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1132050

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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, how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful applications there have been for a reduction in repayment rates for benefits overpayment in each year since 2013.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	264327
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not available.</p><p> </p><p>Our systems do not hold data on the recovery rates that were applied to debts that have either been fully repaid, or have been written off. It is therefore not possible to give a complete figure for the total number of successful, or unsuccessful applications for a reduction in an overpayment recovery rate.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 15:00:09 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132084

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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 universal credit claimants (a) received and (b) did not receive an advance payment in 2018-19.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	264328
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit new claim advances provide access to a payment for those in financial need, which can be accessed on the same day, until their first payment is due. Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, for which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months. From October 2021, this maximum repayment period will be extended from 12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p>The Department ensures claimants are made aware of their maximum advance entitlement and informed that their Universal Credit award will be adjusted over the relevant recovery period to take into account the advance of benefit they received.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>There were 1,046,000 claims made to Universal Credit during January to December 2018 which went into payment. Of these claims, 598,000 (57%) received an advance by end of February 2019 and 449,000 (43%) did not receive an advance.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><ol><li>Figures relate to Universal Credit full service</li><li>Figures capture all advances types</li><li>Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000</li><li>Advances paid are provided for claims which went into payment in the 2018 calendar year to ensure enough time has elapsed to be certain these claims did actually progress to payment</li></ol> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 14:57:13 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132085

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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 universal credit claimants had (a) an advance payment repayment deduction, (b) a historic debt repayment and (c) both attached to their claim in 2018-19.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	264329
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. Under Universal Credit there is a structured approach to deductions from benefit, which simplifies the complex arrangements that exists within legacy benefits. From October 2019 the maximum rate of deductions from a claimant’s standard allowance will be reduced from 40% to 30%. From October 2021 we are increasing the recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months, further supporting those in financial need.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant considers that they are facing financial hardship because of the amount that is being deducted from their Universal Credit award, they can ask the Department to consider reducing their deductions. Furthermore, work coaches can pause some repayments in certain circumstances to ensure they are manageable. This is called a financial hardship decision.</p><p> </p><p>During 2018/19 there were: (a) 1.043m claimants with deductions from UC for UC Advance repayments; (b) 0.749m claimants with deductions from UC for non-UC debts; and; (c) 0.491m claimants with deductions from UC for both UC Advance repayments and non-UC debts in 2018/19 (this volume is included in volumes for (a) and (b).</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 15:20:34 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132090

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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	Climate Change
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to his Oral Statement of 12 June 2019, Official Report, column 661, what reafforestation programme the Government plans to adopt to reach net zero by 2050; and whether that programme will implement the recommendation of the Committee for Climate Change on planting 30,000 hectares of trees each year.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	264330
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>On 12 June, the UK announced that we will end our contribution to the most serious environmental challenge we face - climate change, by legislating the introduction of a net zero emission target for 2050, following the Committee on Climate Change’s advice. We are one of the first major economies in the world to legislate for a net zero target. Meeting this target will require us to build on the progress already made, by further reducing emissions across all sectors of the economy.</p><p> </p><p>Forests are vital in the fight against climate change and we are determined to grow woodland cover. The Government is delivering on a range of afforestation commitments including contributing £5.7M to kick start planting in the Northern Forest, £10 million for trees in towns and cities through the Urban Tree Challenge Fund and £50 million for new woodland through the Woodland Carbon Guarantee. There is now guidance to ensure better recognition of the wider natural capital benefits that trees can provide and we have just reappointed our Tree Champion for a further year to continue to lead engagement on a new England tree strategy, which we will consult on later this year.</p><p> </p><p>The Committee for Climate Change’s recent report recognises the work we have done to lay the foundations to build a net zero economy. The Committee’s indicative recommendations on tree planting are ambitious, and we know we need to go further and faster to plant more trees.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 18/06/2019 12:43:20 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1131675

registered interest
date	12/06/2019
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, if she will introduce a box on the universal credit application form through which claimants may give permissions for their data to be used to register their children for free school meals and other income-related educational benefits.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	263718
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department for Education (DfE) provides an Electronic Eligibility Checking Service (ECS) to all local authorities in England, which is used to confirm eligibility for free school meals.</p><p> </p><p>To support this, there are already data sharing agreements in place between DfE and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and other government departments who administer benefits which qualify families for free school meals. This enables local authorities and schools to quickly verify eligibility for free school meals, including where parent(s) have been awarded Universal Credit and have earnings below the prescribed threshold for free school meal eligibility.</p><p> </p><p>DWP therefore has no plans to ask claimants to give permission for their Universal Credit data to be used to provide an automatic entitlement to other benefits.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 16:13:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 123357 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1131360

registered interest
date	11/06/2019
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, if she will publish for each of the estimated 30 applications made by claimants or their representatives to have their overpayments waived either in full or in part (a) the reason for the request, (b) whether the application was made by the claimant or the representative and (c) the relationship of the claimant to the representative.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	263064
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The table below details the reasons that applications for the waiving of Universal Credit overpayments were made by claimants or their representatives. The figures in this table have been rounded to the nearest 10. Where the volume of cases is less than 5, we are unable to report the exact number to avoid possible disclosure of individual details.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Reason for Waiver application</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Volume of applications (includes both successful and unsuccessful)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Medical Grounds</p></td><td><p>20</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Financial Grounds</p></td><td><p>0 to less than 5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Medical and Financial Grounds</p></td><td><p>0 to less than 5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Official Error</p></td><td><p>0 to less than 5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Medical Grounds and Official Error</p></td><td><p>0 to less than 5</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>DWP may waive recovery of overpayments where it can be demonstrated that recovery would cause substantial hardship and there is strong evidence available that the recovery of an overpayment would be detrimental to the health and/or welfare of the debtor or their family. Official error in itself is not cause for an overpayment to be waived.</p><p> </p><p>It is not possible to provide details of whether an application was made by a claimant or their representative as this information is not stored.</p><p> </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 figures subsequently released by the Department. </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 15:19:00 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 123346 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1131071

registered interest
date	10/06/2019
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	Work Capability Assessment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to collect and publish data on the numbers of people who die after (a) failing or (b) being found fit for work at an assessment for benefits relating to sickness or disability.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	262252
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department has no plans to collate and publish this information.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 18/06/2019 15:57:33 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead