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1127882

	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	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of a five-week wait for a first payment of universal credit on trends in the level of food bank usage.
	tabling member constituency	Romford
	tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
	uin	257005
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/05/2019 answer text <p>No Universal Credit (UC) claimant has to wait five weeks for their first payment and there are many reasons why people use foodbanks.</p><p> </p><p>If required, advances of up to 100 per cent of their expected UC award are available to claimants from day one of their claim. Advances are paid back over a maximum of 12 months and in the Autumn Budget 2018, we announced that from October 2021, the payback period for these advances will be extended further, allowing claimants up to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p>This is just one of a number of measures the Department has put in place to support claimants such as paying those claimants moving from Housing Benefit onto UC a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 29/05/2019 13:48:24 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

1127817

	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	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 consolatory payments have been made by the Child Maintenance Service in each of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Lanark and Hamilton East
	tabling member printed	Angela Crawley
	uin	257080
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/05/2019 answer text <p>Child Maintenance Group (CMG) have only recorded Compensation Payment details for CMS separately since 2017/18, so we are unable to identify CMS only costs prior to that financial year.</p><p> </p><p>For 2017/18 and 2018/19 the CMS figures are as follows:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2017-18</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2018-19</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Consolatory Payments</p></td><td><p>£72,099</p></td><td><p>£79,556</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>However the data for the volume of consolatory payments is not routinely recorded.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 29/05/2019 14:12:18 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4469 label Biography information for Angela Crawley

1127818

	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	Child Maintenance Service
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much the Child Maintenance Service has spent on consolatory payments in each of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Lanark and Hamilton East
	tabling member printed	Angela Crawley
	uin	257081
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/05/2019 answer text <p>Child Maintenance Group (CMG) have only recorded Compensation Payment details for CMS separately since 2017/18, so we are unable to identify CMS only costs prior to that financial year.</p><p> </p><p>For 2017/18 and 2018/19 the CMS figures are as follows:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017-18</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2018-19</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Consolatory Payments</p></td><td><p>72,099</p></td><td><p>79,556</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 29/05/2019 14:02:44 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4469 label Biography information for Angela Crawley

1128073

	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	Universal Credit
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations to improve information provision for Universal Credit claimants in the report by the Child Poverty Action Group Computer says ‘No!' Stage one: information provision, published in May.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL15922
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/06/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit is designed to react and respond quickly to feedback from our stakeholders and claimants to improve the service we offer. This means that any report based on a view of the service at a given date may well be inaccurate only a short period afterwards.</p><p> </p><p>This is the case with this Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) report. The report does not take into account recent changes to the Universal Credit Statement which ensures that claimants receive detailed information about any deductions which have been made to their Universal Credit award, including a clear breakdown of what each deduction is for. Consequently, the Department has written to CPAG about the report, outlining the up to date position on these issues and inviting CPAG and his Honour Judge Sir Stephen Sedley, who wrote the report’s foreword, to meet to discuss these matters.</p><p> </p><p>The Department will continue to make improvements to Universal Credit to ensure that we provide claimants with the information they need to understand their Universal Credit award.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 06/06/2019 13:50:42 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1128083

	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	Equality
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Buscombe on 21 May (HL Deb, col 1858), on what evidence they base their statement that “inequality has fallen”; and whether they will publish that evidence.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Primarolo
	uin	HL15932
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/06/2019 answer text <p>National statistics on income inequality are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication using the Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient is an international standard technical measure of how incomes are distributed across all individuals. It ranges from 0% (when everyone has identical incomes) to 100% (when all income goes to only one person).</p><p> </p><p>From 2009/10 to 2017/18 income inequality, measured using the before housing cost Gini coefficient, has fallen by 2 percentage points. See the table below for the annual statistics from 2009/10 to 2017/18.</p><p> </p><p>This data is published annually on the “Households Below Average Income” website on gov.uk.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Income inequality (Gini Coefficient. %)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009/10</p></td><td><p>36</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011/12</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>35</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 06/06/2019 16:33:04 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	217 label Biography information for Baroness Primarolo

1128975

	registered interest
	date	03/06/2019
	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	Occupational Health
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support employers to improve workplace health.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	259190
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/06/2019 answer text <p>The HSE is undertaking a programme of targeted activity with employers to help them put in place suitable and proportionate preventative measures designed to address three key work-related ill health issues; musculoskeletal disease, work-related stress and occupational lung disease. This programme involves a substantial body of cross-cutting interventions (including publicity and awareness-raising activities, sector-specific initiatives, and regulatory interventions) and forms part of HSE’s contribution to the health and safety strategy – <em>Helping Great Britain Work Well – </em>launched in 2016<em>.</em></p><p>The DWP and DHSC Joint Work and Health Unit is overseeing progress across 40 recommendations that were made in <em>Thriving at Work: The Stevenson / Farmer review of mental health and employers</em> published in October 2017 these range from short term deliverables to longer term reform. Government is committed to working with the authors of the review and key stakeholders across the public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure that employers of all sizes act to implement the core and enhanced standards and help them, and their employees, realise the benefits of healthy, inclusive workplaces.</p><p> </p><p>One of the review’s recommendations was about transparency as a significant opportunity to encourage cultural change around mental health. We have worked with partners, including employers, to develop a framework to support organisations to record and voluntarily report information on disability and mental health in the workplace. This framework was published on 22<sup>nd</sup> November 2018 and is aimed at large employers with 250 or more employees. To improve information and advice for employers we are working with Mind and the Royal Foundation to continue developing their Mental Health at Work website (<a href="https://www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk" target="_blank">https://www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk</a>) which launched on 11<sup>th</sup> September 2018.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 06/06/2019 13:18:17 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1128976

	registered interest
	date	03/06/2019
	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	Small Businesses: Occupational Health
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to increase access for small businesses to occupational health advice.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	259191
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/06/2019 answer text <p>Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 employers are legally required to assess the risk of ill health that may result from activities undertaken in the workplace, and act on that assessment. The approach applies to all employers and directs them to take preventative action. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) sets standards and provides a range of resources and guidance for employers. As part of this work, the HSE is undertaking a programme of targeted activity with employers to help them put in place suitable and proportionate preventative measures designed to address three key work-related ill health issues; musculoskeletal disease, work-related stress and occupational lung disease. This programme involves a substantial body of cross-cutting interventions (including publicity and awareness-raising activities, sector-specific initiatives, and regulatory interventions) and forms part of HSE’s contribution to the health and safety strategy – <em>Helping Great Britain Work Well – </em>launched in 2016<em>.</em></p><p>We plan to consult later this year on measures to encourage and support all employers, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to play their part in retaining and reintegrating employees who are struggling with their health or who are off sick. This includes measures to improve access to cost effective and high quality occupational health services.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 06/06/2019 15:45:02 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

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

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