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1081721

registered interest
date	04/03/2019
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	Unemployment
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 undertaken any recent assessment on trends in the level of economic inactivity in socio-economic groups.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Yardley
tabling member printed	Jess Phillips
uin	228060
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/03/2019 answer text <p>The latest available data, covering Oct-Dec 2018, shows the rate of economic inactivity being 20.9% – a record low. This rate has fallen since 2010 for every region and country of the UK. These statistics are for the 16-64 age group, which is the Office for National Statistics’ headline rate for economic inactivity.</p><p> </p><p>The ONS does not publish statistics on economic inactivity split by socioeconomic group.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/03/2019 16:36:57 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4370 label Biography information for Jess Phillips

1081728

registered interest
date	04/03/2019
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	Bereavement Support Payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason her Department does not pay bereavement support to widows and widowers where tacit consent to marriage with their former partner was not given but where the material circumstances of their relationship were the same as those of a married couple.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	228066
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/03/2019 answer text <p>Marriage and civil partnerships are legal contracts that are associated with certain rights, including inheritance, recognition in the tax system and entitlement to certain benefits.</p><p> </p><p>A key principle of the National Insurance system is that all rights to benefits derived from another person’s contributions, such as bereavement benefits, are based on the concept of legal marriage or civil partnership.</p><p> </p><p>Under Scottish law, in certain circumstances, a person can be classed as married by cohabitation with habit and repute. Marriage by habit and repute was abolished for new relationships in 2006 by the Family Law (Scotland) Act. Marriages deemed to have been constituted prior to the 4 May 2006 are still recognised as such for benefit purposes.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 07/03/2019 10:38:56 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1081732

registered interest
date	04/03/2019
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 make an assessment of whether universal credit claimants paid weekly, fortnightly or on a four-weekly basis for part-time work may receive a lower annual benefit than those who are paid on a last day of the month-basis for the same number of hours worked.
tabling member constituency	Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock
tabling member printed	Bill Grant
uin	228068
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/03/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit awards are assessed and paid on a monthly basis. There is, therefore, no annual entitlement, as many claimants’ circumstances change from month to month.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/03/2019 16:34:36 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4605 label Biography information for Bill Grant

1079341

registered interest
date	28/02/2019
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	Unemployment: Ribble Valley
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were unemployed in Ribble Valley in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.
tabling member constituency	Ribble Valley
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Evans
uin	227047
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/03/2019 answer text <p>Official Statistics, published by the Office for National Statistics and based on the Annual Population Survey, do not provide reliable estimates at this geography, due to the sample size being too small.</p><p>However, using the Labour Force Survey, the Office for National Statistics estimate the level of unemployment in the North West was 143,000 in the quarter to December 2018. The data shows:</p><ul><li>A decrease in unemployment of 5,000 on the same quarter of 2017,</li><li>A decrease in unemployment of 38,000 on the same quarter of 2016.</li><li>A decrease in unemployment of 152,000 since the quarter to April 2010.</li></ul> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 07/03/2019 16:42:27 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	474 label Biography information for Mr Nigel Evans

1079342

registered interest
date	28/02/2019
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	Employment: Ribble Valley
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the employment rate in the Ribble Valley constituency was in each year since 2016.
tabling member constituency	Ribble Valley
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Evans
uin	227048
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/03/2019 answer text <p>Using the Annual Population Survey, the Office for National Statistics estimate constituency level employment rates at a 95% confidence level between a lower and upper bound. As can be seen in the table below, a reliable trend cannot be identified at this geography, due to the sample size being too small.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 07/03/2019 16:30:06 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	474 label Biography information for Mr Nigel Evans

1079344

registered interest
date	28/02/2019
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	Private Rented Housing: Natural Gas
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 the number of private landlords who do not conduct annual gas safety inspections; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	227044
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/03/2019 answer text <p>Landlords are required by the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 to maintain their gas installations in a safe condition and to arrange annual safety checks, by Gas Safe registered engineers, of any appliances and flues that they provide for their tenants’ use.</p><p> </p><p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) takes action against landlords who fail to meet this duty in line with the domestic gas events and enforcement advice (<a href="http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/ocs/400-499/440_30.htm" target="_blank">http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/ocs/400-499/440_30.htm</a>) and HSE’s enforcement policy statement and enforcement management model (<a href="http://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/enforcement.htm" target="_blank">http://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/enforcement.htm</a>) which is proportionate, targeted, consistent, transparent and accountable.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 07/03/2019 12:38:57 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

1079381

registered interest
date	28/02/2019
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	Employment and Support Allowance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her Written Statement of 21 February 2019 on Employment and Support Allowance, Official Report HCWS 1348, which work streams the 1,200 staff working on underpayment cases have been taken from; and how many of those staff have been (a) moved from other areas of her Department and (ii) newly recruited.
tabling member constituency	Battersea
tabling member printed	Marsha De Cordova
uin	227168
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2019 answer text <p>Over the course of 2018/19, across the Department we increased our resources by 4,209 FTE to manage all demands including LEAP exercises. This included the recruitment of an additional 400 staff, on a fixed term appointment basis, directly to support the ESA underpayment exercise. The remainder of the 1,200 staff were deployed onto the exercise as a result of reducing demand on ESA and JSA benefits. This approach has meant that we have not had to stop or deprioritise other customer activity in order to complete this review.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 05/03/2019 10:58:03 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4676 label Biography information for Marsha De Cordova

1079382

registered interest
date	28/02/2019
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	Employment and Support Allowance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an estimate of the number of people who went into (a) rent arrears and (b) council tax arrears following the underpayment of their employment and support allowance; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Battersea
tabling member printed	Marsha De Cordova
uin	227169
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2019 answer text <p>The information is not available.</p><p> </p><p>DWP are engaging with a number of authorities, including those responsible for Council Tax, to raise awareness of the ESA underpayment exercise and the potential issues arising from it. This will help them to assess possible impacts on these areas.</p><p> </p><p>As part of the ESA underpayment exercise we will inform local authorities Housing Benefit departments of new awards of income-related ESA as part of our business as usual procedures. As Housing Benefit is available to contributory only ESA claimants, those on low incomes could still receive full Housing Benefit if assessed by their Local Authority as entitled.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 05/03/2019 14:53:22 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4676 label Biography information for Marsha De Cordova

1079383

registered interest
date	28/02/2019
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 assessment she has made of the adequacy of staffing levels in universal credit centres; and what proportion of fixed-term staff working in universal credit centres are on (a) permanent contracts and (b) zero-hour contracts.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	227130
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2019 answer text <p>The Department regularly reviews both the numbers of people working in Universal Credit service centres and their performance to ensure we have the right number of people available to manage claimants Universal Credit claims. Services and staff training is assessed, both in real time to meet any short term peaks in demand and also reviewed for longer term improvements to ensure the service continues to meet customer service expectation.</p><p> </p><p>Our priority is to give all employees, including those delivering Universal Credit, the necessary resources, including manageable workloads, so that they can carry out their roles successfully.</p><p> </p><p>The size of a Case Manager’s caseload is dependent on a number of factors, including the complexity of the caseload and experience of the case manager.</p><p> </p><p>All staff on fixed-term contracts are employed on the basis of agreed full or part time hours. No staff are employed on zero-hour contracts.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 05/03/2019 17:53:37 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1079440

registered interest
date	28/02/2019
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	Pension 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 are any pensioners entitled to pensions credit who are not in receipt of that benefit.
tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
uin	227104
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/03/2019 answer text <p>Official statistics on the take-up of income related benefits, including Pension Credit, can be found in the ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up in 2016 to 2017’ publication which can be found here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017</a></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 07/03/2019 11:31:42 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery