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1140188

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	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 and Support 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 8 May 2019 to Question 237584, if she will place in the Library a copy of letter from the Minister for Disabled People clarifying previous answers on the ministerial requirement to amend the wording of the ESA65B letter to claimants’ doctors.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
	uin	278886
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>A copy of this letter has been placed in the library of the House.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 23/07/2019 10:24:31 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg

1140519

	registered interest
	date	19/07/2019
	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 her Department has made of the implications for her Department's policies of the statement in the press release by Save the Children on 3 July 2019, that 30,000 families on universal credit face paying up to £800 in childcare costs this summer.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
	uin	279359
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department listens to a range of stakeholders and considers recommendations, such as those from Save the Children’s recent report, that may improve support for our claimants. We have already improved Universal Credit’s (UC) childcare support; for example, our Work Coaches are already providing increased support through the Flexible Support Fund to help eligible claimants who need help with paying upfront childcare costs, as well as allowing greater flexibility in when claimants can report their childcare costs.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>As UC is paid as a single monthly amount directly into people’s bank accounts, it helps families have control over their own budget and making the move into work easier. However, we recognise that childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to both obtain and maintain employment and we are committed to removing barriers that prevent parents moving into work.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants are able to claim up to 85% of their childcare costs on UC, compared to 70% on the legacy system. This can be worth up to £13,000 a year for families with two children. The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare and, during 2019/20, a record amount of £6 billion is being spent on childcare support overall. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>We are aware of the difficulty that some claimants might have in paying childcare costs over the summer holidays and our work coaches are able to discuss this with them and explain and promote both the UC childcare offer and the wider government childcare offer. In addition to this, budgeting advances are available for eligible claimants that can be used to cover the cost of paying additional upfront childcare cost or a deposit that might be needed during the school holidays.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 23/07/2019 11:10:11 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg

1140211

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	hansard heading	Democratic Republic of Congo: Ebola
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to work with faith leaders to help tackle the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
	uin	278890
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK has been a major supporter of the response to the Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC since it began in August 2018. Community engagement remains one of the most important factors that will help end the outbreak and strengthening this aspect of the response is a key part of the ongoing ‘reset’ pushed for by the UK and other partners. The response, led by the Government of DRC with international support directed by the UN, is increasingly working with religious leaders to help foster community trust and ownership. On top of our wider financial, technical and political support to the response, UK Aid is funding anthropological research into community dynamics in affected areas, which is helping response partners strengthen their engagement with communities, including faith leaders.</p><p>The Secretary of State for International Development met with faith leaders (both Christian and Muslim) in Butembo during his recent visit to eastern DRC. He also recently discussed the outbreak with the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose insights were incredibly valuable, while officials continue regular dialogue with a number of UK-based faith groups on the issue.</p> answering member constituency West Worcestershire answering member printed Harriett Baldwin question first answered 23/07/2019 14:15:35 answering member 4107 label Biography information for Dame Harriett Baldwin
	tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg

1140216

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	hansard heading	Syria: Humanitarian Situation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in (a) southern Idlib and (b) northern Hama; and what steps his Department is taking to help alleviate the humanitarian situation in those regions.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
	uin	278891
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK is extremely concerned about the continued escalation of violence in northern Hama and southern Idlib, which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, including approximately 100,000 children. We are appalled by the Regime and Russia’s senseless attacks on civilian infrastructure, with at least 50 schools, 35 health facilities and eight water stations reportedly damaged or destroyed.</p><p> </p><p>DFID remains committed to helping to alleviate the suffering of the affected civilian population. Last year alone, we provided over £80 million of support to Idlib and surrounding areas, and we are continuing our support this year too. Our UN and NGO partners are working tirelessly to meet growing needs among displaced people through distributing essential items such as food, water and medicines. In addition to humanitarian assistance, the UK continues to use our position on the UN Security Council to call out the regime and Russia in the strongest possible terms for the continued attacks on civilian infrastructure, which clearly violate international law.</p> answering member constituency South West Wiltshire answering member printed Dr Andrew Murrison question first answered 23/07/2019 14:16:32 answering member 1466 label Biography information for Dr Andrew Murrison
	tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg

1140241

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Day Care
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to increase the accessibility of childcare in Merseyside.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
	uin	278895
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The government provides the following childcare support to parents and foster parents:</p><ul><li>15 hours of free childcare a week for disadvantaged 2 year olds. This applies to all families in receipt of Universal Credit, with an annual net earned income equivalent to - or less than - £15,400. It also applies to families in receipt of benefits that currently entitle them to free school meals and those receiving working tax credits (with an annual gross household income of no more than £16,190). Equally, it applies to children entitled to certain benefits or support for a disability or special educational need and looked after children and certain children who have been in care, including those who have been adopted.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>15 hours of free childcare a week for all 3 year olds and 4 year olds, worth around £2,500 a year on average.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>30 hours of free childcare a week for working parents of 3 year olds and 4 year olds with working parents. 30 hours of free childcare is available to families where both parents are working (or where the sole parent is working in a lone parent family) and where each parent earns a weekly minimum equivalent to 16 hours at national minimum wage or living wage. This also includes self-employed parents.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>Help with up to 70% of childcare costs for people on low incomes through working tax credits. In April 2016, this help increased to up to 85% through Universal Credit, subject to a monthly limit of £646 for one child or £1108 for 2 or more children.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>Tax-free childcare, for which 1.5 million families who have childcare costs will be eligible. For every £8 parents pay into an online account, the government will pay £2 – up to a maximum contribution of £2,000 per child each year, for children aged under 12. Parents of disabled children will receive extra support (worth up to £4,000 per child, each year and until their child is 17).</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>Childcare vouchers provided through some employers, allowing parents to save money by paying for childcare from their pre-tax salary. This scheme is closed to new applicants from October 2018.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>Shared Parental Leave, giving parents the chance to share up to 50 weeks’ leave and up to 37 weeks’ parental pay in the first year following their child’s birth or adoption.</li></ul><p>It is the responsibility of the local authority to ensure that every child that is eligible for the 15 hours and 30 hours of free childcare is able to access a place. Local authorities also have a statutory duty to provide parents with information, advice and guidance on their websites about how these childcare offers can be accessed locally.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 23/07/2019 16:56:10 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg

1140229

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Food Poverty
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of children who are at risk of experiencing hunger during the school summer holidays in 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
	uin	278892
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not held centrally.</p><p>In 2018, the department announced a programme of work to explore ways of supporting disadvantaged families during school holidays. We received 94 applications for funding from organisations across the country, for a share of £2 million.</p><p>The 2018 programme saw charities and community groups provide meals and activities such as football, play sessions, and cooking classes for more than 18,000 children across the country. Building on this, the department has quadrupled funding and strengthened the programme to encourage coordination in local communities, so that even more disadvantaged children can benefit from the programme. Applications were invited from organisations to act as coordinators in a specific local authority area. The 2019 programme received 92 applications and selected 11 locations for funding, including at least one in each of the 9 regions of England. This summer, around 50,000 disadvantaged children will be offered free meals and activities over the upcoming summer holidays, funded by £9.1 million.</p><p>The purpose of this programme is to allow us to gather more evidence about the scale of the issue, the most effective ways of tackling it, and the costs and delivery challenges associated with doing so. As a result, the department will be able to make an evidence based decision about whether and how we should intervene in the longer term.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 278893 question first answered 23/07/2019 15:27:47 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg

1140230

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Food Poverty
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department is providing to families with children who are at risk of experiencing hunger during the school summer holidays in 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
	uin	278893
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not held centrally.</p><p>In 2018, the department announced a programme of work to explore ways of supporting disadvantaged families during school holidays. We received 94 applications for funding from organisations across the country, for a share of £2 million.</p><p>The 2018 programme saw charities and community groups provide meals and activities such as football, play sessions, and cooking classes for more than 18,000 children across the country. Building on this, the department has quadrupled funding and strengthened the programme to encourage coordination in local communities, so that even more disadvantaged children can benefit from the programme. Applications were invited from organisations to act as coordinators in a specific local authority area. The 2019 programme received 92 applications and selected 11 locations for funding, including at least one in each of the 9 regions of England. This summer, around 50,000 disadvantaged children will be offered free meals and activities over the upcoming summer holidays, funded by £9.1 million.</p><p>The purpose of this programme is to allow us to gather more evidence about the scale of the issue, the most effective ways of tackling it, and the costs and delivery challenges associated with doing so. As a result, the department will be able to make an evidence based decision about whether and how we should intervene in the longer term.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 278892 question first answered 23/07/2019 15:27:47 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg

1140235

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	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: Day Care
	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 has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing upfront financial support for childcare to parents claiming universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
	uin	278894
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit (UC) is paid in a single monthly amount directly into people’s bank accounts, giving them control over their own money and making the move into work easier.</p><p> </p><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 UC. The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare. 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>We have made other changes to ease the burden on claimants and encourage work. We recognise that upfront childcare costs or deposits may prevent a claimant from starting work so Jobcentres can now use the Flexible Support Fund to support the transition into work. When parents have good reason for late reporting of their childcare costs, the Department is piloting a more flexible approach for reimbursing these costs.</p><p> </p><p>Since February 2018, Universal Credit claimants have been able to upload digital copies of their childcare cost receipts or invoices through their online Universal Credit account.</p><p /> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 23/07/2019 11:17:08 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg

1140202

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	hansard heading	Developing Countries: Schools
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the findings of the UNESCO report entitled Meeting commitments: are countries on track to achieve sustainable development goal four that more than 220 million children, adolescents and youth will not be in school in 2030.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
	uin	278887
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>We welcome the recent UNESCO reports focusing on how to achieve SDG 4 on Global Education by 2030. These reports resonate well with DFID’s Education Policy: <em>Get Children Learning.</em> The UK will continue to support 12 years of quality education for girls and boys, starting with the basics of literacy and numeracy.</p><p> </p><p>To achieve this, we:</p><p>a) Drive improvements in teaching which benefit all children in the classroom;</p><p>b) Support ambitious system reform which helps teachers succeed and keeps children safe; and</p><p>c) Provide targeted support to disadvantaged girls, children with disabilities and those affected by conflict and crisis.</p><p> </p><p>We use our leadership on the world stage to shine a spotlight on the needs of the most marginalised and strengthen the multilateral system of support for education.</p> answering member constituency West Worcestershire answering member printed Harriett Baldwin grouped question UIN 278888 278889 question first answered 23/07/2019 14:05:28 answering member 4107 label Biography information for Dame Harriett Baldwin
	tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg

1140203

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	hansard heading	Developing Countries: Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies of the findings of the UNSECO report entitled Beyond commitments how do countries implement SDG 4, published on 8 July 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
	uin	278888
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>We welcome the recent UNESCO reports focusing on how to achieve SDG 4 on Global Education by 2030. These reports resonate well with DFID’s Education Policy: <em>Get Children Learning.</em> The UK will continue to support 12 years of quality education for girls and boys, starting with the basics of literacy and numeracy.</p><p> </p><p>To achieve this, we:</p><p>a) Drive improvements in teaching which benefit all children in the classroom;</p><p>b) Support ambitious system reform which helps teachers succeed and keeps children safe; and</p><p>c) Provide targeted support to disadvantaged girls, children with disabilities and those affected by conflict and crisis.</p><p> </p><p>We use our leadership on the world stage to shine a spotlight on the needs of the most marginalised and strengthen the multilateral system of support for education.</p> answering member constituency West Worcestershire answering member printed Harriett Baldwin grouped question UIN 278887 278889 question first answered 23/07/2019 14:05:28 answering member 4107 label Biography information for Dame Harriett Baldwin
	tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg