints
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints submitted to his Department by (a) hon. Members and (b) people in each parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Ellesmere Port and Neston
	tabling member printed	Justin Madders
	uin	262405
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not available in the format requested and doing so could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has a two tier complaints process which considers formal complaints about our service and can be found on Gov.uk</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not collect data about the parliamentary constituency for complaints received from members of the public. Numbers of complaints can be found at</p><p>(<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/complaints-about-the-department-for-work-and-pensions" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/complaints-about-the-department-for-work-and-pensions</a>)</p><p> </p><p>The number of complaints about DWP benefits from April 2018 to March 2019, where the Department’s management information indicated that there was an honourable Member interest, are as follows:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Tier 1 (Resolution)</p></td><td><p>6,310</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Tier 2 (Review)</p></td><td><p>51</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>These figures include complaints escalated across 2018/2019.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/06/2019 13:43:18 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4418 label Biography information for Justin Madders