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1127931

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2019 to Question 254154 on Poverty: Children, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the decline in the number of children in absolute low-income households between 2004-5 and 2009-10.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	256959
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>Absolute low income takes the 60 per cent of median income threshold from 2010/11 and moves this in line with inflation. This is designed to assess how low incomes are faring with reference to inflation. The percentage of individuals in absolute low income will decrease if individuals with lower incomes see their real incomes rising (increasing by more than inflation).</p><p> </p><p>Trends in the number of children in absolute poverty can be found using the link below, in table 4.4tr, in the file “children-trends-hbai-1994-95-2017-18-tables.ods”.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Between 2004/05 and 2009/10 the number of children in absolute low income households before housing costs fell, indicating that children in lower income households saw their real incomes rise by more than inflation. However, the number of children in absolute low income households after housing costs was 3.8m in both 2004/05 and 2009/10. This suggests that for low income households with children, these real rises in income were offset by increasing housing costs during this period.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 04/06/2019 14:38:17 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127958

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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: Children
	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 children in absolute poverty in each year between 1989 and 1997.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	256960
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>National statistics on the number of children living in absolute low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication.</p><p> </p><p>HBAI data is unavailable before 1994/95 and are for the United Kingdom from 2002/03 onwards. Earlier years are for Great Britain only. The number of children in absolute poverty from 1994/95 can be found using the link below, in table 4.4tr, in the file “children-trends-hbai-1994-95-2017-18-tables.ods”.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 04/06/2019 14:27:34 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1128290

	registered interest
	date	22/05/2019
	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: Metro Newspaper
	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 cost to the public purse of her Department's advertising in the 22 May 2019 edition of the Metro newspaper.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	257471
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department provides services to around 22 million people, and has a responsibility to communicate policy and essential information to claimants and other key audiences, in a similar way to other government departments. Newspaper advertising contributes to our routine communications activity that has been running alongside the rollout of Universal Credit since 2013.</p><p> </p><p>The Universal Credit Uncovered media partnership with the Metro is currently underway and running for a further six weeks so we are unable to provide accurate spend to date figures for the partnership. However, we can commit to publish final full spend on the partnership at the end of July once all activity has concluded.</p><p> </p><p>The information used for the partnership was sourced by DWP officials. The content features actual claimant case studies and interviews from Jobcentre work coaches, and the advertorials have been developed in partnership with the Metro.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 257404 257542 257563 257573 question first answered 11/06/2019 16:36:52 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1128412

	registered interest
	date	22/05/2019
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria her Department uses to assess whether people are (a) destitute and (b) living in destitution.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	257500
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>There is no official definition of destitution. The Department for Work and Pensions annually publishes Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics, based on the Family Resources Survey, which sets out four official measures of relative and absolute low income before and after housing costs. The closest measure in HBAI to a measure of destitution is the number of children in “severe low income” (50% of median before housing costs). HBAI also provides measures of material deprivation based on questions to parents and pensioners about their ability to afford the basics in life such as heating homes and paying bills. In addition, new questions have been added to the Family Resources Survey to develop a food insecurity measure from 2021.</p><p>New experimental statistics to measure poverty will be developed, and published by DWP in 2020. The new analysis will be based on the work undertaken by the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) which was presented in the SMC’s ‘A New Measure of Poverty’ report last year.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/06/2019 13:33:57 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1130135

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the proportion of universal credit claimants who have had payments reduced because they had previously received advances.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	260559
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit (UC) new claim advances provide access to a payment for those in financial need, which can be accessed on the same day, until their first UC payment is due. Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, for which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has taken a number of steps to ensure that advances meet the needs of claimants and that recovery arrangements are personalised and reasonable. From October 2019 we are reducing the maximum rate of deductions to 30 per cent and from October 2021 we are increasing the maximum recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p>The latest available data is for eligible claims to UC Full Service that are due a payment in February 2019. Of these claims 44% had a deduction to repay a UC advance.</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p> </p><ol><li>Data has been sourced from UC Full Service.</li></ol> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 10/06/2019 14:00:26 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1130146

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty
	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 5 June 2019 to Question 257500, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of formally adopting a definition for destitution.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	260560
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2019 answer text <p>This Government is committed to broadening our understanding of people’s living standards. New experimental statistics to measure poverty are being developed, based on the work undertaken by the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) which was presented in the SMC’s ‘A New Measure of Poverty’ report last year. This development work includes consideration of groups of people previously omitted from poverty statistics, like rough sleepers and those just above the low income threshold but in overcrowded housing, as well as consideration of a wider measurement framework of poverty covering the depth, persistence and lived experience of poverty.</p><p>There is no agreed way of defining destitution. External organisations (most notably the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF)) have attempted to define and measure destitution. The JRF’s definition of destitution, however, is complex, and challenging to measure with accuracy. The JRF admit that there is a wide margin of uncertainty about the numbers they identify as destitute. The government therefore has no plans to adopt this definition as any official definition of destitution should be measurable and accurate.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/06/2019 12:49:24 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1130566

	registered interest
	date	06/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Appeals
	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 personal independence payment and employment and support allowance decisions made by (a) ATOS, and (b) Maximus were overturned on appeal in each year for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	261117
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2019 answer text <p>Assessment Providers do not make the benefit decisions which are appealed to Her Majesty's Court and Tribunal Service (HMCTS). They provide assessment reports to the department’s decision makers who use that as evidence to make the actual benefit decision. It is that decision which is appealed.</p><p>PIP assessments are delivered by IAS (formally known as Atos) and Capita. Information on the proportion of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) decisions following an IAS assessment that are overturned on appeal is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p>ESA Work Capability Assessments (WCA) are delivered by the Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA), operated by Maximus. CHDA began delivering WCAs from March 2015. Experimental statistics on the number of ESA (WCA) completed and the number where the decision was overturned on appeal by period of claim start are available in Table 17 of the publication “ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessments including mandatory reconsiderations and appeals: March 2019”, available here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-including-mandatory-reconsiderations-and-appeals-march-2019" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-including-mandatory-reconsiderations-and-appeals-march-2019</a></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 11/06/2019 15:02:17 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1130568

	registered interest
	date	06/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her Written Statement of 5 March 2019, HC WS1376, if she will place in the Library a copy of the contract terms for the extension of the Health and Disability Assessment Service.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	261118
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2019 answer text <p>The negotiations to extend the Health and Disability Assessment Service contract for 17 months until 31 July 2021 are still to be concluded<strong>.</strong> There are currently no plans to publish a redacted version of the contract which supports this extension in the House of Commons library.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 11/06/2019 11:43:06 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1130743

	registered interest
	date	07/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of child poverty (a) before and (b) after housing costs have been taken into account in each local authority in Wales in each year for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	261483
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <p>National statistics on the number of people in relative and absolute low income are set out in the annual &quot;Households Below Average Income&quot; publication. The number and proportion of children in low income is not available at local authority or constituency level in this publication because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography.</p><p>3-year estimates for the proportion of children in before and after housing cost low income in the Wales region are available using the link below, in the file “children-hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2017-18-tables.ods”.</p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip</a></p><p>Table 4.16ts shows child relative low income estimates and table 4.22ts shows child absolute low income estimates.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 12/06/2019 11:56:18 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1130744

	registered interest
	date	07/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of housing costs on the level of child poverty; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	261484
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department looks at rates of child poverty both before and after housing costs. Absolute child poverty after housing costs has reduced from 28% in 2009/10 to 26% in 2017/18. However, this is higher than the absolute child poverty rate before housing costs which was 18% in 2017/18, suggesting that housing costs have an effect on rates of children in low income households.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 12/06/2019 15:43:22 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane