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225278

registered interest
date	04/03/2015
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: Disqualification
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there are circumstances in which it is appropriate for a manager in Jobcentre Plus to press an adviser to increase the number of benefit sanctions he or she is issuing to clients.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	226404
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>There are no circumstances in which a manager would press an adviser to increase the number of benefit sanctions imposed on claimants.</p><p>Sanctions are only imposed where, without good reason, people have not met the terms of their Claimant Commitment and/or not taken reasonable action to give themselves the best possible prospects of getting a job. Each case is considered on its own merits and there is a robust system of safeguards in place that seek to ensure sanctions are only applied to those who fail to meet agreed requirements.</p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 09/03/2015 17:07:14 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

225281

registered interest
date	04/03/2015
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: Disability
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 been in receipt of (a) incapacity benefit and (b) employment and support allowance since June 2011; and how many such people have been attached to the Work Programme.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	226402
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>In response to the first part of the question, statistics on the number of Incapacity Benefit and Employment and Support Allowance recipients, by duration of claim, can be found at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/tabtool.html" target="_blank">http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/tabtool.html</a></p><p> </p><p>In response to the second part, information on Work Programme attachments, by payment group, can be found at:</p><p><a href="http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/WorkProg/tabtool.html" target="_blank">http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/WorkProg/tabtool.html</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance for users is available at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance</a></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 09/03/2015 17:10:59 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

225296

registered interest
date	04/03/2015
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending his Department's transparency indicators to apply to the timeliness of benefit processing.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	226319
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p>The Department’s transparency indicators sit within the Government’s Business Plan framework. The indicators were agreed with Cabinet Office Ministers at the start of this Parliament and are not subject to further review or extension in this Parliament. The Department publishes a wide range of data on gov.uk in addition to the transparency indicators.</p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 09/03/2015 17:08:17 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

224787

registered interest
date	03/03/2015
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
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 received (a) hardship payments and (b) short-term benefit advances in each of the last (i) five years and (ii) six months.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	226126
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/03/2015 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) intends to publish figures on the number of hardship applications and awards in May 2015. The date of publication will be announced shortly.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>For Short Term Benefit Advances (STBAs) I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the oral answer given to him by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Official Report, 8 December 2014, column 633. The Secretary of State set out how the department will be doing more to raise awareness of STBAs. This will include providing more information to claimants about STBAs online and in Jobcentres. Staff guidance on STBAs will also be updated and staff reminded of the process for considering an STBA.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 06/03/2015 14:25:40 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

224790

registered interest
date	03/03/2015
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	Jobcentres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will estimate the average cost of travel to routine fortnightly interviews at Jobcentre Plus where claimants live more than a mile from their Jobcentre Plus office.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	225993
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>Travel expenses are not usually reimbursed for attendance at fortnightly interviews. In exceptional circumstances there may be scope for reimbursement; however there would be a disproportionate cost to disaggregate this expenditure based on distance from Jobcentre Plus sites.</p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 09/03/2015 17:01:31 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey previous answer version 48388 answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

224796

registered interest
date	03/03/2015
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	Food Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken since 8 December 2014 to act on the conclusion of the Feeding Britain report.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	226036
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>The Government welcomed the report as a serious contribution to an important debate, which recognised that the reasons behind demands for emergency food assistance are complex and frequently overlapping.</p><p> </p><p>As the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced in his oral answer (Official Report, 8 December 2014, column 633), more information will be provided to claimants about Short Term Benefit Advances (STBA) online and in Jobcentres. Guidance will also be updated and staff reminded of the process for considering STBA requests.</p><p> </p><p>The department has already undertaken testing of the posters and messaging with a small number of staff and claimants and the designs have now been reviewed by the Social Security Advisory Committee.</p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 06/03/2015 14:23:41 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

224175

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Work Programme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has had with Work Programme providers on the development of their workforce.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	225762
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>Work Programme providers are contractually committed to raising standards and they are expected to build and maintain a culture of improvement through continuous self-assessment and planning for improvement.</p><p> </p><p>As part of the self-assessment providers must ensure their staff develop skills and expertise to meet the needs of participants. The Department’s Performance Manager’s will discuss staffing issues with providers as part of their regular performance management meetings.</p><p> </p><p>The independent Work Programme Building Best Practice Group report (published 18 December 2014), recommended that the department continued to support the Institute of Employability Professionals ‘what works’ workshops, in which front-line advisers from different providers meet and share knowledge and best practice in supporting claimant groups. The Department fully accepted this recommendation and will continue to promote these workshops.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 04/03/2015 16:15:50 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

224176

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Jobcentre Plus: Training
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training is offered to Jobcentre Plus staff to enable them to better work with (a) lone parents and (b) ethnic minority jobseekers.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	225763
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>The training delivered to Jobcentre staff ensures they have the capability to support a range of customers/claimants, it teaches them to respect the individual needs of Jobseekers whether these are lone parents or from an ethnic minority background. This approach ensures that staff are equipped to deal with a diverse set of circumstances whilst treating all Jobseekers as individuals.</p><p> </p><p>All staff receive ‘foundation learning’ which covers excellent customer service, diversity and claimants’ needs and stresses the importance of looking for signs where additional support may be required.</p><p> </p><p>Jobcentre Work Coaches have access to an on-going, comprehensive learning programme that focuses on raising awareness of the Jobseekers personal circumstances. This learning recognises that irrespective of whether the Jobseeker is a lone parent or from an ethnic minority (or both) it can affect them in different ways. To complement this approach other more specific products are available to staff, for example, Helping Parents into Work and Skills Screening - the process by which potential skills needs in relation to claimants’ job goals, or available jobs in the local labour market, are identified.</p><p>Both are useful when supporting lone parents and ethnic minority Jobseekers.</p><p> </p><p>Overall the learning offered places a greater emphasis on the need for personalisation and flexibility which enables the Work Coaches to build strong relationships with all Jobseekers and Jobcentre staff will complete this learning programme.</p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 04/03/2015 16:07:16 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

224220

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Work Programme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been spent through the Work Programme on (a) attachment payments, (b) job outcome and (c) sustainment payments in Contract Package Areas 12 and 13 since June 2011.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	225765
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>The information cannot be released for publication, as public knowledge of individual contract payments at contract package level would impact on the Department’s ability to negotiate competitive prices in future contract periods and risk some of the Commercial in confidence elements of the Department’s Contracts.</p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 04/03/2015 15:37:48 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

224221

registered interest
date	27/02/2015
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	Work Programme
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 were referred to the Work Programme by Jobcentre Plus but not subsequently attached to the programme in each month since June 2011.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	225764
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>The information we have, on the number of Work Programme referrals by current Work Programme status, in each month since June 2011, is published and can be found at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/WorkProg/tabtool.html" target="_blank">http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/WorkProg/tabtool.html</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance for users is available at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance</a></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 04/03/2015 13:59:31 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms