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1466522

registered interest
date	26/05/2022
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, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of child poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	9899
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/06/2022 answer text <p>Latest statistics for the levels of children who are in low income in Coventry North East constituency and Coventry are published in “Children in Low Income Families”, and can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2014-to-2021" target="_blank">Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)</a>.</p><p /><p>National statistics on the number and percentage of children in low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication, and can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2021" target="_blank">Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Due to methodological differences, the figures in these two publications are not comparable.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 06/06/2022 16:52:00 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1464108

registered interest
date	18/05/2022
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: Coventry
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the impact of the increases in the cost of living on levels of foodbank use in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	4588
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2022 answer text <p>No assessment has been made.</p><p> </p><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 therefore 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.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise the pressures on the cost of living and we are doing what we can to help, including spending £22 billion across the next financial year to support people. This includes the recently announced package of support to help households with rising energy bills, worth £9.1 billion.</p><p> </p><p>Also included in this is an additional £500 million to help households (01 April – 30 September 2022) with the cost of essentials, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing the total funding for this support to £1 billion.</p><p> </p><p>In England, £421 million will be provided to extend the existing Household Support Fund, at least a third of the extension funding (£140m) will be spent on pensioners and at least another third (£140m) will be spent on families with children.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 23/05/2022 16:47:09 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1416803

registered interest
date	26/01/2022
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: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people affected by administrative errors made by her Department which led to financial hardship for claimants in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	112579
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2022 answer text <p>The Department does not hold Official Error data, or details of subsequent hardships requests for a reduction in the rate of repayment, by geographical area.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley grouped question UIN 112580 question first answered 31/01/2022 17:44:31 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1416804

registered interest
date	26/01/2022
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: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people affected by administrative errors made by her Department which led to the overpayment of benefits in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	112580
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2022 answer text <p>The Department does not hold Official Error data, or details of subsequent hardships requests for a reduction in the rate of repayment, by geographical area.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley grouped question UIN 112579 question first answered 31/01/2022 17:44:31 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1404836

registered interest
date	20/01/2022
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, what steps her Department is taking to tackle child poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	108537
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2022 answer text <p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting low-income families, including through spending over £110 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22 and by increasing the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 from April 2022.</p><p> </p><p>With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, our focus now is on continuing to support parents across the UK into and to progress in work. This is because we know that work, particularly where it is full-time substantially reduces the risks of child poverty and improves long-term outcomes for families and children. Our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, Universal Credit recipients in work are now benefitting from a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%, while eligible in-work claimants can also benefit from changes to the Work Allowance. These measures represent, for the lowest paid in society, an effective tax cut of around £2.2b in 2022-23 and are now benefitting almost two million of the lowest paid workers by £1,000 a year on average.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that some people require extra support over the winter, which is why vulnerable households across the country can access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million. Coventry City Council are receiving £3,224,222.30 of this funding.</p><p> </p><p>To support low income families further we have increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, helping eligible low income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins, and we are also investing over £200m a year from 2022 to continue our Holiday Activities and Food programme which is already providing enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all English Local Authorities.</p><p> </p><p /> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 25/01/2022 17:48:12 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1379360

registered interest
date	17/11/2021
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 her Department is taking to tackle levels of food poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	76712
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2021 answer text <p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting low-income families by spending over £110 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22 and by increasing the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 from April 2022.</p><p> </p><p>With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, our focus now is on continuing to support people into and to progress in work. Our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, Universal Credit recipients in work will soon benefit from a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%, while eligible in-work claimants will also benefit from changes to the Work Allowance. These measures represent, for the lowest paid in society, an effective tax cut of around £2.2 Billion in 2022-23, and will benefit almost two million of the lowest paid workers by £1000 a year on average.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that some people may require extra support over the winter as we enter the final stages of recovery from the impacts of the Covid pandemic, which is why vulnerable households across the country will now be able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. This includes £421 million for the Household Support Fund, which will help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. Coventry City Council are receiving £3,224,222.30 of this funding.</p><p> </p><p>To support low income families further we have also increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, helping eligible low income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins, and we are investing over £200m a year from 2022 to continue our Holiday Activities and Food programme, which is already providing enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all Local Authorities in England.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 22/11/2021 13:51:24 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1377913

registered interest
date	12/11/2021
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: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the impact of the covid-19 outbreak on foodbank use in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	73863
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2021 answer text <p>No assessment has been made. 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. 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 food security are seeking help and over time will allow is to build a time series on the scale of food bank usage.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that some people may require extra support over the winter as we enter the final stages of recovery, which is why vulnerable households across the country will now be able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund will provide £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula will apply in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 22/11/2021 13:52:50 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1378003

registered interest
date	12/11/2021
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: Overpayments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people affected by administrative errors made by her Department which led to the overpayment of benefits in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	73869
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2021 answer text <p>Ensuring benefit correctness is a DWP priority and we are focused on paying people their correct entitlement from the outset of a claim. Indeed, despite a period when we have faced the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19, fraud and error in the benefits system remains low, with 95% of benefits, worth more than £200 billion, paid correctly in 2020/21.</p><p> </p><p>In line with this commitment to correctness, we operate a Quality Assurance Framework, which sets out the Department’s quality controls in relation to official error. This includes an assurance regime where levels are measured and reported monthly, with lessons learnt helping deliver continuous improvement.</p><p /><p>The following table, taken from our National Statistics on Fraud and Error in the Benefit System, shows the percentage of cases overpaid Universal Credit (UC) as a result of Official Error for the Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2017 to FYE 2021.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial Year</p></td><td><p>% of cases overpaid UC as a result of Official Error</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/2017</p></td><td><p>4.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/2018</p></td><td><p>5.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018/2019</p></td><td><p>5.7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019/2020</p></td><td><p>4.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020/2021</p></td><td><p>2.2%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The National Statistics on Fraud and Error also show that Universal Credit Official Error as a percentage of benefit expenditure fell in 2020/21, from 1.3% to 0.9%.</p><p> </p><p>Further information on fraud and error in the benefits system can be found in the Department’s annual statistical publication at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-2020-to-2021-estimates" target="_blank">Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2020 to 2021 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p><p> </p><p>Where Official Error overpayments do occur, the introduction of the 2012 Welfare Reform Act means that all overpayments of Universal Credit, including cases where the overpayment is a result of Official Error, are recoverable.</p><p> </p><p>Where recovery is made by deduction from Universal Credit, there is a limit placed on the overall amount that can be deducted. Formerly 40% of the Universal Credit Standard Allowance, this was reduced from 30% to 25% in April 2021. Moreover, a priority order is applied, which determines the order in which deductions can be made. ‘Last resort’ deductions, such as rent or fuel costs, are at the top of the priority.</p><p> </p><p>Anyone with overpayment deductions who does experience financial hardship is encouraged to contact the Department’s Debt Management unit. Where a person cannot afford the</p><p>proposed rate, a lower amount can be negotiated.</p><p> </p><p><em>*Note that the</em> <em>data supplied in this response is derived from unpublished management</em></p><p><em>information which was collected for internal Departmental use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. The data should therefore be treated with caution.</em></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 22/11/2021 14:03:13 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1365428

registered interest
date	02/11/2021
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: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of food insecurity amongst (a) primary and (b) secondary school children in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England (A) in each of the last five years and (B) during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	68299
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/11/2021 answer text <p>We have not made an assessment of this kind. Issues of food insecurity amongst school children fall within the remit of the Department for Education so assessments such as this would be their responsibility.</p><p>We take the issue of food security seriously, which is why we added internationally used food security questions to the Family Resources Survey in 19/20 and published the data in March this year. These questions remain in the survey and will allow us to track food security over time. Statistics on Household Food Security from the Family Resources Survey for financial year 20/21 have a provisional release date of March 2022, subject to the usual quality assurance.</p><p>National and regional statistics on the number of food insecure households are published annually in the “Family Resources Survey” publication. Statistics on levels of food insecure households in the UK , covering 2019/20, can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2019-to-2020" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2019-to-2020</a></p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 08/11/2021 17:59:17 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1362536

registered interest
date	22/10/2021
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: Coventry
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the numbers of people in employment that are living in poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry; and what recent estimate her Department has made of the effect of ending the £20 uplift to universal credit on the levels of in-work poverty in those areas.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	61154
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2021 answer text <p>National statistics on the number of people living in in-work absolute low income are set out in the annual &quot;Households Below Average Income&quot; publication. The numbers of people living in in-work absolute low income is not available at constituency or local authority level in this publication because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography.</p><p>The latest poverty figures (2019/20) demonstrate that absolute poverty rates (both before and after housing costs) for working-age adults in working families have fallen since 2009/10. In 2019/20, 8% of working age adults in working families were in absolute poverty (before housing costs), compared to 9% in 2009/10.</p><p>No such assessment has been made of the effect of ending the £20 uplift to universal credit on the levels of in-work poverty in Coventry North East constituency and Coventry.</p><p>The Chancellor announced a temporary six-month extension to the £20 per week uplift at the Budget on 3 March to support households affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. Universal Credit has provided a vital safety net for six million people during the pandemic, and the temporary uplift was part of a COVID support package worth a total of £407billion in 2020-21 and 2021-22.</p><p>There have been significant positive developments in the public health situation since the uplift was first introduced with the success of the vaccine rollout. With record vacancies, our focus is on helping people back into work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty.</p><p>We have also announced a reduction in the taper rate in Universal Credit from 63% to 55% in the coming weeks, meaning Universal Credit claimants will be able to keep more of their earnings and announced that all work allowances will be increased by £500 per year, meaning many claimants will be able to earn over £550 each month before their benefits begin to be scaled down. These two measures mean 1.9m households will keep, on average, around an extra £1,000 a year.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that some people may require extra support over the winter as we enter the final stages of recovery, which is why vulnerable households across the country will now be able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund will provide £421 million to help vulnerable people in England. The Barnett Formula will apply in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 29/10/2021 14:03:08 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley previous answer version 28246 answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher