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1523868

registered interest
date	18/10/2022
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, with reference to the report by the North East Child Poverty Commission entitled Getting the building blocks wrong: Early childhood poverty in the North East, published in September 2022, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the conclusions on the impact of levels of social security payments on people in the North East.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	65752
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2022 answer text <p>Income-related benefit rates are not made up of separate amounts for specific items of expenditure such as food or fuel charges, and beneficiaries are free to spend their benefit as they see fit, in the light of their individual commitments, needs and preferences.</p><p> </p><p>However, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of State pensions and benefits. The outcome of that review will be announced later this year, and the new rates will enter into force from 10 April 2023.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 21/10/2022 13:35:37 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1521888

registered interest
date	13/10/2022
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, if she will make an assessment of whether there is a link between people (a) applying for, (b) claiming and (c) under sanction in relation to universal credit and instances of (i) attempted suicide and (ii) suicide.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	62828
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>Attempted suicides and suicides are very complex issues. Where there is an allegation that the Department’s actions may have contributed to this outcome, we take it very seriously.</p><p>Ultimately, Coroners have responsibility for concluding the cause of death. Their investigations and conclusions are made at public hearings and published. If a risk of other deaths occurring in similar circumstances is identified, Coroners will issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report which is published on the judiciary website.</p><p>The Department also conducts Internal Process Reviews (IPRs). These are internal retrospective investigations, focused on organisational learning. An IPR will be conducted in all cases where:</p><ul><li>There is a suggestion or allegation that the Department’s actions or omissions may have negatively contributed to the customer’s circumstances, AND a customer has suffered serious harm, has died (including by suicide) or where we have reason to believe there has been an attempted suicide OR</li><li>The Department is asked to participate in a Safeguarding Adults Review, a Significant Case Review, or is named as an Interested Party at an inquest. An IPR will be conducted regardless of whether there is an allegation against the Department.</li></ul> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 24/10/2022 16:05:53 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1521889

registered interest
date	13/10/2022
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	Unemployment: North East
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps her Department has taken to reduce the number of young people aged 18 to 24 (a) not working or (b) looking for a job in the North East.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	62829
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/10/2022 answer text <p>Through Jobcentre Plus, the Department of Work and Pensions is helping young people to find the right support, education or training that will ultimately lead to sustained employment opportunities and career progression. The DWP Youth Offer provides individually tailored work coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are in the Universal Credit Intensive Work Search group. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain. We have extended the DWP Youth Offer to 2025 and expanded eligibility to include 16 and 17-year-olds, in addition to 18- to 24-year-olds, who are claiming Universal Credit and searching for work</p><p><br> We currently have a network of Youth Hubs across North East England which bring together employment support from a Jobcentre Plus work coach and place-based support from local partnerships to help young people into work. The support offered in a Hub is dependent on local needs, but examples include skills, training, and employment provision, alongside a range of dedicated support services such as mental health, housing and debt management delivered by local partners. Through the Kickstart Scheme we saw over 8,000 Kickstart jobs started by young people in the North East. <br> <br> Core skills are fundamental in securing, retaining, and progressing in work. DWP is delivering a comprehensive package of support for young people in collaboration with the Department for Education and National Careers Service in England, the Devolved Administrations, and other partners. This Government has invested in apprenticeships, vocational and basic skills training, alongside careers advice and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). SWAP opportunities link skills/employability training with guaranteed interviews and real vacancies – providing a routeway into work for young people. Whilst many opportunities are entry level, they often offer good career pathways and in work progression.</p><p>The Job Help campaign offers job search advice and showcases priority sectors and job vacancies to help young people successfully find work. The Job Help website also provides help to get work experience and signposting to initiatives such as Access to work.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 18/10/2022 16:43:36 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1521891

registered interest
date	13/10/2022
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 Banks: Newcastle upon Tyne
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the cost of living crisis on the use of foodbanks by benefits recipients in the Newcastle.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	62830
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2022 answer text <p>Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and the Department for Work and Pensions does not have any role in their operation. There is no consistent and accurate measure of food bank usage at a constituency or national level.</p><p> </p><p>We understand the data limitations in this area, and thus from April 2021 we introduced a set of questions into the Family Resources Survey (FRS) to measure and track food bank usage. The first results of these questions are due to be published in March 2023 subject to usual quality assurance. These questions will allow us to gauge where people in low food security are seeking help and over time will allow us to build a time series on the scale of food bank usage.</p><p> </p><p>This Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has announced unprecedented support within its Growth Plan to protect households and businesses from high energy prices. The Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bill Relief Scheme are supporting millions of households and businesses with rising energy costs, and the Chancellor made clear they will continue to do so from now until April next year. This is in addition to over £37bn of cost-of-living support announced earlier this year.</p><p>Included within this £37bn is an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England this will take the form of an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. We will publish new guidance for Local Authorities for this latest extension shortly. The Devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 21/10/2022 13:28:22 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1521892

registered interest
date	13/10/2022
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: Newcastle upon Tyne
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 trends in the level of benefit sanctions in Newcastle.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	62831
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2022 answer text <p>No assessment has been made.</p><p> </p><p>Sanctions statistics for those people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Income Support (IS) and Universal Credit (UC) are published quarterly.</p><p> </p><p>Monthly figures are available for JSA from April 2000 to April 2022, ESA from October 2008 to April 2022 and IS from October 2016 to April 2022, with UC sanction rates available from April 2019 to May 2022.</p><p> </p><p>All of these statistics are available by local authority at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance for users is available at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 21/10/2022 13:32:10 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1521894

registered interest
date	13/10/2022
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: North East
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to take additional steps to tackle levels of child poverty in (a) Newcastle and (b) the North East.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	62833
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/10/2022 answer text <p>The Government is committed to reducing child poverty and supporting low-income families. In 2022/23 we will spend over £242 billion through the welfare system in Great Britain including £108 billion on people of working age.</p><p> </p><p>With 1.25 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting people to move into, and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children. The latest available data on in-work poverty shows that in 2019/20, children in households where all adults were in work were around six times less likely to be in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than children in a household where nobody works. In 2021, compared to 2010, there were nearly 1 million fewer workless households and almost 590,000 fewer children in workless households in the UK. In 2020/21, there were 200,000 fewer children in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than in 2009/10.</p><p> </p><p>To help parents into work across Great Britain, our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all Jobseekers with our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart scheme. We are also extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and on low incomes. Through a staged roll-out, which started in April 2022, around 2.1 million low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work.</p><p> </p><p>This is on top of the support we have already provided by increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour and giving nearly 1.7 million families an extra £1,000 a year, on average, through our changes to the Universal Credit taper and work allowances. To further support parents to move into and progress in work, the government provides a range of childcare offers. For more information on what childcare support may be available, we encourage parents to use the helpful Childcare Choices website.</p><p> </p><p>The government has announced unprecedented support within its Growth Plan to protect households and businesses from high energy prices. The Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bill Relief Scheme are supporting millions of households and businesses with rising energy costs, and the Chancellor made clear they will continue to do so from now until April next year. This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.</p><p> </p><p>The £37bn of support includes the current Household Support Fund in England, which will be providing up to £421m of support to those most in need for the period October 2022 - March 2023 and is being delivered by Upper Tier and Unitary Councils. In the case of Newcastle upon Tyne, the local authority has been allocated £2,898,403.85 for this period. The devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula as usual.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 18/10/2022 16:17:16 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1520629

registered interest
date	11/10/2022
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: North East
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department are taking to support small businesses in the North East of England recruit staff.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	61109
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2022 answer text <p>DWP provides a wide range of support to employers, including small employers, across the North East. This includes discussing and assessing individual need so that subsequently, a tailored package of support can be developed and deployed.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Examples: </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><ul><li>Employer Advisors engage regularly with employers. They look at which employers are advertising jobs on websites and where possible, make contact to talk to them about how the Job Centre can support their recruitment.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>Local businesses are invited to our Job Centres to meet the team to raise awareness about how we can support them. Also, our Employer Advisors visit businesses, again to promote our service offer.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>We provide space in our offices for employers to conduct interviews, and, where desirable, can offer a pre interview screening service so that employers only get to interview the most suitable candidates. We can also support with sifting of CVs.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>Within employer conversations, we also advise employers on any trends we have identified within our customer cohorts for example, around desired shift patterns, and transport links to help ensure that vacancies are as attractive as possible to the customers they are targeting.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>We also support recruitment through our Sectoral Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) which amongst other things, include an upskilling element for potential candidates to help them gain the necessary skills and qualifications required for specific employer vacancies.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>In addition, we invite small businesses to take part in any local jobs fairs which gives them the opportunity to speak to our customers face to face.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>We work very closely with all of our councils and local MPs in the North East on new developments and new businesses so that we get the opportunity to engage early. As an example, in Northumberland, we are working closely with the Northumberland train line development by linking in with employers who are on the proposed train route to talk about forward plans and explore what their recruitment needs might look like. Many of these are small businesses. This link up is with the North of Tyne Combined Authority, Network Rail and a variety of contractors.</li></ul> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 19/10/2022 14:48:53 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1488966

registered interest
date	13/07/2022
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Glycine
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of businesses that use Glycine in their (a) products and (b) services; and what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the impact of global Glycine price rises on UK businesses and supply chains.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	35937
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/07/2022 answer text <p>The UK's food supply is highly resilient. The day-to-day supply of Glycine is a commercial matter for industry, and they are well versed in responding to shortages without delay and with the least amount of disruption to the public. Defra works closely with industry to monitor supply issues relating to both food products and critical inputs in the food system. Defra further works to encourage diverse and resilient supply chains to protect consumers and businesses.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 19/07/2022 11:44:49 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1487049

registered interest
date	06/07/2022
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Novel Foods: Research
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the (a) merits of providing funding for research and development on plant-based and cultivated meat alternatives and (b) potential effects of levels of such funding on the UK's international competitiveness in that market.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	31835
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2022 answer text <p>The Government has no formal plans to assess the merits of increasing investment into the UK alternative protein sector, or the merits of providing research and development on plant-based and cultivated meat alternatives. However, we do recognise that developing this sector could support UK growth and are making significant investment to unlock innovation and use our world-leading research across agriculture and food innovation to improve productivity, environmental sustainability and resilience, to move towards net zero emission farming systems.</p><p> </p><p>We have several funding programmes open to industry as well as our own farming and food science research. These funding streams address key areas such as soil systems and land management, regenerative agriculture, sustainable feed and pest management, automation, alternative proteins, and precision farming.</p><p> </p><p>As stated in the Government’s Food Strategy, through funding we will support progress on a wide range of issues, including alternative proteins and progress on gene editing. We will also work with the Food Standards Agency to develop dedicated guidance materials for approval of new alternative protein products while reviewing our novel food regulations. This will ensure they are transparent for innovators and investors, whilst maintaining world-leading consumer safety standards.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis grouped question UIN 31836 31837 question first answered 15/07/2022 12:06:10 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1487050

registered interest
date	06/07/2022
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Proteins: Novel Foods
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of increasing investment into the UK alternative protein sector on (a) job creation and (b) regional economic growth.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	31836
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2022 answer text <p>The Government has no formal plans to assess the merits of increasing investment into the UK alternative protein sector, or the merits of providing research and development on plant-based and cultivated meat alternatives. However, we do recognise that developing this sector could support UK growth and are making significant investment to unlock innovation and use our world-leading research across agriculture and food innovation to improve productivity, environmental sustainability and resilience, to move towards net zero emission farming systems.</p><p> </p><p>We have several funding programmes open to industry as well as our own farming and food science research. These funding streams address key areas such as soil systems and land management, regenerative agriculture, sustainable feed and pest management, automation, alternative proteins, and precision farming.</p><p> </p><p>As stated in the Government’s Food Strategy, through funding we will support progress on a wide range of issues, including alternative proteins and progress on gene editing. We will also work with the Food Standards Agency to develop dedicated guidance materials for approval of new alternative protein products while reviewing our novel food regulations. This will ensure they are transparent for innovators and investors, whilst maintaining world-leading consumer safety standards.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis grouped question UIN 31835 31837 question first answered 15/07/2022 12:06:10 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah