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1133846

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2019
	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	Children: Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of paying parents using the collect and pay service have paid some child maintenance in each quarter of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	267757
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The latest statistics on the number of paying parents and the proportion of those parents using the Collect &amp; Pay service, who have paid some child maintenance in each quarter in the last three years are published in Table 7 of the Child Maintenance Service Statistics: Paying Parents Compliance.</p><p>It is available online at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-maintenance-service-august-2013-to-december-2018-experimental" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-maintenance-service-august-2013-to-december-2018-experimental</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 26/06/2019 10:28:17 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1133877

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2019
	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	Children: Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many parents were paying child maintenance using a deduction from earnings request under the child maintenance service in each quarter of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	267758
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The number of Paying Parents who were paying child maintenance using a Deduction from Earnings request under the Child Maintenance Service in each quarter of the last three years are outlined in the tables below. These figures count all Paying Parents due to pay maintenance via Deduction from Earnings request, regardless of whether any maintenance had been paid in that quarter.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Calendar Year 2018</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Quarter ending</p></td><td><p><strong>March 2018</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>June 2018</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>September 2018</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>December 2018</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of paying parents with a Deduction from earnings request</p></td><td><p>480</p></td><td><p>580</p></td><td><p>590</p></td><td><p>570</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Calendar Year 2017</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Quarter ending</p></td><td><p><strong>March 2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>June 2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>September 2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>December 2017</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of paying parents with a Deduction from earnings request</p></td><td><p>290</p></td><td><p>320</p></td><td><p>330</p></td><td><p>380</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Calendar Year 2016</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Quarter ending</p></td><td><p><strong>March 2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>June 2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>September 2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>December 2016</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of paying parents with a Deduction from earnings request</p></td><td><p>210</p></td><td><p>230</p></td><td><p>250</p></td><td><p>270</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Please note that figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 26/06/2019 10:42:35 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1133878

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2019
	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	Children: Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Maintenance Service cases were in payment arrears for each quarter of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	267759
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The following table shows the number of Paying Parents who had outstanding unpaid child maintenance (which now needs to be collected through the Collect &amp; Pay service) at the end of the relevant month.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Paying Parents with CMS arrears</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-17</p></td><td><p>105,900</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-17</p></td><td><p>117,100</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mar-18</p></td><td><p>126,800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-18</p></td><td><p>136,400</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-18</p></td><td><p>143,800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-18*</p></td><td><p>148,200</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p /><p>Please note the following points:</p><ul><li>A Paying Parent may be paying towards multiple child maintenance arrangements;</li><li>These figures do not consider unpaid child maintenance that was arranged by the Child Support Agency;</li><li>Paying Parents with any amount of unpaid maintenance which was arranged by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) are considered as having arrears;</li><li>Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Information prior to September 2017 is not readily available and to produce it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p>*Information for December 2018 is not readily available; November 2018 figures have been used instead.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 26/06/2019 15:48:29 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1133895

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2019
	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	Personal Independence Payment: County Duram
	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 20 June 2019 to Question 265490, what steps her Department is taking to (a) assess staff efficiency and (b) identify the adequacy of staffing levels to manage changes in mandatory reconsideration caseloads in the absence of data on staff levels.
	tabling member constituency	Easington
	tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
	uin	267733
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>With reference to the previous question regarding PIP mandatory reconsideration work; for new claims and award reviews, these are managed at a national level to ensure that cases which have been outstanding for longest are actioned first. This means that a claimant could have their mandatory reconsideration considered at any of our 12 sites.</p><p>Operational Managers are in place at all of the sites to ensure that mandatory reconsiderations are processed as efficiently as possible.</p><p>The staffing for mandatory reconsiderations in PIP and across all benefits is currently adequate and is in constant review to ensure caseloads can be processed as efficiently as possible.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 26/06/2019 12:06:42 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1133566

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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	Children: Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to review the Government's decision to calculate child maintenance liabilities as a proportion of gross rather than net parental income; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Darren Jones
	uin	267247
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The paying parent’s gross income is taken directly from HM Revenue and Customs for the latest tax year available. Using the paying parent’s gross income allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately.</p><p>There are no plans to change the way the Child Maintenance Service calculates child maintenance liabilities.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 26/06/2019 12:37:04 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4621 label Biography information for Darren Jones

1133583

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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 effect on universal credit claimants of the 53-week rent year in the 2019-20 financial year.
	tabling member constituency	Knowsley
	tabling member printed	Sir George Howarth
	uin	267199
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>Neither tenants or landlords lose a week’s rent in a 53 weekly rent payment year as has been alleged; no year contains 53 weeks. The problem is alignment between weekly and monthly cycles. Each month the UC housing element is a constant figure but claimants with weekly tenancy agreements will be required to make either four or five rent payments within this period. If the claimant always pays their rent on time, in five payment months they are effectively making payment for part of the following month. That month will always be a four rent payment month, so the combination of the advance payment and the ‘overpayment’ of housing support during that month will get the claimant back on track.</p><p>Where a landlord charges rent weekly on a Monday, because of the way the calendar falls every 5 or 6 years, they will seek 53 rent payments in a year, with the 53rd payment in part covering the tenancy for the first few days of the following year. The effect of this is that, over the course of the next housing association rental year, a tenant’s UC payments will accurately reflect their liability, irrespective of the 53 payment weeks.</p><p>There is 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 26/06/2019 12:28:22 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	481 label Biography information for Sir George Howarth

1133632

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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	Television Licences: Older People
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free television licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Kensington constituency and (b) Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea local authority area in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.
	tabling member constituency	Kensington
	tabling member printed	Emma Dent Coad
	uin	267288
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.</p><p>The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.</p><p>This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.</p><p>On 10 June 2019, the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/reports/consultation/age-related-tv-licence-policy" target="_blank">announced</a> that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.</p><p>The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September.</p><p /><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Expenditure (£m) (Nominal)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017-18</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(a) Kensington constituency</strong></p></td><td><p>£0.69</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(b) Royal Borough of Kensington &amp; Chelsea local authority area</strong></p></td><td><p>£1.00</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 26/06/2019 12:44:04 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4683 label Biography information for Emma Dent Coad

1133723

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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	Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many vulnerable claimants whose benefits claim was closed as a result of them not attending a Work Capability Assessment (a) received a home visit and (b) did not receive a home visit in 2018-19.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	267198
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The Work and Health Decision Making Directorate makes decisions on benefit entitlement for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) customers who have failed to attend Work Capability Assessments.</p><p>Whilst we would be able to ascertain the total number of ESA claims closed for failing to attend a Work Capability Assessment without good cause, this would incur disproportionate costs. Further, the information would not provide details of how many of those customers were vulnerable or how many received a home visit. To obtain the details requested would require scrutiny of thousands of individual claims. Therefore, the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.</p><p>In respect of Universal Credit claims, these are not closed as a result of the claimant failing to attend the Work Capability Assessment. Where a decision is made that the claimant failed to attend without good cause, the claimant’s health journey is ended and their work conditions are changed accordingly. Information about the number of claims referred for a home visit during the decision making process is not collated. To obtain this information would incur disproportionate costs.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 26/06/2019 12:15:18 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1133351

	registered interest
	date	19/06/2019
	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	Television Licences: Older People
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free television licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Carmarthen East and Dinefwr constituency and (b) Carmarthenshire local authority area and (c) Wales in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.
	tabling member constituency	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
	tabling member printed	Jonathan Edwards
	uin	266831
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.</p><p>The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.</p><p>This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.</p><p>On 10 June 2019, the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/reports/consultation/age-related-tv-licence-policy" target="_blank">announced</a> that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.</p><p>The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September.</p><p /><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Expenditure (£m) (Nominal)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017-18</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(a) Carmarthen East and Dinefwr constituency</strong></p></td><td><p>£0.93</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(b) Carmarthenshire local authority area</strong></p></td><td><p>£2.29</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(c) Wales</strong></p></td><td><p>£34.11</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 26/06/2019 16:32:48 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3943 label Biography information for Jonathan Edwards

1133352

	registered interest
	date	19/06/2019
	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	Television Licences: Older People
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free television licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Arfon constituency and (b) Gwynedd local authority area and (c) Wales in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	266832
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.</p><p>The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.</p><p>This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.</p><p>On 10 June 2019, the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/reports/consultation/age-related-tv-licence-policy" target="_blank">announced</a> that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.</p><p>The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September.</p><p /><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Expenditure (£m) (Nominal)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017-18</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(a) Arfon constituency</strong></p></td><td><p>£0.56</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(b) Gwynedd local authority area</strong></p></td><td><p>£1.41</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>(c) Wales</strong></p></td><td><p>£34.11</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 26/06/2019 16:14:54 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams