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1167793

	registered interest
	date	01/11/2019
	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	Maternity Allowance
	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 31 October 2019 to Question 5404, what the working day turn around for maternity allowance claims was before 15 October 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	8582
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2019 answer text <p>The working day turnaround for Maternity Allowance claims averaged 55 working days up to the end of September 2019 and increased to 60 days by 15 October 2019.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 05/11/2019 16:43:11 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1167826

	registered interest
	date	01/11/2019
	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: Honours
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of staff in his Department in receipt of each category of Honour in (a) December 2018 and (b) June 2019 were (i) from ethnic minority backgrounds and (ii) female aged (A) under 30, (B) 31 to 40, (C) 41 to 50 and (D) aged over 50.
	tabling member constituency	Feltham and Heston
	tabling member printed	Seema Malhotra
	uin	8610
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to ensuring that the honours system is fully representative of UK society. The proportion of women and people from ethnic minorities receiving recognition on each honours list is available on <a href="http://gov.uk/" target="_blank">GOV.UK</a>, as is a breakdown of ethnicities of recipients, published on the Ethnicity Facts and Figures website at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/honours-recipients-by-ethnicity" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/honours-recipients-by-ethnicity</a>. Information on ages is not correlated with other diversity factors. We also publish the proportion of honours by independent committee on GOV.UK. The numbers of honours recipients in the Department for Work and Pensions are small and vary from year to year.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 05/11/2019 16:29:43 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4253 label Biography information for Seema Malhotra

1167614

	registered interest
	date	31/10/2019
	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 non-resident parents have had their passports revoked following a failure to make Child Maintenance Service payments since the new provisions came into effect.
	tabling member constituency	Romsey and Southampton North
	tabling member printed	Caroline Nokes
	uin	8252
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2019 answer text <p>The number of passports revoked by Child maintenance Service is 4. This is clerically derived data, and therefore as with all clerically derived data, is subject to caveat.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 05/11/2019 16:23:00 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes

1167615

	registered interest
	date	31/10/2019
	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, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that non-maintenance-paying parents do not request mandatory reconsiderations from the Child Maintenance Service to continue to avoid making payments.
	tabling member constituency	Romsey and Southampton North
	tabling member printed	Caroline Nokes
	uin	8253
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>All clients, regardless of their role within the scheme, have the right to request a decision be reconsidered by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). Mandatory reconsideration rights only apply to decisions relating to child maintenance liability. The standard timescale in which a revision may be requested is within 30 days of the date of notification of the decision. Our policy is that a mandatory reconsideration will only happen once in respect of any particular decision, after which a client accrues the right to appeal to an independent tribunal.</p><p> </p><p>If a client requests a mandatory reconsideration, their child maintenance liability will remain in place as usual until a decision is made. Where a mandatory reconsideration or appeal is ongoing, the Service will continue to attempt collection of any debt that is not covered by the appeal. The CMS may make a decision to suspend enforcement action on debt which is subject to an appeal, as this may result in reimbursement for the amount collected.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 16:35:59 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes

1167676

	registered interest
	date	31/10/2019
	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: Digital Technology
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who is responsible for digitisation in her Department; and what mechanisms the that person uses to champion digitisation.
	tabling member constituency	North Norfolk
	tabling member printed	Norman Lamb
	uin	8207
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2019 answer text <p>Service transformation is one of the Department for Work and Pensions’ strategic objectives. Accountability is shared between the Director General for Digital and the Director General for Service Excellence. It is coordinated through the Service Transformation Board which provides governance for service improvements as well as the strategic approach to the digitalisation of the Department’s services. The work is championed across the Department, including via Transformation Portfolio Managers and Digital product owners.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 05/11/2019 11:34:51 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb

1167460

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2019
	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	Average Earnings
	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 year-on-year trends in the level of average weekly earnings in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	7644
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2019 answer text <p>Statistics on average weekly earnings growth are published by the independent Office for National Statistics.</p><p> </p><p>In August 2010, real (total) pay fell by 0.5%. In August 2019 the real (total) pay growth was 1.9% - an increase in the rate of real wage growth of 2.4 percentage points.</p><p> </p><p>The highest real (total) pay growth, between Aug 10 – Aug 19, was in Aug 15 (2.6%).</p><p> </p><p>Under the Triple Lock the basic State Pension and the full rate of the new State Pension will be raised the highest of: the rise in prices, the rise in earnings or 2.5%. The relevant measure for earnings is the year-on-year change in Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) from May to July published by the ONS in October, standing at 3.9%</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p /><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Date</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Growth in nominal average weekly total pay</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2010</p></td><td><p>1.8 %</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2011</p></td><td><p>2.6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2012</p></td><td><p>1.6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2013</p></td><td><p>0.7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2014</p></td><td><p>0.6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2015</p></td><td><p>3.0%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2016</p></td><td><p>2.4%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2017</p></td><td><p>2.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2018</p></td><td><p>2.8%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2019</p></td><td><p>3.8%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p /> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 05/11/2019 16:45:26 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1167461

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2019
	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	Part-Time Employment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people working less than 16 hours who wanted to work more in each of the last 10 years.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	7645
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to PQ 4936 in which I give details, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), of the number of people whose usual weekly hours are less than six hours, and between 6 and 15 hours. Details are not available for the number of people working less than 16 hours who wanted to work more in each of the last 10 years.</p><p> </p><p>ONS does publish some related data: 1) the number of people in employment who want to work more hours, are available for work and are currently working below the hours threshold (40 hours a week for those under 18, 48 hours a week for those aged 18 or over), and 2) people working part-time who gave the reason as “could not find full-time job” as reason for working part-time. The tables below give extracts from the ONS published data, however, both these data series will include both those working less than, and more than, 16 hours a week.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: The number of people in employment who want to work more hours, are available for work and are currently working below the hours threshold</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Date</p></td><td><p>Level</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2010</p></td><td><p>2,754</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2011</p></td><td><p>2,841</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2012</p></td><td><p>3,061</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2013</p></td><td><p>3,090</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2014</p></td><td><p>2,977</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2015</p></td><td><p>2,786</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2016</p></td><td><p>2,601</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2017</p></td><td><p>2,460</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2018</p></td><td><p>2,390</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2019</p></td><td><p>2,479</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Source: Table EMP16, ONS, Labour Force Survey</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 2: Part-time workers who gave the reason as “could not find full-time job” as reason for working part-time</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Date</p></td><td><p>Level</p></td><td><p>% of all Part Time Employed</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2010</p></td><td><p>1,084</p></td><td><p>14.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2011</p></td><td><p>1,275</p></td><td><p>16.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2012</p></td><td><p>1,438</p></td><td><p>17.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2013</p></td><td><p>1,467</p></td><td><p>18.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2014</p></td><td><p>1,347</p></td><td><p>16.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2015</p></td><td><p>1,285</p></td><td><p>15.7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2016</p></td><td><p>1,149</p></td><td><p>13.6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2017</p></td><td><p>1,019</p></td><td><p>12.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2018</p></td><td><p>968</p></td><td><p>11.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2019</p></td><td><p>907</p></td><td><p>10.6</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Source: Table EMP01NSA, ONS, Labour Force Survey</p><p> </p><p>At UK level people in full-time work have made up over three quarters of the overall increase in employment since 2010.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 18:07:40 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1167508

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2019
	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 Care Services: Health and Safety
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with representatives from the Local Government Association on the adequacy of health and safety registration procedures in relation to hair salons.
	tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
	tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
	uin	7651
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>We have not had any discussions with representatives from the Local Government Association on the adequacy of health and safety registration procedures in relation to hair salons.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 16:25:06 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1167020

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2019
	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: International Men's Day
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to mark International Men's Day on 19 November 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Shipley
	tabling member printed	Philip Davies
	uin	7099
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2019 answer text <p>No one should suffer unfair treatment because of their gender. Every year International Men’s Day offers an opportunity to highlight how outcomes for men and boys can be improved and to talk about some of the important work going on every day across Government to do this.</p><p> </p><p>The work ranges from the introduction of shared parental leave, which allows men to take time away from the workplace and bond with their new children, benefitting that crucial long-term relationship for both parent and child, to our programme tackling LGBT bullying in schools which seeks to protect those who may be victimised by outdated and stereotypical ideas of what it means to be a ‘real man’.</p><p> </p><p>Government is also working with local authorities to ensure their suicide prevention plans support more men, and in the Domestic Abuse Bill we propose to create a statutory definition of domestic abuse that makes clear men also can be victims of this abhorrent crime.</p><p /><p>In DWP we have a series of national events taking place over the coming weeks to mark International Men’s Day. DWP have partnered with external organisations (The Good Lad initiative and Springboard Consultancy) to give a platform to raise awareness of the challenges that men face in life and raising awareness of men’s wellbeing. We have also invited DWP senior positive role models to talk about their journey, DWP User Researchers to talk about the issues that impact on men at work and the DWP Women’s Network to lead a session on allies and how allies benefit us all.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 05/11/2019 16:37:40 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

1167098

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2019
	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: Disqualifications
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of hardship payments made by her Department which have been directly attributed to the imposition of benefit sanctions in (a) Vale of Clwyd parliamentary constituency, (b) Wales and (c) the UK in each of the last four years.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	7077
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>Hardship payments provide financial protection for claimants whose benefit is reduced by a Fraud Loss of Benefit penalty or a Benefit Sanction.</p><p> </p><p>For a) and b), the information requested is not readily available at a country or constituency level and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>For c) the requested data is provided for Great Britain in the following two tables for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) respectively. Please note, figures supplied are derived from data which has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standard. These results can change retrospectively as further information is received. They should therefore be treated with caution. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 1,000.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="5"><p>JSA - Number of hardship payments awarded as a result of a sanction</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p>2017</p></td><td><p>2018</p></td><td><p>2019 (year to Aug 19)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>120,000</p></td><td><p>58,000</p></td><td><p>29,000</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>Fewer than 1,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="5"><p>ESA - Number of hardship payments awarded as a result of a sanction</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p>2017</p></td><td><p>2018</p></td><td><p>2019 (year to Aug 19)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4,000</p></td><td><p>2,000</p></td><td><p>1,000</p></td><td><p>Fewer than 1,000</p></td><td><p>Fewer than 1,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>For Universal Credit, the data cannot be disaggregated to identify the hardship payments that have been directly attributed to the application of a benefit sanction from those resulting from a fraud penalty.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 18:04:16 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1166631

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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	Employment Schemes
	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 are participating in (a) the Work Programme and (b) Work Choice; and on what date the final participants will complete those programmes.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	6405
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>Statistics on the Work Programme, including information on starts, referrals and job outcomes is published and available here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/work-programme-statistics--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/work-programme-statistics--2</a></p><p> </p><p>Statistics on the Work Choice programme, including information on starts, referrals and job outcomes is published and available here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/work-choice-statistics-number-of-starts-and-referrals--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/work-choice-statistics-number-of-starts-and-referrals--2</a></p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 31/10/2019 17:46:47 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1166712

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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 support is available to parents who are returning to work from parental leave who have to pay childcare costs upfront and get reimbursed in arrears under universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Scunthorpe
	tabling member printed	Nic Dakin
	uin	6354
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to supporting parents with moving into work and, as part of this, we increased the level of support for childcare costs from 70 per cent in legacy benefits to up to 85 per cent in Universal Credit (UC). The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare and UC claimants can utilise both the free childcare entitlement and UC childcare costs in conjunction with each other for relevant hours. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.</p><p> </p><p>The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare and UC claimants can utilise both the free childcare entitlement and UC childcare costs in conjunction with each other for relevant hours. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.</p><p> </p><p>Beyond the UC childcare element, claimants can be considered for two additional methods of funding childcare costs: the Flexible Support Fund (FSF) and Budgeting Advances.</p><p> </p><p>Work Coaches can support individual claimants with barriers that may prevent them from moving into employment. Each case is considered carefully on its own merits with financial help available to eligible claimants in advance for childcare. Where agreed, FSF will pay 100% of the upfront childcare costs up to the payment limits set that the claimant incurs between starting work and receiving their first wage.</p><p> </p><p>A budgeting advance is available for one-off urgent financial events for eligible UC claimants, such as upfront childcare, and is repayable over a period of up to 12 monthly instalments. Only one Budgeting Advance will be paid at a time and further advances will be unavailable until the balance of the previous Budgeting Advance is cleared.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 6355 question first answered 31/10/2019 17:41:48 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4056 label Biography information for Nic Dakin

1166713

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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, if she will take steps to provide the childcare element of universal credit to eligible parents before they pay high childcare costs without any support; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Scunthorpe
	tabling member printed	Nic Dakin
	uin	6355
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to supporting parents with moving into work and, as part of this, we increased the level of support for childcare costs from 70 per cent in legacy benefits to up to 85 per cent in Universal Credit (UC). The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare and UC claimants can utilise both the free childcare entitlement and UC childcare costs in conjunction with each other for relevant hours. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.</p><p> </p><p>The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare and UC claimants can utilise both the free childcare entitlement and UC childcare costs in conjunction with each other for relevant hours. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.</p><p> </p><p>Beyond the UC childcare element, claimants can be considered for two additional methods of funding childcare costs: the Flexible Support Fund (FSF) and Budgeting Advances.</p><p> </p><p>Work Coaches can support individual claimants with barriers that may prevent them from moving into employment. Each case is considered carefully on its own merits with financial help available to eligible claimants in advance for childcare. Where agreed, FSF will pay 100% of the upfront childcare costs up to the payment limits set that the claimant incurs between starting work and receiving their first wage.</p><p> </p><p>A budgeting advance is available for one-off urgent financial events for eligible UC claimants, such as upfront childcare, and is repayable over a period of up to 12 monthly instalments. Only one Budgeting Advance will be paid at a time and further advances will be unavailable until the balance of the previous Budgeting Advance is cleared.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 6354 question first answered 31/10/2019 17:41:48 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4056 label Biography information for Nic Dakin

1166746

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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	Offshore Industry: North Sea
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) representatives of the duty holders of the Thistle oil platform on the evacuation of all workers from the Thistle oil platform to the Dunlin Alpha platform in the North Sea on 21 October 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	6368
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The Secretary of State has not had any recent discussions on this matter. The Health and Safety Executive is currently investigating the reasons for the evacuation of the Thistle oil platform. While the investigation is on-going it would be inappropriate to comment further.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 18:43:24 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1166748

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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	Oil Rigs: North Sea
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has discussed with the Health and Safety Executive the evacuation of all workers from the Thistle oil platform to the Dunlin Alpha platform in the North Sea on 21 October 2019; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	6370
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive is currently investigating the reasons for the evacuation of the Thistle oil platform. While the investigation is on-going it would be inappropriate to comment further.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 16:30:22 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1166749

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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	Oil Rigs: North Sea
	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 the evacuation of all workers from the Thistle oil platform to the Dunlin Alpha platform in the North Sea on 21 October 2019, when the subsea structure of the Thistle oil platform was due the next mandatory safety inspection by the Health and Safety Executive.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	6371
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The offshore regulatory regime does not place duties on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to carry out mandatory inspections. HSE inspects duty holders’ arrangements for managing major accident risks. HSE carried out an inspection of EnQuest’s management of the structural integrity of its Thistle installation in December 2018. Based on the results of the inspection, HSE had planned a follow-up inspection for November 2019. This follow up has been postponed because of the need to investigate the structural integrity issues that led to the evacuation of the workers on 21 October 2019.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 16:30:45 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1166750

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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	Oil Rigs: North Sea
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Health and Safety Executive has provided guidance or advice to EnQuest on conducting preliminary safety inspection of subsea structures of their North Sea assets in the last six months.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	6372
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) last planned inspection of EnQuest’s management of the safety of its subsea structures was in December 2018. Following that inspection, HSE had planned an inspection in November 2019 to evaluate the progress EnQuest had made with its subsea structural analyses and monitoring arrangements. However, this has been postponed as HSE is currently investigating the reasons for the evacuation of EnQuest’s Thistle installation. The investigation findings will inform HSE’s future inspections with EnQuest.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 16:45:14 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1166751

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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	Oil Rigs: North Sea
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the Health and Safety Executive plans to complete its investigations into the causes of the recent fires on the (a) Heather Alpha and (b) Tern Alpha North Sea platforms.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	6373
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) investigations into both incidents are on-going and have included mobilisation of multi-discipline investigation teams to each installation. The investigations have already required HSE to serve enforcement notices on each of the installations’ respective duty holders. Enforcement notices are published on HSE’s website nine weeks after they are served, unless the duty holder appeals the notices at an Employment Tribunal.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 16:29:07 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1166752

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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	Offshore Industry: Safety
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she last discussed the safety of workers in the offshore oil and gas industry with representatives of (a) trades unions and (b) the oil and gas industry.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	6374
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and trade unions are members of Step Change in Safety (SCiS) which meets regularly to discuss the safety of the workforce in the offshore sector. In September 2019, an event was organised by SCiS to recognise the influence of the elected safety representatives on offshore safety in the 30 years since legislation was enacted mandating their appointment at all installations in the UKCS. HSE provided speakers and logistical support for this event. The event was attended by over 300 people. It was also live broadcasted worldwide, enabling workers on offshore installations and regulators from other countries to participate.</p><p> </p><p>HSE officials engage with industry leaders through its membership of Oil and Gas UK (OGUK). At OGUK’s annual safety conference in November 2019, industry leaders will be making a formal commitment to improve their Process Safety Leadership. HSE’s Chair will be speaking at that conference, setting out his expectations for industry leaders, including the need to improve their Process Safety Leadership for the management of major hazard risks.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 16:38:15 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1166882

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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, how many and what proportion of universal credit claimants with children are not eligible for a budgeting advance to pay for upfront childcare costs due to (a) an existing budgeting advance, (b) not having made a debt repayment and (b) not claiming universal credit for a sufficient amount of time in the most recent period for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	6505
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 31/10/2019 17:45:17 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1166913

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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	Maternity Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, where maternity allowance was administered prior to April 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	6240
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>Prior to April 2018 Maternity Allowance was processed at Wrexham Benefit Centre and Chesterfield Benefit Centre.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 18:32:21 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1166914

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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	Maternity Allowance
	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 list (a) all of the sites where maternity allowance has been administered and (b) the period of time they were administered at those sites.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	6241
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>Known sites for processing MA and the period that MA was processed at them is as follows:</p><p> </p><p>Chesterfield – February 2016 to February 2019</p><p>Wrexham – 2005 (exact date unknown) to August 2019</p><p>Birkenhead – From April 2018</p><p>Walsall – From July 2019</p><p>St Helens – From August 2019</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 18:37:29 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1166924

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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: Living Wage
	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 28 October 2019 to Question 3824, what roles are being performed by the 13 departmental staff who are paid below the London Living Wage.
	tabling member constituency	Greenwich and Woolwich
	tabling member printed	Matthew Pennycook
	uin	6470
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>DWP has 13 individuals paid below the London Living Wage out of a total of 11293 employed within the London pay zones. However, these 13 individuals are paid the National Living Wage. They are all employed in administrative grades; 11 are Administrative Assistants and 2 are Administrative Officers. These grades carry out administrative functions in various job roles across the department.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 16:25:57 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4520 label Biography information for Matthew Pennycook

1166925

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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: Catering and Cleaning Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with what companies does his Department hold contracts for (a) catering and (b) cleaning within its London-based estate.
	tabling member constituency	Greenwich and Woolwich
	tabling member printed	Matthew Pennycook
	uin	6471
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2019 answer text <p>Catering and cleaning on the whole DWP estate (including London) are delivered as part of a Total Facilities Management contract with Interserve Facilities Management. Catering is delivered by Compass as a sub-contractor to Interserve.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 01/11/2019 11:02:29 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4520 label Biography information for Matthew Pennycook

1156380

	registered interest
	date	25/10/2019
	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	Maternity Allowance
	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 24 October to Question 2694 on Maternity Allowance, on what date her Department's messaging changed; and what the estimated number of days was in relation to that change.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	5404
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>From 15 October 19 all Enquiry Line greeting messages, Gov.uk and SMS messages were aligned to notify customers that the working day turn around for MA claims was 70 days. This estimate reflected potential concerns that processing times could increase still further – which did not ultimately prove to be the case. In light of this we are reviewing our messaging to ensure our actual processing times are correctly reflected.</p><p>SMS texts only go to those customers that provide mobile contact numbers and are automated from the mail opening unit on receipt of the claim form.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 31/10/2019 17:41:06 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies previous answer version 2850 answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1156130

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	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 his Department defines what a reasonable chance of collection is before deciding to write-off arrears accrued under the Child Support Agency.
	tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
	tabling member printed	Martyn Day
	uin	5054
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Where a receiving parent makes representations for the arrears to be collected, the Service will make every effort to trace the paying parent associated with the case and verify the arrears. The paying parent will also be given an opportunity to make representations as part of the process. Once the debt is moved to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) it will exhaust all available collection methods available in an attempt to secure a payment.</p><p> </p><p>Some of the collection options available to the CMS include imposing a deduction from earnings order and lump sum deduction orders. If all attempts are unsuccessful the debt may then be deemed uncollectable and write-off considered.</p><p /><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 29/10/2019 16:40:36 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1156131

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	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, what estimate she has made of the number of receiving parent's arrears accrued under the Child Support Agency that were written off while a Deduction from Earnings Order was in place.
	tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
	tabling member printed	Martyn Day
	uin	5055
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Only cases with CSA debt that haven’t made payments for the last three months are in scope for selection as part of the Compliance &amp; Arrears Strategy. Cases with a paying Deduction from Earnings Order in Place will not be selected.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 29/10/2019 16:45:29 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1156132

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	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, for what reason receiving parents were not compensated for the decision to write-off arrears for money they were owed which accrued under the Child Support Agency.
	tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
	tabling member printed	Martyn Day
	uin	5056
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Writing off some historic Child Support Agency (CSA) arrears was not a quick or easy decision, and involved exhausting other approaches to deal with the debt, including using debt collection agencies without success. Much of the debt that accrued under the CSA is now old and generally uncollectable, and most parents accept this.</p><p> </p><p>It is a long-established principle of the child maintenance system that where non-resident parents do not pay the maintenance they are legally required to pay, the obligation on the government is to do its best to ensure collection – not for the taxpayer to pay the maintenance.</p><p> </p><p>We are making one last attempt to collect the debt, where it is cost effective to do so and there is a reasonable chance of collection. Debts of smaller amounts may be written off as part of the process.</p><p> </p><p>Attempting to collect would have cost around £1.5bn, and would have recovered between £0.1bn and £0.6bn. Had we not written off we would have needed to maintain the debt indefinitely at a cost of £30 million per year.</p><p> </p><p>Addressing these cases will enable us to close the CSA completely and focus on collecting money that will benefit today’s children, and avoid the build-up of arrears in the Child Maintenance Service.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 5057 question first answered 29/10/2019 16:49:20 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1156133

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	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, what recourse is available to receiving parents whose arrears accrued under the Child Support Agency have been written off.
	tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
	tabling member printed	Martyn Day
	uin	5057
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Writing off some historic Child Support Agency (CSA) arrears was not a quick or easy decision, and involved exhausting other approaches to deal with the debt, including using debt collection agencies without success. Much of the debt that accrued under the CSA is now old and generally uncollectable, and most parents accept this.</p><p> </p><p>It is a long-established principle of the child maintenance system that where non-resident parents do not pay the maintenance they are legally required to pay, the obligation on the government is to do its best to ensure collection – not for the taxpayer to pay the maintenance.</p><p> </p><p>We are making one last attempt to collect the debt, where it is cost effective to do so and there is a reasonable chance of collection. Debts of smaller amounts may be written off as part of the process.</p><p> </p><p>Attempting to collect would have cost around £1.5bn, and would have recovered between £0.1bn and £0.6bn. Had we not written off we would have needed to maintain the debt indefinitely at a cost of £30 million per year.</p><p> </p><p>Addressing these cases will enable us to close the CSA completely and focus on collecting money that will benefit today’s children, and avoid the build-up of arrears in the Child Maintenance Service.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 5056 question first answered 29/10/2019 16:49:20 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1156136

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	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	Retail Trade: Unemployment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to help workers from the retail industry who have lost their jobs transition to new roles.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	4921
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Jobcentre Plus is geared-up to offer advice to those claiming welfare benefits.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit has replaced six working age benefits with one; to simplify the welfare system and make work pay. As a result, people claiming Universal Credit move into work faster, stay in work longer and spend more time looking to increase their earnings. Universal Credit also provides more help with childcare costs, a dedicated Work Coach and scraps the 16, 24 and 30 hour ‘cliff edges’.</p><p> </p><p>Through Jobcentre Plus, individuals can get advice on finding a job; help with retraining or skills advice, CV and job applications; and access to new vacancies we record every day. They can also access a range of tailored opportunities to improve their likelihood of entering or re-entering the labour market, including demand-led training for higher skilled jobs in specific sectors.</p><p> </p><p>Jobcentre Plus also provides numerous leads and good practice ideas to help people direct their job search in the most effective manner.</p><p> </p><p>DWP also supports people affected by redundancy through the Rapid Response Service (RRS). This is designed to give tailored support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with redundancy. Each Jobcentre Plus district deploys resources according to the situation and the requirements of those affected. The RRS is delivered in partnership with a range of national and local partners, including National Careers Service and local service providers.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 29/10/2019 16:30:06 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1156208

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	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	Unemployment
	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 were economically inactive in the UK in (a) 2010 and (b) the most recent year for which figures are available.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	4934
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>In February-April 2010 there were 9.5 million economically inactive people in the UK. This number has dropped to 8.7 million people for the period June-August 2019. These statistics are for the 16-64 age group, which is the Office for National Statistic’s headline rate for economic inactivity.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 29/10/2019 16:34:09 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1156210

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	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	Working Hours
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people that worked less than 15 hours a week in each (a) country and (b) region of the UK in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	4936
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2019 answer text <p>The independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) uses the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to provide estimates for the usual weekly hours of work for people. The table below sets out data ONS publishes on those working fewer than 6 hours, and between 6 and 15 hours. Breakdowns for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and regional breakdowns, are not provided because of small sample sizes. Estimates are based on the number of people who report the numbers of hours worked.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table: People working fewer than 6 hours, and 6 to 15 hours for April to June each year</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td colspan="2"><p>fewer than 6 Hours</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>6 up to 15 hours</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>level (thousands)</p></td><td><p>% of total people in employment</p></td><td><p>level (thousands)</p></td><td><p>% of total people in employment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2010</p></td><td><p>417</p></td><td><p>1.5</p></td><td><p>2,011</p></td><td><p>7.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2011</p></td><td><p>473</p></td><td><p>1.7</p></td><td><p>1,959</p></td><td><p>6.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2012</p></td><td><p>469</p></td><td><p>1.6</p></td><td><p>2,034</p></td><td><p>7.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2013</p></td><td><p>445</p></td><td><p>1.5</p></td><td><p>2,033</p></td><td><p>7.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2014</p></td><td><p>463</p></td><td><p>1.6</p></td><td><p>2,034</p></td><td><p>6.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2015</p></td><td><p>487</p></td><td><p>1.6</p></td><td><p>1,899</p></td><td><p>6.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2016</p></td><td><p>474</p></td><td><p>1.5</p></td><td><p>2,058</p></td><td><p>6.7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2017</p></td><td><p>424</p></td><td><p>1.4</p></td><td><p>2,048</p></td><td><p>6.6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2018</p></td><td><p>426</p></td><td><p>1.4</p></td><td><p>2,043</p></td><td><p>6.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-Jun 2019</p></td><td><p>471</p></td><td><p>1.5</p></td><td><p>2,066</p></td><td><p>6.5</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Source: Table HOUR02NSA, ONS, Labour Force Survey</p><p> </p><p>At UK level people in full-time work have made up over three quarters of the overall increase in employment since 2010.</p><p> </p><p /> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 01/11/2019 12:53:53 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1156211

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	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	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 estimate she has made of the number of people employed on zero-hour contracts in each (a) nation and (b) region of the UK in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	4937
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) use the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to provide estimates for the number of people in employment on contracts that do not guarantee minimum hours (known as ‘zero hours’ contracts’). This data is available for the Oct-Dec quarter only for each year from 2010 to 2018 and is set out in the table below.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Table: Level and rate of people aged 16 and over on zero-hours contracts October to December each year</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p>UK, not seasonally adjusted</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Percentage of people in employment on a zero-hours contract</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010</p></td><td><p>0.6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011</p></td><td><p>0.6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>0.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>1.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>2.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>2.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p>2.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017</p></td><td><p>2.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018</p></td><td><p>2.6</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Source: ONS Labour Force Survey</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>The estimates for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 are considered precise</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>ONS advise that the increased media coverage of zero-hours’ contracts arrangements in the latter half of 2013 may have affected the response to this question by raising awareness of this existing type of contractual arrangement. The ONS therefore advise not to compare pre- and post-2013 data.</p><p> </p><p>Data for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and the English regions has been published every six months by ONS for since 2016. However, because the data is drawn from a survey, many of these sub-UK breakdowns are considered too unreliable for practical purposes. Regional data and guidance on its reliability can be found in tab 4 of table EMP17 published here:</p><p><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/emp17peopleinemploymentonzerohourscontracts/current" target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/emp17peopleinemploymentonzerohourscontracts/current</a></p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 18:38:37 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1156212

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	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: Telephone Services
	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 the Answer of 3 April 2019 to Question 238679 on Universal Credit: Telephone Services, whether calls which are transferred to a different case manager or helpline advisor continue to be (a) recorded and (b) retrievable; and what steps she is taking to ensure that all calls on universal credit are recorded to maintain a complete record of a claimant's interactions with the Department.
	tabling member constituency	North West Durham
	tabling member printed	Laura Pidcock
	uin	5096
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Service centre calls are recorded and retained for a period of 14 months; this includes inbound and outbound calls to and from UC telephony service centres and any transfers within the service centres.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 29/10/2019 11:52:00 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4665 label Biography information for Laura Pidcock

1156245

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	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
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect of delays at the ENGIE Document Scanning facility at Kidderminster on benefit claimants.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	4928
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>The Mail Opening Unit at Kidderminster meets it’s contracted performance requirements and there are no delays. There are full business continuity measures in place and these are regularly reviewed by the relevant officials.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 29/10/2019 16:41:48 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1151864

	registered interest
	date	23/10/2019
	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: St Helens
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of staffing levels for each of the benefits administered in St Helens; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of those levels.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	4275
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>The Department has a resource managing process to effectively forecast current and future staffing requirements. This is regularly reviewed to ensure we can balance supply and demand to meet business objectives.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 28/10/2019 14:11:52 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1151865

	registered interest
	date	23/10/2019
	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	Maternity Allowance: Merseyside and Walsall
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for how long maternity allowance has been administered at (a) Birkenhead, (b) Walsall and (c) St Helens.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	4276
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>Maternity Allowance has been processed at Birkenhead since April 2018. Walsall started processing MA in July 2019 and St Helen’s started processing MA from August 2019.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 28/10/2019 13:56:33 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1151481

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2019
	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, with reference to the report by the Resolution Foundation entitled A fraying net, what steps the Government is taking to (a) reform and strengthen the social security safety net for young adults and (b) ensure that parents under the age of 25 do not lose out financially when moving from the previous benefit system to universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	3702
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to providing targeted support for young people. We aim to ensure that everyone, no matter what their start in life, is given the very best chance of getting into work. To support this, the Department delivers the Youth Obligation Support Programme, Jobcentre Plus Support for Schools and the recently introduced Mentoring Circles for young people.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit is designed to replicate the world of work through the introduction of a range of measures such as monthly assessment periods. Setting a clear benefit rate for claimants under the age of 25 reflects the lower wages that younger workers typically receive. This is intended to maintain the incentive for younger people to find work.</p><p> </p><p>The lower rates for younger claimants who are under the age of 25 years reflects the fact that they are more likely to live in someone else's household and have lower living costs and lower earnings expectations. It also reinforces the stronger work incentives that Universal Credit creates for this age group. Universal Credit also includes separate elements to provide support for housing costs, children and childcare costs and support for disabled people and carers.</p><p> </p><p>Those who naturally migrate to Universal Credit will do so because they will have had a significant change in their circumstances which previously would have led to a new claim to another existing benefit. In these situations, it has always been the case that the assessment of their new benefit will be based on their new circumstances and under the rules of their new benefit without regard to their previous entitlement. As their circumstances will have changed it is not possible to make a meaningful comparison between their previous entitlement to their existing benefit and their new entitlement to Universal Credit.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 28/10/2019 14:05:46 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1151482

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2019
	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 she is taking in response to the findings of her Department's In-work progression trial: further impact assessment and cost benefit analysis report dated 11 October 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	3703
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>Since 2010 we have seen over 3.7 million more people in work; two thirds of them in higher-skilled, higher paid roles. But, the Department wants to ensure everyone has a chance to move to higher paid work, which is why we ran this trial to learn more about what interventions could work. We will examine the outcomes as we develop our policies further to help boost their earnings.</p><p> </p><p>The evaluation of the trial showed small but sustained impacts for those receiving the most support, and it also shows these interventions may be cost effective.</p><p> </p><p>These results are promising, but there is still more work to do to increase our knowledge of What Works. The Department is currently in the second year of a four-year programme, announced in the Autumn Budget 2017, to deliver programme of research and analysis, and run a suite of tests and trials, working in partnership with other Government Departments and external organisations. This includes research which seeks to understand the situations and support needs of our future in-work cohorts; a Rapid Evidence Assessment of international policies linked to in-work progression; and work which will support Jobcentre staff to help claimants to make good decisions around job-switching.</p><p> </p><p>The Department will be using the results of the trial, together with other research conducted in years 1 and 2 of this programme, to develop more targeted tests and trials to support the development of effective in-work services.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 28/10/2019 13:56:52 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1151483

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2019
	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, with reference to her Department's report entitled, In-Work progression trial: further impact assessment and cost benefit analysis, what the point-in-time progression measures were for the (a) 52- and (b) 78-week periods by (i) gender and (ii) self-reported ethnic background of trial participants.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	3704
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The 52-week In-Work Progression Trial Impact Analysis was published on 12<sup>th</sup> September 2018 on GOV.UK. In the trial, the Frequent support group had Work Coach appointments every fortnight, while the Minimal support group only ever had two appointments in total.</p><p> </p><p><strong>i) Gender</strong></p><p> </p><p>The 52-week point-in-time progression measure for males was an additional £4.21 per week for the Frequent support group relative to the Minimal support group. For females, the point-in-time progression measure was an additional £5.99 per week for the Frequent support group relative to the Minimal support group. These progression estimates were calculated from samples and the difference of £1.78 is not statistically significant. The conclusion is that there does not appear to be evidence of a difference in progression between genders.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The 78-week point-in-time progression measure for males was an additional £1.34 per week for the Frequent support group relative to the Minimal support group. For females, the point-in-time progression measure was an additional £6.14 per week for the Frequent support group relative to the Minimal support group. Again, these estimates are based on samples and the difference of £4.80 is not statistically significant. The conclusion is that there does not appear to be evidence of a difference in progression between genders.</p><p> </p><p><strong>ii) Ethnicity</strong></p><p> </p><p>The Department holds some data about ethnicity. Of the self-reported ethnic backgrounds, 82% of trial participants were of a White background; 6% of participants were of a Black/African/Caribbean background; 5% were of an Asian background and 7% were made up of other ethnic backgrounds.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has not calculated ethnicity sub-group progression measures. The small sample sizes in all other ethnicity groups, with the exception of the White background group, means that any comparisons of progression would not lead to statistically robust conclusions.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 18:26:11 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies previous answer version 2264 answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1151484

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2019
	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	Jobcentres: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) minimum, (b) maximum and (c) average caseload was for jobcentre work coaches in each constituency in the most recent period for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	3705
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available to constituency level and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>The size of a Work Coaches caseload will vary as it is dependent on a number of factors, including the level of customer support required, the needs of the local labour market and the Work Coaches working pattern.</p><p /> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 28/10/2019 14:07:19 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1151486

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2019
	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: Disqualification
	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 the Government response to the Work and Pensions Committee’s Nineteenth Report of Session 2017–19, Benefit sanctions. HC1949, when her Department plans to publish its evaluation on whether the sanctions regime within universal credit is effective at supporting claimants to search for work; and what the reason is for the time taken to publish that evaluation.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	3707
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2019 answer text <p>The Department will look to publish its evaluation by the end of 2019.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 30/10/2019 17:26:12 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1151582

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2019
	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: Living Wage
	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 in her Department are paid less than the London Living Wage; and what requirements her Department places on contractors to pay the London Living Wage to London-based staff.
	tabling member constituency	Greenwich and Woolwich
	tabling member printed	Matthew Pennycook
	uin	3824
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>The total number of civil servants in Department for Work and Pensions earning below the London Living Wage rate of £10.55 per hour was 13 as at 25/10/2019.</p><p /><p>This government is committed to paying people a decent living wage, which is being addressed through the statutory National Living Wage. In April 2019, the National Living Wage increased to £8.21 per hour, handing a full-time worker a further £690 annual pay rise. By 2024 the National Living Wage will rise to £10.50 per hour, reaching 66% of median UK earnings. The scope will be expanded to everyone aged 21 and over and is expected to benefit over 4 million low paid workers.</p><p> </p><p>The Government will always award contracts on the basis of the best value for money for the taxpayer.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 28/10/2019 14:03:51 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4520 label Biography information for Matthew Pennycook

1151598

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2019
	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: 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 staff have been assigned to the dedicated team investigating universal credit advance payment loan fraud.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	3564
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>We have 145 staff in the dedicated team. We also have a number of investigators who, as part of their caseload, will be investigating Universal Credit advances fraud cases, but are not part of the dedicated team.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to investigating cases, we are proactively addressing this issue with messaging on social media to raise awareness and remind people of the importance of safeguarding their identity, and by continuing to work with Social Media sites to shut down posts which promote this fraud. We have shut down 164 sites so far.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 28/10/2019 14:34:29 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1150844

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2019
	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	Thomas Cook: Insolvency
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding from the public purse she is allocating to provide former employees of Thomas Cook with immediate financial assistance.
	tabling member constituency	Peterborough
	tabling member printed	Ms Lisa Forbes
	uin	2899
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2019 answer text <p>The information is not available.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 24/10/2019 16:53:24 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4717 label Biography information for Ms Lisa Forbes

1150897

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2019
	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: Pilot Schemes
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what departmental pilot projects are active in (a) Birkenhead and (b) Wirral.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	2691
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>In terms of Jobcentre Plus, there are currently no departmental projects that (a) Birkenhead or (b) Wirral are involved with.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 28/10/2019 17:28:03 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1150941

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2019
	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: Islam
	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 in her Department reported their religion as Islam in the latest period for which figures are available; what the reported ethnicity of those staff was; and how many of those staff were employed at each grade.
	tabling member constituency	Bradford West
	tabling member printed	Naz Shah
	uin	2792
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-workforce-plan-2016-to-2020" target="_blank">Civil Service Workforce Plan 2016-2020</a> set out the ambition for the Civil Service to become the most inclusive employer in the UK. We are already working towards this ambition and are embedding the commitments within <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-brilliant-civil-service-becoming-the-uks-most-inclusive-employer" target="_blank">Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy: A Brilliant Civil Service: becoming the UK’s most inclusive employer</a>, within our day-to-day working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners. This includes a commitment to focus on faith and belief as part of our wider approach to inclusion.</p><p>DWP encourages all of its employees to provide details of their personal diversity information, however this action is voluntary and therefore we do not hold a complete picture of our workforce representation.</p><p> </p><p>As at 30 September 2019, 46.2% of our workforce have positively shared their religious belief information, and 83.7% have shared information on their ethnicity. Due to the different reporting levels caution should be taken when drawing conclusions from this data.</p><p> </p><p>Information has been provided using the 2011 Census in England and Wales 5 broad categories commonly referred to as ONS 5+1 (2011)</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td colspan="7"><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="7"><p><strong>Number of Muslims by Ethnicity Category and Grade as at 30 September 2019</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td><td colspan="9"><p><strong>Grade</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Ethnicity Category</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>A/AA</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>B/AO</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>C/EO</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>D/HEO</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>E/SEO</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>F/G7</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>G/G6</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>SCS</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Grand Total</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Asian/Asian British</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>583</p></td><td><p>685</p></td><td><p>79</p></td><td><p>25</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>11</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td><p><strong>1395</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Black African/Caribbean/Black British</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>15</p></td><td><p>27</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>45</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Mixed/Multiple Ethnic Group</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>13</p></td><td><p>18</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>36</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Other Ethnic Group</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>9</p></td><td><p>14</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>32</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Prefer not to say</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td><p>14</p></td><td><p>28</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>44</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>White</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>8</p></td><td><p>19</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>*</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>34</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Not Recorded</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>35</p></td><td><p>41</p></td><td><p>*</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td colspan="2"><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>78</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Grand Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>*</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>677</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>832</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>96</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>33</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>*</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>5</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>*</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>1664</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>* in line with Office of National Statistics guidance, the data has been suppressed where less than 5 people have contributed a response.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 29/10/2019 11:46:50 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4409 label Biography information for Naz Shah

1150961

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2019
	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	Thomas Cook: Insolvency
	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 October 2019 to Question 375 on Thomas Cook: Insolvency, how many permanent staff are based at Peterborough Jobcentre; and how many staff from neighbouring offices are working from Peterborough Jobcentre on a temporary basis to meet any increased demand on services since the collapse of Thomas Cook.
	tabling member constituency	Peterborough
	tabling member printed	Ms Lisa Forbes
	uin	2915
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2019 answer text <p>There are 91 permanent staff based at Peterborough Jobcentre. The office received the help of 6 additional staff from around the District and neighbouring offices to meet increased demand. All but one returned to their offices last week. There is one person remaining who will return to their home department this week. In addition, overtime was granted to provide extra capacity to meet the demand from and provide support to former Thomas Cook employees.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 24/10/2019 16:57:16 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4717 label Biography information for Ms Lisa Forbes

1150997

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2019
	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 much unpaid child maintenance has been written off since the implementation of Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Bethnal Green and Bow
	tabling member printed	Rushanara Ali
	uin	2828
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>The number of cases and the amount of unpaid child maintenance that have been written off from cases on Child Support Agency systems are published in Tables 8.1 and 8.2 of the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-june-2019-experimental" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-june-2019-experimental</a>.</p><p /> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 2830 question first answered 28/10/2019 16:58:07 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4138 label Biography information for Rushanara Ali

1150999

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2019
	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 cases of unpaid child maintenance have been written off since the implementation of Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Bethnal Green and Bow
	tabling member printed	Rushanara Ali
	uin	2830
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>The number of cases and the amount of unpaid child maintenance that have been written off from cases on Child Support Agency systems are published in Tables 8.1 and 8.2 of the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-june-2019-experimental" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-june-2019-experimental</a>.</p><p /> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 2828 question first answered 28/10/2019 16:58:07 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4138 label Biography information for Rushanara Ali