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947586

registered interest
date	24/07/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current health of the UK car industry.
tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
uin	HL9862
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>The UK’s automotive industry is world leading and global demand for UK designed, engineered, and manufactured vehicles is strong. We are determined to ensure that the UK continues to be one of the most competitive locations in the world for automotive and other advanced manufacturing. Ministers regularly meet senior automotive executives, both through the Automotive Council and individually, to discuss a wide range of matters.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 31/07/2018 12:16:01 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

945608

registered interest
date	20/07/2018
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Infrastructure
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will respond to the National Infrastructure Commission's National Infrastructure Assessment 2018, published in July.
tabling member printed	Baroness Featherstone
uin	HL9737
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>The government welcomed the publication of the National Infrastructure Assessment (NIA), and is considering the recommendations.</p><p> </p><p>As set out in the National Infrastructure Commission’s Framework Document, the government will respond to the NIC’s recommendations as soon as practical, and endeavour to respond within 6 months, and no longer than a year.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 31/07/2018 12:07:17 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	1531 label Biography information for Baroness Featherstone

945619

registered interest
date	20/07/2018
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Government Securities
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what UK Treasury Bills are available for purchase on any given day.
tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
uin	HL9748
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>Treasury bills are typically sold by the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) via regular tenders each Friday morning. Maturities currently offered for sale are one-month, three-month and six-month bills. Alongside the results of each Friday morning’s tender, the DMO also announces the amounts for sale via tender for the following Friday.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, on any business day, the DMO can sell either new or existing Treasury bills (which match those previously sold at a tender) bilaterally on request from its counterparties, provided that such issuance is consistent with the DMO’s cash management operational requirements.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, Treasury Bill Primary Participants (banks) may also offer a market-making service in all Treasury bills to their own counterparties on any business day.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 31/07/2018 12:07:57 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

945623

registered interest
date	20/07/2018
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: Ethnic Groups
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they conduct ethnic monitoring of social security benefits, including Universal Credit; and if so, whether this system collects data on the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL9752
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>Claimants, including Universal Credit claimants, are given the option to provide their ethnicity for monitoring purposes. We have published volumes of claimants broken down by ethnicity for some benefits. This is publically available and can be accessed using DWP’s Stat-Xplore function on the gov.uk website, or the Nomis service provided by the Office for National Statistics.</p><p> </p><p>The data is not broken down to Gypsy, Roma and Travellers. These individuals are captured in the larger ethnic group they identify with.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 13:48:38 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

944910

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the level of identity verification required to sign up to Universal Credit is adequate; what reviews, if any, they have undertaken to ensure that online applications do not require a higher standard of identity assurance than is applied elsewhere; and how they are trying to clear the current backlog of face-to-face interview appointments.
tabling member printed	Lord Freyberg
uin	HL9693
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>DWP takes the security of Universal Credit very seriously, this includes verifying who our claimants are; we continue to work to maintain the high standards of our identity verification processes. There are various ways in which a claimant can verify their identity for Universal Credit purposes: online using the gov.uk verify service; in person using primary and secondary ID verification or; by using biographical questions.</p><p><em> </em></p><p>In line with advice from the National Cyber Security Centre and best practice, we treat identity proofing as just one of many defences that combine to mitigate attempted fraud. In line with our “test and learn” approach to delivering Universal Credit, we continuously assess the levels of security and fraud risk to both Government and our users, as it is critical that we strike the right balance between making the service as smooth as possible for claimants and protecting the taxpayer against fraud. We reviewed the level of identity required to strike this balance prior to the introduction of gov.uk Verify as an option for users to prove their identity online into the service and found that it, in combination with the other defences against fraud built into the service, gave a sufficiently strong level of proof. As Universal Credit continues to roll out, we are again reviewing the level of identity and the options available to further improve claimants’ experience while protecting DWP against fraud as part of wider efficiency improvements.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:17:15 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2593 label Biography information for Lord Freyberg

944925

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Fire Resistant Materials
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they take to ensure that all flame retardants are safe (1) in normal use, (2) during fires, and (3) at the end of life when they are disposed of.
tabling member printed	The Countess of Mar
uin	HL9708
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>Manufacturers and distributors must ensure all consumer products are safe before they are placed on the UK market, including those that use flame retardants. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have lead responsibility for environmental policy and restrictions on chemicals.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 31/07/2018 12:15:26 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	1861 label Biography information for The Countess of Mar

944940

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what success they have had in identifying and tracking claimants of Universal Credit whom they deem vulnerable.
tabling member printed	Lord Touhig
uin	HL9723
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>Where notified by a Local Authority or a claimant, DWP staff currently updates the claimant profile with any temporary or long term complex needs and how that affects the claimant’s ability to use the service. This enables Universal Credit agents and work coaches to provide individuals with appropriate personalised support.</p><p>Underlying this approach is the principle that not all individuals with a disability, health condition or other set of personal circumstances will necessarily require support, while some will only need support for a period of time. Our work coaches deliver a personalised journey based on individual claimant needs.</p><p>The Department is looking to further improve our system to better identify vulnerable claimants with the use of a new ‘pinning’ function. This involves testing methods to extract data on information recorded in the claimant profile using text matching techniques. We have plans to introduce a function to ‘pin’ key profile notes so they are instantly visible to all staff helping a claimant. The Department is beginning wider work to examine how claimants tell us about their complex needs, how we record them and how we can extract data which can help us monitor and improve support.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:19:38 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	542 label Biography information for Lord Touhig

944941

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how they (1) identify, and (2) measure the number of, people having difficulties with claiming Universal Credit.
tabling member printed	Lord Touhig
uin	HL9724
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>The Department is continually working to improve the claimant journey for Universal Credit. The Universal Credit Full Service Claimant Survey found that 98 per cent of claims are made online, and that nearly half of claimants had help from others or from their jobcentre adviser to do so, demonstrating that those who need it are accessing the support available to them.</p><p> </p><p>The survey also found that 31 per cent of claimants said they need more on-going support with using their Universal Credit digital account. To address this, we are investing up to £200 million into budgeting and digital support, to help claimants with the transition to Universal Credit. This is delivered by the Department and through partners such as local authorities and other third party organisations.</p><p> </p><p>All jobcentres across the country have free Wi-Fi, and there are more than 8,000 computers available to support customers who need help with making their claim digitally and applying for jobs online. Work coaches will also assist anyone who needs assistance. If people cannot get online we have also a freephone helpline available.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:17:53 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	542 label Biography information for Lord Touhig

944942

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they measure the number of claimants of Universal Credit who are experiencing financial hardship; and if so, how many such claimants there are.
tabling member printed	Lord Touhig
uin	HL9725
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>For many people who do experience financial difficulties, these pre-date their claim to Universal Credit. For example, in their report published on 11 July 2018, the National Federation of Arms-Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) of Social Housing providers found that of those Universal Credit households in rent arrears, 76 per cent had arrears prior to moving onto Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>In the Universal Credit Claimant survey, published in June 2018, 4 in 10 claimants reported they were having difficulties keeping up with bills. In 2011/12 in the report “Work and the welfare system: a survey of benefits and tax credits recipients” from 2011/12, one in three main claimants said they run out of money before the end of the week/month always or most of the time, and a further third said this happens more often than not or sometimes. Both surveys are available on gov.uk.</p><p> </p><p>Unlike in the legacy system, we are investing around £200 million over the Universal Credit implementation period into Universal Support to help claimants with budget management and digital support. Our work coaches work closely with claimants, ensuring they can identify any vulnerabilities such as financial hardship at an early stage. They can then tailor support according to claimants’ individual needs and help to address these issues.</p><p> </p><p>We also have a system of advances and budgeting support to help people with the transition to Universal Credit. From 3 January 2018, we increased the repayment period of Universal Credit advances to 12 months, with claimants able to get up to 100 per cent of their estimated monthly entitlement upfront. These advances are available to claimants interest-free, and from July 2018, can be applied for online.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:18:44 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	542 label Biography information for Lord Touhig

944943

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the number of Universal Credit claimants experiencing financial difficulties from four in 10, as reported in their Universal Credit Full Source Survey, published in June.
tabling member printed	Lord Touhig
uin	HL9726
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>We have introduced a number of measures to support and reduce the number of claimants facing financial difficulties.</p><p>We are investing up to £200 million into budgeting and digital support, to help claimants with the transition to Universal Credit and our work coaches work closely with claimants, ensuring they can identify any vulnerabilities or specific needs, such as financial difficulties, at an early stage. We have also invested £1.5 billion in a package of measures to support claimants financially in the first assessment period.</p><p>From 3 January, claimants have been getting advances of up to 100 per cent of their indicative monthly entitlement within a few days. From 14 February, waiting days were removed, and from 11 April, claimants transitioning to Universal Credit from Housing Benefit have been getting an additional 2 weeks of housing cost payments.</p><p>In June, we announced additional protection for people who receive Severe Disability Premium – they will stay on legacy benefits until Transitional Protection applies and we will introduce protection for those who have already moved on to Universal Credit.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:21:49 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	542 label Biography information for Lord Touhig