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1377894

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	Jobcentre Plus: Interpreters
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that Jobcentre Plus clients who need interpreters are provided with interpreting services at appointments with their Work Coach.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	73893
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2021 answer text <p>DWP offers interpreting and translation services under the Language Services Contract, currently provided by The Big Word. All DWP staff, including Work Coaches, have access to spoken and non-spoken face to face interpreting, telephone interpreting, British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation through the video relay services, and written translation. These services are readily available to support customers who have additional communication needs.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 18/11/2021 18:01:11 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1357054

registered interest
date	20/09/2021
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	Long Covid: Government Assistance
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 financial support requirements of people with long covid.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	51732
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/09/2021 answer text <p>This government has a strong safety net that helps people who are facing hardship and are unable to support themselves financially, and we have taken steps to strengthen that safety net as part of the government’s response to the pandemic.</p><p> </p><p>Disability benefits do not include or exclude by condition, instead they look at the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability. People living with a condition arising from exposure to the Covid-19 virus can access the financial support that is available through Statutory Sick Pay, Universal Credit, New Style ESA or Pension Credit depending on individual circumstances. They are also able to access Personal Independence Payment in the same way as other people with long-term conditions or disabilities.</p><p> </p><p>As research into the long-term health symptoms and impacts of Covid-19 is ongoing, we are collaborating across Government to monitor emerging evidence and consider our response.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 24/09/2021 15:59:42 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith previous answer version 23497 answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1353744

registered interest
date	08/09/2021
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	Pensions
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 on defined benefit pension scheme members' (a) costs and (b) returns of the decrease in the proportion of defined benefit pensions scheme assets invested in company equities and increase in the proportion invested in government debt over the period 2008 to 2020.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	45181
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2021 answer text <p>It is for trustees to decide how funds in defined benefit (DB) occupational pension schemes are invested. They have a fiduciary duty to do so in the best interest of all their members. As most DB schemes are now closed, and the time available before benefits must be paid is reducing, a gradual shift towards investment in lower risk assets is to be expected.</p><p> </p><p>It is the responsibility of the sponsoring employer to fund the promised benefits in a DB scheme, and these are not dependent on investment performance.</p><p> </p><p>While DB provision has been in long term decline, since the introduction of Automatic Enrolment in 2012, defined contribution pension schemes have grown rapidly. As they are typically much less mature than DB schemes, they will tend to invest in higher proportions of return seeking assets such as equities. This Government is removing barriers to schemes investing directly in the UK economy through private markets, including by encouraging consolidation and requiring schemes to publish the net returns of their default arrangements.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 45182 question first answered 14/09/2021 16:12:21 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1353745

registered interest
date	08/09/2021
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	Pensions
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 on UK economic growth and economic productivity of the decrease in the proportion of defined benefit pensions scheme assets invested in company equities and increase in the proportion invested in government debt over the period 2008 to 2020.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	45182
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2021 answer text <p>It is for trustees to decide how funds in defined benefit (DB) occupational pension schemes are invested. They have a fiduciary duty to do so in the best interest of all their members. As most DB schemes are now closed, and the time available before benefits must be paid is reducing, a gradual shift towards investment in lower risk assets is to be expected.</p><p> </p><p>It is the responsibility of the sponsoring employer to fund the promised benefits in a DB scheme, and these are not dependent on investment performance.</p><p> </p><p>While DB provision has been in long term decline, since the introduction of Automatic Enrolment in 2012, defined contribution pension schemes have grown rapidly. As they are typically much less mature than DB schemes, they will tend to invest in higher proportions of return seeking assets such as equities. This Government is removing barriers to schemes investing directly in the UK economy through private markets, including by encouraging consolidation and requiring schemes to publish the net returns of their default arrangements.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 45181 question first answered 14/09/2021 16:12:21 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1328077

registered interest
date	26/05/2021
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	Pensions Regulator: Universities Superannuation Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to establish an inquiry into the (a) governance of and (b) role of the Pensions Regulator in the Universities Superannuation Scheme.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	7845
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/06/2021 answer text <p>No. The Pensions Regulator was created in 2004 by the then Labour Government to be independent.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 07/06/2021 16:13:07 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1328081

registered interest
date	26/05/2021
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	State Retirement Pensions : Internet
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the HMRC data errors that created incorrect pension information on the check your state pension online service in 2019 have now been fully corrected.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	7846
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2021 answer text <p>DWP has worked closely with HMRC since issues were first raised around forecasts for State Pension. A change to the Check your State Pension forecast service was applied in April 2021.</p><p> </p><p>This change ensures that individuals who are at greatest risk of having errors or omissions on their National Insurance record that may affect their State Pension forecast, are identified at the point where they request a State Pension forecast. Such individuals are advised that HMRC will take the corrective action needed in order to update their National Insurance record. Once this work is completed, a State Pension forecast will be made available.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 10/06/2021 13:51:14 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1328085

registered interest
date	26/05/2021
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information she holds on the number of households in (a) in Bristol West constituency and (b) the UK who used a (i) food bank, (ii) food club and (iii) similar organisation for the first time during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	7850
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2021 answer text <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 take the issue of food insecurity 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. (<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>). Food insecurity data from the Family Resources survey for 20/21 is not yet available.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, including by increasing the living wage, and by spending an estimated £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2020/21. This included around £7.4 billion of Covid-related welfare policy measures.</p><p> </p><p>We introduced our Covid Winter Grant Scheme providing funding to Local Authorities in England to help the most vulnerable children and families stay warm and well fed during the coldest months. It will now run until June as the Covid Local Support Grant, with a total investment of £269m.</p><p> </p><p>We are investing up to £220m in the Holiday Activities and Food programme which has been expanded to every local authority across England this year. Children eligible for benefits-related Free School Meals will have the option to join a holiday club programme that provides healthy food and enriching activities during the summer, Christmas and Easter holidays in 2021. We also increased the value of Healthy Start Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25 in April.</p><p> </p><p>As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help people move into and progress in work as quickly as possible based on clear evidence around the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty in all its forms. We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 7852 question first answered 10/06/2021 16:36:38 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1328087

registered interest
date	26/05/2021
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to eradicate the need for foodbanks.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	7852
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2021 answer text <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 take the issue of food insecurity 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. (<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>). Food insecurity data from the Family Resources survey for 20/21 is not yet available.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, including by increasing the living wage, and by spending an estimated £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2020/21. This included around £7.4 billion of Covid-related welfare policy measures.</p><p> </p><p>We introduced our Covid Winter Grant Scheme providing funding to Local Authorities in England to help the most vulnerable children and families stay warm and well fed during the coldest months. It will now run until June as the Covid Local Support Grant, with a total investment of £269m.</p><p> </p><p>We are investing up to £220m in the Holiday Activities and Food programme which has been expanded to every local authority across England this year. Children eligible for benefits-related Free School Meals will have the option to join a holiday club programme that provides healthy food and enriching activities during the summer, Christmas and Easter holidays in 2021. We also increased the value of Healthy Start Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25 in April.</p><p> </p><p>As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help people move into and progress in work as quickly as possible based on clear evidence around the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty in all its forms. We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 7850 question first answered 10/06/2021 16:36:38 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1310954

registered interest
date	21/04/2021
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	Self-employed: Adoption
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 review the adequacy of financial support available for self-employed people who are adopting children.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	185404
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2021 answer text <p>The Government recognises that it is crucial to the success of an adoption placement that an adopter is able to take time off work to care for and bond with their child.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that affordability may limit the time away from work that some self-employed adopters can take which is why statutory adoption guidance says that Local Authorities should consider making a payment - equivalent to Maternity Allowance - in cases where adopters do not qualify for any statutory payment because of their self-employed status.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 28/04/2021 12:50:46 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1243360

registered interest
date	14/10/2020
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 Answer of 13 July 2020 to Question 69600 and Answer of 1 July 2020 to Question 63208, what progress has been made on implementing the decision of the court of appeal on 22 June 2020 on universal credit systems taking account of the day that a monthly salary is paid.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	103554
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2020 answer text <p>On 20<sup>th</sup> October I laid secondary legislation in response to the Court of Appeal Judgment made on 22 June in the case of Johnson, Woods, Barrett and Stewart, which concerned claimants who receive two calendar monthly payments of earnings in one Universal Credit assessment period. This will allow us to reallocate a payment of earnings reported via the Real Time Information service to a different Universal Credit assessment period, either because it was reported in the wrong assessment period or (in the case of calendar monthly paid employees) it is necessary to maintain a regular payment cycle. This will mean that claimants who are paid calendar monthly will therefore have one salary payment taken into account in each assessment period. It also means that certain claimants will also benefit from any applicable work allowance.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 22/10/2020 16:41:40 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire