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1700944

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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	Pensions: Consumer Information
	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 15 April 2024 to Question 20581 on Pensions: Consumer Information, what steps he plans to take to report progress towards the Dashboards Available Point to (a) Parliament and (b) other key stakeholders.
	tabling member constituency	Blaenau Gwent
	tabling member printed	Nick Smith
	uin	21614
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>Before a specific date for the Dashboards Available Point can be determined, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions must first have regard to a number of relevant matters, including sufficient level of coverage, assurance of the safety, security and reliability of the service and testing of the user experience. Once satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use of pensions dashboard services by the general public, following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority, the Secretary of State will then issue a notice at least six months in advance of the launch of pensions dashboard services.</p><p>Officials in my department are working closely with key delivery partners to refine these relevant matters which includes recognition of keeping Parliament and the wider pensions industry informed of reporting progress towards the Dashboards Available Point. This is in line with our commitment of working closely with industry on successfully launching pensions dashboard services safely and securely at the earliest opportunity.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 13:10:51 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	3928 label Biography information for Nick Smith

1700945

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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	Pensions: Consumer Information
	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 15 April 2024 to Question 20580 on Pensions: Consumer Information, what the (a) estimated and (b) actual costs of the project are.
	tabling member constituency	Blaenau Gwent
	tabling member printed	Nick Smith
	uin	21615
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has spent £56.7M between 2019/20 and the end of February 2024 (with spend relating to 2023/24 subject to final audit).</p><p> </p><p>Whole life costs of the Pensions Dashboards Programme (2019/20 – 2026/27) are currently estimated by MaPS to be around £139M.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 13:13:10 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	3928 label Biography information for Nick Smith

1701031

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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	Independent Case Examiner
	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 reduce the time taken to assign to an investigator a complaint to the Independent Case Examiner.
	tabling member constituency	Wakefield
	tabling member printed	Simon Lightwood
	uin	21869
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The rate at which complaints can be allocated to an investigator is dependent on multiple factors including the volume and complexity of complaints received, as well as available investigative resource.</p><p> </p><p>ICE is a demand led service and continues to receive high complaint intake volumes. It has experienced a 37% increase in referrals since April 2022, with an 18% increase in the 2023/24 operational year. Not all referrals into ICE are accepted for investigation. ICE has experienced an 83% increase in the volume of cases it has accepted since April 2020, with a 9% increase in the 2023/24 operational year.</p><p> </p><p>The ICE office continues to review its process and operating model and continuously seeks opportunities to maximise productivity, ensuring it operates with optimum investigative resource. In the past 20 months (August 2022 – March 2024) resource levels at the ICE office have increased by 18%. The unit is operating at 99.11% of its agreed headcount.</p><p> </p><p>The Office has reduced the volume of cases awaiting allocation to an investigator by 49% over the 2023/24 operational year. The combined number of cases being handled by the ICE Office at the end of March 2024 was 1462, this represents a 33% reduction from March 2023 despite the high intake levels experienced.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 15:11:18 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4943 label Biography information for Simon Lightwood

1700024

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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	Cold Weather Payments: Lincolnshire
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Cold Weather Payments have been made to pensioners in (a) South Holland and (b) Kesteven district in the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	South Holland and The Deepings
	tabling member printed	Sir John Hayes
	uin	20864
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The Cold Weather Payment (CWP) scheme is administered at weather station level rather than at a constituency or regional level etc. The coverage area for each weather station is determined by the Met Office, which assesses the most appropriate weather station for each postcode area. Cold weather payments are triggered when the average temperature recorded at the weather station has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0<strong>°</strong> C or below over seven consecutive days, during the Cold Weather season (November to March).</p><p> </p><p>a) The area of South Holland covers all or part of the following postcode areas: PE11, PE12, PE10, PE6, PE13, PE14, PE34.</p><p> </p><p>From the 2019/20 to 2023/24 Cold Weather Payment seasons, the above postcode areas are covered by various weather stations. These weather stations cover the following postcode areas, in Table 1, which include areas not in South Holland. Table 2 shows the number of cold weather payments to pensioners by weather station and cold weather season.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Table 1: Postcode districts mapped to Weather Stations</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Weather station</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Postcode Districts Covered</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Marham</p></td><td><p>CB6-7, IP24-28, PE12-14, PE30-38.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Waddington</p></td><td><p>DN9-10, DN15-22, DN31-41, LN1-13, NG23-24, PE10-11, PE20-25.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wittering</p></td><td><p>LE15, NN14-18, PE1-9, PE15-16, PE26-29</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Table 2: Number of Cold Weather Payments to pensioners by weather station and Cold Weather Season</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Weather Station</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2019/20</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2020/21</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021/22</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2022/23</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2023/24</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Marham </strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>27,000</p></td><td><p>9,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Waddington</strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>26,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>23,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Wittering</strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>24,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong><strong> </strong></p><p>b) The area of South Kesteven covers all or part of the following postcode areas: PE6, PE9, PE10, NG23, NG31, NG32, NG33, NG34.</p><p> </p><p>From the 2019/20 to 2023/24 Cold Weather Payment seasons, the above postcode areas are covered by various weather stations. These weather stations cover the following postcode areas, in Table 3, which include areas not in South Kesteven. Table 4 shows the number of cold weather payments to pensioners by weather station and cold weather season.</p><p><strong>Table 3: Postcode districts mapped to Weather Stations</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Weather station</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Postcode Districts Covered</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nottingham Watnall</p></td><td><p>CV13, DE1-3, DE5-7, DE11-15, DE21-24, DE55-56, DE65, DE72-75, LE1-9, LE11-14, LE16-19, LE65, LE67, NG1-22, NG25, NG31-34.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Waddington</p></td><td><p>DN9-10, DN15-22, DN31-41, LN1-13, NG23-24, PE10-11, PE20-25.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wittering</p></td><td><p>LE15, NN14-18, PE1-9, PE15-16, PE26-29</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Table 4: Number of Cold Weather Payments to pensioners by weather station and Cold Weather Season</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Weather Station</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2019/20</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2020/21</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021/22</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2022/23</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2023/24</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Nottingham Watnall</strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>60,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>55,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Waddington</strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>26,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>23,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Wittering</strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>24,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 14:47:55 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	350 label Biography information for Sir John Hayes

1700027

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time equivalent staff worked in his Department’s Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt unit in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.
	tabling member constituency	Hayes and Harlington
	tabling member printed	John McDonnell
	uin	20844
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>Please see the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) numbers for Counter Fraud Compliance &amp; Debt (CFCD) and its predecessor Counter Fraud &amp; Compliance (CFC). To ensure compliance with GDPR, seven years of data is the maximum that we hold.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3"><p><strong>Paid Staff at specified date, Full Time Equivalent</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Date</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>FTE</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>CFC/CFCD</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2018</strong></p></td><td><p>5209.8</p></td><td><p>CFC</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2019</strong></p></td><td><p>5488.3</p></td><td><p>CFC</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2020</strong></p></td><td><p>7519.4</p></td><td><p>CFCD</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2021</strong></p></td><td><p>6941.6</p></td><td><p>CFCD</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2022</strong></p></td><td><p>8289.7</p></td><td><p>CFCD</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2023</strong></p></td><td><p>9080.2</p></td><td><p>CFCD</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 15:48:45 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	178 label Biography information for John McDonnell

1700028

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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	Workplace Pensions
	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 opted out of auto-enrolment workplace pension schemes in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.
	tabling member constituency	Hayes and Harlington
	tabling member printed	John McDonnell
	uin	20845
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/04/2024 answer text <p>The data requested for the number of people who opted out of automatic enrolment workplace pension schemes in each of the last ten years is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.</p><p> </p><p>The department makes regular publications of the data that is held, including the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/workplace-pension-participation-and-savings-trends-2009-to-2022/workplace-pension-participation-and-savings-trends-of-eligible-employees-2009-to-2022" target="_blank"><em>Workplace Pension Participation and Savings Trends</em></a>, which is available on GOV.UK. This publication includes aggregated data from large private pension providers in which the proportion of new member enrolments to have opted-out of workplace pension saving stood at 11.79% in July 2023. Over the period from January 2020 to July 2023, these opt-out rates have fluctuated between a low of 7.03% and a high of 12.23%. From the same aggregated private pension provider data, the proportion of pension scheme members making an active decision to cease saving was 0.50% in July 2023.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 16/04/2024 10:02:23 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	178 label Biography information for John McDonnell

1700288

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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 his Department is taking to ensure that people pay the full child maintenance costs for which they are liable.
	tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
	tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
	uin	21039
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/04/2024 answer text <p>The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has a range of enforcement powers at its disposal to ensure parents meet their financial obligations to their children.</p><p>These include deductions directly from earnings and bank accounts, using Enforcement Agents (previously known as bailiffs) to take control of goods, forcing the sale of property, removal of driving licence or UK passport or even commitment to prison.</p><p>The Child Support (Enforcement) Act received Royal Assent in 2023. This creates a primary power to replace court-based liability orders with administrative orders, which should significantly speed up this key enforcement process.</p><p> </p><p>We have concluded a public consultation to support regulations to implement administrative liability orders. The Government published their response on 12 February 2024.</p><p> </p><p>Secondary legislation is now being developed, which, once implemented, will reduce the process from 22 weeks to as low as 6 weeks. This will be brought forward as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 16/04/2024 15:35:55 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery

1700317

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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: Termination of Employment
	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 left his Department in each year since 2015.
	tabling member constituency	Solihull
	tabling member printed	Julian Knight
	uin	21092
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The table below shows Staff in Post (SiP) numbers of leavers for each financial year (April - March.) To ensure compliance with GDPR, seven years of data is the maximum that we hold.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p><strong>All leavers in Financial Year - SiP</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Date</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of Leavers - DWP</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>17/18</strong></p></td><td><p>6,927</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>18/19</strong></p></td><td><p>6,320</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>19/20</strong></p></td><td><p>7,149</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>20/21</strong></p></td><td><p>5,558</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>21/22</strong></p></td><td><p>11,332</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>22/23</strong></p></td><td><p>10,910</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>23/24</strong></p></td><td><p>7,299</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 13:23:21 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight

1700338

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to recruit Covert Surveillance Officers to gather evidence to prove or disprove offences relating to benefits claims.
	tabling member constituency	South Shields
	tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
	uin	21055
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2024 answer text <p>DWP is recruiting Covert Surveillance Officers.</p><p> </p><p>The Department’s Counter Fraud, Compliance &amp; Debt directorate (CFCD) undertakes directed surveillance as part of the criminal investigation process.</p><p> </p><p>All surveillance activity is applied for under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000 and is conducted in line with the surveillance Code of Practice. It is undertaken only where necessary and proportionate to the alleged offence.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/04/2024 10:38:34 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1700390

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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	Health and Safety: Mental Health
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many improvement and prohibition notices the Health and Safety Executive has issued on (a) workplace stress and (b) other mental health problems at work in each year since it took responsibility for this area.
	tabling member constituency	Erith and Thamesmead
	tabling member printed	Abena Oppong-Asare
	uin	21277
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2024 answer text <p>There are no specific regulations relating to work-related stress or mental health and any enforcement action taken by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in those areas would use general health and safety legislation such as the Health and Safety at Work Act or the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations.</p><p> </p><p>As a result, HSE can not provide the numbers of notices as the information is not held in the format requested so is not easily retrievable or statistically robust.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/04/2024 13:08:32 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4820 label Biography information for Abena Oppong-Asare