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1087534

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2019
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many couples (1) with, and (2) without, dependent children are receiving Universal Credit in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL14457
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2019 answer text <p>The Department does not hold information on persons claiming Universal Credit in Northern Ireland. The available data is published at Stat Xplore.</p><p>The table below shows the number of couples in England, Wales and Scotland, with and without child dependants who are receiving Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Couple, no child dependant</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Couple, with child dependant(s)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>England</strong></p></td><td><p>39,798</p></td><td><p>105,955</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Wales</strong></p></td><td><p>2,502</p></td><td><p>5,511</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Scotland</strong></p></td><td><p>4,683</p></td><td><p>9,914</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Great Britain</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>46,987</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>121,385</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Source:</strong> Households on Universal Credit</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><ol><li>Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data. Totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied.</li><li>A count date of the second Thursday of the month is used when calculating the statistics for the people on Universal Credit.</li><li>Further information on the background and methodology can be accessed via our latest statistical release.</li><li>These figures are provisional. These figures will be subject to revision in subsequent releases. It is expected that overall provisional figures will be within two per cent of their revised figure in future releases. Figures relating to the employment breakdown will be also be subject to revision.</li><li>The DWP does not hold this information for Northern Ireland. The responsibility for statistics in Northern Ireland lies with the Department for Communities.</li></ol> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 25/03/2019 12:03:12 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1087539

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2019
	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: Deductions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what action is open to a social security claimant where a utility company is reclaiming arrears from their benefit payment but the claimant contests the amount of the arrears because of a faulty meter.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL14461
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2019 answer text <p>For legacy benefits (JSA, IS and ESA), where a claimant notifies DWP they are disputing liability for the debt the deductions are stopped until this is resolved.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Deductions for arrears of fuel charges are taken from UC as a last resort when other recovery methods have failed and it is considered to be in the best interests of the claimant and their family to prevent the risk of fuel disconnection. However, if a claimant provides evidence that the deductions should not be made, a DWP Decision Maker would consider whether the deduction should continue. Disputes about the amount of arrears a utility company say a claimant has are to be resolved between the claimant and their utility provider.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 20/03/2019 16:06:03 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1087536

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2019
	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	Poverty
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress the Department for Work and Pensions has made in achieving sustainable development goal 1, End poverty in all its forms everywhere, for which it is the lead department; and what steps that department has taken to publicise its work on that goal.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL14458
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2019 answer text <p>The Prime Minister has committed the UK to undertaking a Voluntary National Review (VNR) on progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda. This will be presented to the UN’s High Level Political Forum in July this year. The Department for Work and Pensions is leading work across Government to assess progress against sustainable development goal 1 and, as part of this, has been engaging with a broad range of external stakeholders.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 20/03/2019 15:56:24 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1087269

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2019
	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	Down's Syndrome
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what research her Department has conducted on life for people with Down's Syndrome in the 21st century.
	tabling member constituency	Congleton
	tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
	uin	231432
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2019 answer text <p>This department undertakes research into people’s experience of support into work schemes, including the experiences of disabled people. The Department has not conducted or commissioned research on life experiences for people with Down’s Syndrome in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century.</p><p> </p><p>Equal rights for disabled people, including people with Down’s Syndrome, are provided for under the reasonable adjustments provisions in the Equality Act and the Public Sector Equality duty. Each Government Department and public authority is under a duty to make adequate provision for disabled people including people with Down’s Syndrome.</p><p> </p><p>Disability in the UK is mainstreamed. This means that every department is ultimately responsible for considering disability in the development and implementation of its policies and services.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 19/03/2019 14:57:51 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1087241

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2019
	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 proportion of universal credit claimants have verified their identity face-to-face in a jobcentre in each year for which information is available.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	231352
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2019 answer text <p>The table below shows the proportion of UC Full Service claimants that attended a face to face meeting in order to provide evidence of their identification.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Calendar Year</p></td><td><p>Proportion of Claimants</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p>88%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017</p></td><td><p>78%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018</p></td><td><p>68%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><p>The data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. The data should therefore be treated with caution.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>We have previously answered a PQ stating that 38% of claimants verify their identity successfully online. The percentages may not appear to add up for the following reasons:</p><p> </p><p>We cannot rule out the possibility that some of the people in the table above also tried the verify their ID online. However, if there are any such people they are likely to be small in number.</p><p> </p><p>The figures are based upon claims that successfully had their ID verified and accepted a claimant commitment. This is to ensure consistency with other Departmental figures on UC claims.</p><p> </p><p>All figures have been rounded to the nearest percentage point.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/03/2019 14:08:34 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1087048

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Personal Independence Payment: Appeals
	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 personal independence payment tribunal cases were attended by (a) presenting officers and (b) departmental staff in each year for which information is available.
	tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
	tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
	uin	231468
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2019 answer text <p>Information on the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeals cleared at an oral hearing and the number where a Presenting Officer (PO) attended are shown in the table below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Financial year of hearing</strong></p></td><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Presenting Officer attended</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number</p></td><td><p>%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>61,430</p></td><td><p>6,710</p></td><td><p>11%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>71,390</p></td><td><p>19,870</p></td><td><p>28%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April to December 2018</p></td><td><p>53,960</p></td><td><p>10,040</p></td><td><p>19%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>Apart from the PO, the only other departmental staff who are likely to attend would be either trainee POs or those whose work or role within the department is likely to benefit from seeing how tribunal hearings are conducted. Neither play any part in the proceedings on the day. Information on the number of other departmental staff attending tribunal hearings is not held centrally.</p><p>In 2016 DWP took the decision to expand its number of POs. The recruitment engaged additional POs from February 2017 with the last cohort of expansion programme being completed in October 2017.</p><p>The reduction in oral hearings attended by POs in recent months is due to a number of factors. This includes significant training and upskilling of POs affecting the number of hearings attended, and normal attrition rates leading to a reduction in the number of Presenting Officers in post. We expect that First-tier Tribunal (FtT) hearings attended by POs will increase once training and current recruitment activity has been completed and will be monitoring this regularly.</p><p>Data has been rounded to the nearest 10.</p><p>Great Britain only.</p><p>Appeals may have more than one hearing, including where hearings are adjourned. The figures in the table above only include oral hearings where the appeal was cleared. They also exclude paper hearings.</p><p>This data is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 19/03/2019 15:24:46 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery

1087210

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2019
	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	Christmas Bonus: Non-payment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have contacted her Department since 1 December 2018 on non-payment of the 2018 Christmas bonus.
	tabling member constituency	Oldham East and Saddleworth
	tabling member printed	Debbie Abrahams
	uin	231472
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2019 answer text <p>The Christmas Bonus was first paid in 1972 as a result of The Pensioners and Family Income Supplement Payments Act 1972 and was introduced as a means of providing additional financial support to customers in receipt of a pension or qualifying benefit.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Both Pensioners and working age customers in receipt of certain benefits receive the tax-free £10 Christmas Bonus and payments are usually automatically generated based on receipt of a qualifying benefit.</p><p> </p><p>For the 2017/2018 qualifying period (latest data available) 15,922000.00 (fifteen million, nine hundred and twenty two thousand) DWP customers received the Christmas Bonus.</p><p> </p><p>DWP does not retain information relating to the number of customers who contacted the Department to report non-payment of the Christmas Bonus as it does not have a business requirement to do so. Therefore, this information is only available at disproportionate cost to The Department for Work &amp; Pensions.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 15/03/2019 14:43:36 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4212 label Biography information for Debbie Abrahams

1087208

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2019
	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	Christmas Bonus
	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 in receipt of (a) personal independence payment and (b) disability living allowance were (i) entitled to the £10 Christmas bonus and (ii) received that Christmas bonus in 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Oldham East and Saddleworth
	tabling member printed	Debbie Abrahams
	uin	231471
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2019 answer text <p>The Christmas Bonus is a one-off tax-free £10 payment paid to claimants who receive certain qualifying benefits including Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA). To qualify, the claimant must be in receipt of the qualifying benefit in the qualifying week which is normally the first full week of December. If a DLA or PIP claimant receives another qualifying benefit their bonus may be attached to that benefit rather than to their PIP or DLA award.</p><p> </p><p>The Department publishes a range of detailed statistics for PIP and DLA on Stat-Xplore: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a>. These statistics include monthly caseloads (claims in payment) to August 2018 for DLA and to October 2018 for PIP. Caseloads for December 2018 have not yet been published.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: <a href="https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html" target="_blank">https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The number of claimants, regardless of qualifying benefit, who received the Christmas Bonus in 2017/18 can be found in Table 1c of the “Outturn and forecast: Autumn Budget 2018 (XLS)” spreadsheet in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2018" target="_blank">2018 Benefit Expenditure and Caseload tables. </a> Outturn figures for 2018/19 will be published in due course.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 15/03/2019 13:47:16 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4212 label Biography information for Debbie Abrahams

1087040

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2019
	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: Autism
	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 made an assessment of trends in the level of (a) bullying and (b) harassment of people with autism in the workplace.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol West
	tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
	uin	231511
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2019 answer text <p>We currently have no plans to assess trends in bullying and harassment in the workplace of people with autism.</p><p> </p><p>However, we are committed to supporting people with disabilities or health conditions, including those with autism, to manage issues they may face in employment by offering both them and their employers appropriate support. For example:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Access to Work has put in place a Hidden Impairment Specialist Team (HIST) that aims to offer advice and guidance to help employers support employees with conditions such as autism, Learning Disability and/or Mental Health conditions. HIST also offers eligible people an assessment to find out their needs at work and help to develop a support plan.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>Through the Disability Confident scheme, DWP is engaging with employers and helping to promote the skills, talents and abilities of disabled people, including those with autism and associated conditions. Disability Confident offers advice and support to help employers feel more confident about employing disabled people.</li></ul><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 19/03/2019 14:56:16 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1087231

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Personal Independence Payment: Work Capability Assessment
	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 oral contribution of the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth, Official Report column 969, how she plans to merge the personal independence payment and work capability assessment processes; who will take part in that merger; whether there will be (a) a pilot and (b) an independent evaluation of that merger; and who will provide that assessment service.
	tabling member constituency	Oldham East and Saddleworth
	tabling member printed	Debbie Abrahams
	uin	231473
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2019 answer text <p>The Health Transformation Programme within DWP has been established to transform the currently separate Work Capability Assessment service for Employment Support Allowance and Universal Credit, and the Personal Independence Payment assessment service, into a single integrated service from 2021.</p><p>As with any major change, this will take time to design, and it will be rolled out carefully – learning as we go. We need to take time to get this right and we will be seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that the new service is one that works for our customers and that we safely transition to the new arrangements. We will continue to keep the most appropriate method of delivery under review and we believe assessment providers will continue to play an important role. For any elements that are outsourced, we will run a procurement process compliant with the Public Contracts Regulations.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 15/03/2019 11:14:28 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4212 label Biography information for Debbie Abrahams