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1133849

registered interest
date	21/06/2019
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	Universal Credit: Overpayments
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 5 June 2019 to Question 257458 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how many overpayments were waived in (a) full and (b) part as a result of applications made by (i) claimants and (ii) their representatives in 2016-17.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	267720
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>In 2016/17 there were less than 5 successful applications for the full waiving of a Universal Credit overpayment and less than 5 successful partial waiver applications for UC overpayments.</p><p>The Department has an obligation to ensure that public funds are administered responsibly and to abide by the principles set out in Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on Managing Public Money (which can be found on gov.uk). Waivers are only granted in limited circumstances including where the recovery of an overpayment is causing substantial financial and/or medical hardship and clear supporting evidence of this is provided.</p><p>We are unable to provide a breakdown of how many applications were made by claimants or their representatives as this information is not stored.</p><p> </p><p><em>*The figures provided in this response have been sourced from internal management information and were not intended for public release. They should therefore not be compared to any other figures subsequently released by the Department. We are not able to report exact figures that are lower than 5, therefore this has been listed as “less than 5”.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 14:34:56 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1133561

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
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	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there is a minimum level of income that a claimant of universal credit must retain after a 40 per cent reduction to repay an advance.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	267165
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>There is no set minimum level Universal Credit award for a claimant to retain. A claimant’s award will reflect their individual circumstances, topping up any earnings or other income that they may have, so their Universal Credit might just constitute a small proportion of their total income. Deductions from the award are calculated in relation to the Universal Credit standard allowance and the maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance. From October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent.</p><p /><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 266652 question first answered 24/06/2019 16:41:12 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1133649

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
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	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of universal credit are subject to deductions as a result of a fixed penalty notice for an environmental offence; and if he will publish the number of offences committed under each classification.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	267192
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p><strong> </strong>Information surrounding the volume of Universal Credit claims with a deduction for a fixed penalty notice specifically for an environmental offence is not held by the Department.</p><p>However, between November 2018 and February 2019, 11,000 claims had at least one Universal Credit payment with a deduction for fines. This equates to 1% of all claims with at least one Universal Credit payment with a deduction during this period.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><ol><li>Figures rounded to nearest 1000.</li><li>Deductions include advance repayments, third party deductions and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties.</li><li>Data on the breakdown of third party deductions was not collated on the UCFS systems prior to November 2018.</li><li>Figures are for Universal Credit full service</li></ol><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 267193 question first answered 25/06/2019 16:35:38 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1133651

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
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	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of universal credit have had deductions attached to their claim for fixed penalty notices for environmental offences since 2013.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	267193
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p><strong> </strong>Information surrounding the volume of Universal Credit claims with a deduction for a fixed penalty notice specifically for an environmental offence is not held by the Department.</p><p>However, between November 2018 and February 2019, 11,000 claims had at least one Universal Credit payment with a deduction for fines. This equates to 1% of all claims with at least one Universal Credit payment with a deduction during this period.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><ol><li>Figures rounded to nearest 1000.</li><li>Deductions include advance repayments, third party deductions and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties.</li><li>Data on the breakdown of third party deductions was not collated on the UCFS systems prior to November 2018.</li><li>Figures are for Universal Credit full service</li></ol><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 267192 question first answered 25/06/2019 16:35:38 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1133718

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
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	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 steps she is taking to prevent loansharks applying on behalf of an individual for a universal credit advance payment which is then issued as a loan to the individual.
tabling member constituency	Leigh
tabling member printed	Jo Platt
uin	267343
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department takes any suspicious or fraudulent activity very seriously, especially when it has the potential to impact our vulnerable claimants.</p><p> </p><p>We investigate any allegations of fraudulent activity quickly and look to establish the facts, communicating quickly with our staff and colleagues to ensure that awareness is raised. We also continuously work to improve our services and create more robust processes to help our claimants interact with us in an easier, yet secure way which protects the most vulnerable.</p><p> </p><p>We cannot provide details about current investigations, but we investigate promptly and will refer to the relevant authorities to seek prosecution where appropriate.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 25/06/2019 16:49:49 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4673 label Biography information for Jo Platt

1133157

registered interest
date	19/06/2019
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	Universal Credit
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 18 June 2019 to Question 264329, of the 0.749 million claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts, how much debt has been repaid from each benefit in the Prescribed Social Security Benefits / Payments category.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	266717
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The table below details the amount recovered from Universal Credit to repay non-Universal Credit overpayments in 2018-19. To provide a full picture we have included recovery of all benefit related debt including such things as non UC Advances and Tax Credit recoveries even though these are not strictly prescribed payments.</p><p><br></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Amount Recovered</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Attendance Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Administrative Penalty</strong></p></td><td><p>£537,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Bereavement Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£3,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Carers Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,541,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Civil Penalties </strong></p></td><td><p>£1,090,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Disability Living Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£281,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Disability Working Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>Less than £1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Employment &amp; Support Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£2,988,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Family Credit</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Housing Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>£11,198,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Incapacity Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>£368,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Income Support</strong></p></td><td><p>£8,479,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Invalidity Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>Less than £1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Jobseeker's Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£3,987,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Maternity Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£13,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Non-Contributory Retirement Pension</strong></p></td><td><p>Less than £1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>New State Pension</strong></p></td><td><p>Less than £1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Pension Credit</strong></p></td><td><p>£11,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Personal Independence Payment</strong></p></td><td><p>£64,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Retirement Pension: Contributory</strong></p></td><td><p>£2,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Sickness Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Severe Disablement Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£12,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Social Fund Loan</strong></p></td><td><p>£27,014,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Social Fund Overpayment</strong></p></td><td><p>£239,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Non - Universal Credit short term advances</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,546,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Tax Credit Overpayment</strong></p></td><td><p>£94,722,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Widow's Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>£70,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Widowed Mother's Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>Less than £1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Widows Pension</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Widowed Parent's Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£3,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Christmas Bonus</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Other</strong></p></td><td><p>£3,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department works hard to prevent potential benefit overpayments from occurring. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances in real time.</p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department. All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 24/06/2019 15:47:54 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1133198

registered interest
date	19/06/2019
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	Universal Credit: Veterans
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of military veterans claiming universal credit that have been sanctioned.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	266655
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department has not made an estimate of the number of military veterans claiming universal credit that have been sanctioned because this information is not held.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 24/06/2019 16:10:37 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1133325

registered interest
date	19/06/2019
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	Young People: Gender
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the Youth Voice Census Report 2019, published in June 2018, what assessment she has made of the effect of gender on a young person's level of engagement with school and employment.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	266814
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>No assessment has been made of gender on a young person’s level of engagement with school and employment.</p><p> </p><p>However, the Government is committed to providing targeted support for all young people so that everyone, no matter what their start in life, is given the very best chance.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has raised the participation age to ensure that all young people are supported to continue their education until at least age 18, and invested nearly £7 billion during academic year 2018/19, to ensure there is a place in education or training for every 16 to 19-year old.</p><p> </p><p>Local Authorities (LAs) have a statutory duty to identify and track the participation of 16 and 17 year olds, supporting those who are not participating to do so and making sure that there is sufficient, suitable education and training provision to meet their needs. The September Guarantee places a further duty on LAs to ensure that all year 11 pupils (and year 12 pupils on one year courses) receive an offer of a place in education/training for the following September. It aims to ensure that all young people, regardless of what they achieved in school, understand that there are opportunities that will help them to progress, and to ensure that they get the advice and support they need to find a suitable place.</p><p> </p><p>The latest data for the end of 2017 (provisional) shows that 86.8% of 16-18-year-old females are in Education and Training, compared to 85.1% of males. Source is the ‘Participation in education, training and employment: 2017’ published statistics.</p><p> </p><p>In January to March 2019 the number of young people aged 16-24 who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in the UK was at a near record low (764,000) – down 364,000 since 2010. As part of this the number of women aged 16-24 who were NEET was at a near record low (383,000) – down 238,000 since 2010. The number of men aged 16-24 who were NEET was also near a record low – at 381,000 – down 126,000 since 2010.</p><p> </p><p>The latest figures from the independent ONS, show that in February-April 2019 UK employment rate is at a joint record high of 76.1% - and as part of this the female employment rate is at a record high (72.0%). The male employment rate was 80.3% - up 5.3% points since 2010.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 24/06/2019 15:38:46 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1133332

registered interest
date	19/06/2019
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	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 proportion of claimants of universal credit with an existing advance that have successfully applied for a budgeting advance have (a) received the maximum available budgeting advance, (b) chosen to repay the budgeting advance over the maximum time period allowed and (c) repaid the budgeting advance within the pre-agreed time period.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	266642
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit new claim and benefit transfer advances provide access to a payment for those in financial need, which can be accessed on the same day, until their first UC payment is due, ensuring no one has to be left without means of financial support.</p><p>A budgeting advance is available for one-off unexpected financial events for Universal Credit claimants and is repayable over a period of up to 12 monthly instalments. Claimants might be able to get help for things such as: emergency household costs, getting a job or staying in work or funeral costs.</p><p>Of the Universal Credit claims repaying an existing advance:</p><p>a) 8% of these claims received a budgeting advance which was the maximum amount available to them</p><p>b) 13% of these claims received a budgeting advance to be paid over the maximum time period allowed</p><p>c) Information regarding those budgeting advances repaid within the pre-agreed time period is not readily available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><ol><li>Figures relate to Universal Credit full service only</li><li>Figures relate to claims repaying an advance between March 2018 and February 2019</li><li>Figures are rounded to the nearest %</li><li>Budgeting advances with a value of £348, £464 and £812 have been used for proportion of claimants receiving the maximum available advance, as the values relate to the maximum entitlement dependent on the claimant's circumstances</li></ol><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 24/06/2019 16:28:06 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1133343

registered interest
date	19/06/2019
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	Universal Credit
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 18 June 2019 to Question 263677 on universal credit, what recovery methods her Department uses.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	266645
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>Claimants are advised from the onset advances of Universal Credit are not loans. They are Universal Credit awards paid early which is then recovered over an agreed period via deductions from their Universal Credit payment. Universal Credit New Claim Advances are recovered over a maximum of 12 months, this increases to 16 months in 2021. Exceptionally, the maximum period could be deferred by up to three months. Claimants can opt to repay the advance over a shorter period. For advances made after the payment due date, the full amount is recovered immediately from arrears payable.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 24/06/2019 16:22:46 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe