Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1149866

	registered interest
	date	16/10/2019
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Energy Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 2 October 2019 to Question 290333 on Department for Work and Pensions: Energy Supply and to the Answer of 1 October 2019 to Question 290324 on Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Energy Supply, if she will introduce the same policy as the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and switch to an electricity provider that supplies electricity solely from renewable resources within the next 12 months; and for what reason her Department has not already ensured its electricity is supplied solely from renewable resources.
	tabling member constituency	Scunthorpe
	tabling member printed	Nic Dakin
	uin	1006
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2019 answer text <p>The Department is mandated by the Cabinet Office to use electricity agreements negotiated by the Crown Commercial Service for Central Government Organisations and therefore cannot set terms such as the use of renewable sources independently.</p><p> </p><p>To the Department’s knowledge Crown Commercial Service have no plans to create agreements to provide renewable resources only.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 21/10/2019 15:37:12 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4056 label Biography information for Nic Dakin

1150054

	registered interest
	date	16/10/2019
	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	Bus Services: Concessions
	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 she has made of the potential merits of introducing a reduced rate bus pass for women born in the 1950s who have had their state pension age changed.
	tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
	tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
	uin	1112
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2019 answer text <p>Concessionary travel is a devolved policy area, so the administrative arrangements in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland differ from one other. All local authorities in England have the power to introduce local concessions, including the extension of concessionary travel to those who are yet to reach the qualifying age.</p><p> </p><p>The age of eligibility for concessionary travel in England has been rising in line with the changes to the state pension age. Equalising the age difference between men and women addresses the current position of non-disabled citizens of working age receiving free bus passes. This in turn will help the financial sustainability of the scheme, which currently costs around £1 billion annually</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 21/10/2019 13:30:24 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1150340

	registered interest
	date	17/10/2019
	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	Workplace Pensions: Scunthorpe
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in Scunthorpe constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.
	tabling member constituency	Scunthorpe
	tabling member printed	Nic Dakin
	uin	1661
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2019 answer text <p>Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Since automatic enrolment started in 2012 participation rates have been transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into a workplace pension in 2018, up from 55% in 2012.</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates<sup>1</sup>.</p><p> </p><p>I am providing the following information about the impact of automatic enrolment in your constituency, as at end of September 2019<sup>2</sup>:</p><p> </p><p>In the Scunthorpe constituency since 2012, approximately 9,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1370 employers have met their duties.</p><p> </p><p><sup>1</sup>Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p><sup>2</sup>The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink:</p><p><a href="https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests" target="_blank">https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests</a></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 21/10/2019 17:00:48 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4056 label Biography information for Nic Dakin

1148867

	registered interest
	date	14/10/2019
	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: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time has been for calls to the Employment Support Allowance helpline in each month since October 2018.
	tabling member constituency	East Hampshire
	tabling member printed	Mr Damian Hinds
	uin	198
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2019 answer text <p>The average wait time for calls to the Employment Support Allowance helpline in each month from October 2018 to September 2019 is shown in the table below in the format of hours:minutes:seconds.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Average Wait Time</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>October 2018</p></td><td><p>00:11:30</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>November 2018</p></td><td><p>00:12:44</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>December 2018</p></td><td><p>00:21:36</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>January 2019</p></td><td><p>00:20:06</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2019</p></td><td><p>00:20:47</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2019</p></td><td><p>00:18:31</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2019</p></td><td><p>00:29:56</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May 2019</p></td><td><p>00:23:15</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>June 2019</p></td><td><p>00:17:29</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>July 2019</p></td><td><p>00:26:51</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2019</p></td><td><p>00:26:17</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 2019</p></td><td><p>00:24:42</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 21/10/2019 15:49:30 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds

1148722

	registered interest
	date	14/10/2019
	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 Protection Fund
	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 take steps to amend the Pension Protection Fund rules to allow people with pre-April 1997 pensionable service to receive increases to their pension of up to 2.5 per cent.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington South
	tabling member printed	Faisal Rashid
	uin	267
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2019 answer text <p>The Pension Protection Fund is a well-established compensation scheme with cross party support. Without the Pension Protection Fund, most company insolvencies would mean that members of Defined Benefit pension schemes could be facing significant financial insecurity in retirement. The Pension Protection Fund was never intended to replicate scheme benefits in their entirety.</p><p> </p><p>There are ongoing court cases relating to the Pension Protection Fund compensation and so it would be inappropriate to comment further until the final judgments have been handed down. Once the litigation is concluded we will review the position.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 21/10/2019 14:33:58 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4670 label Biography information for Faisal Rashid

1148726

	registered interest
	date	14/10/2019
	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	Social Security Benefits
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is her Department's policy that jobcentre staff should inform claimants of universal credit that they should make a claim for new-style employment and support allowance or jobseeker's allowance if they are likely to be eligible for those benefits.
	tabling member constituency	Alyn and Deeside
	tabling member printed	Mark Tami
	uin	43
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2019 answer text <p>The Department is committed to providing the best possible support for all claimants irrespective of which benefit they are in receipt of, or in the process of claiming.</p><p> </p><p>Jobcentre staff undergo a comprehensive learning journey designed to equip them with the tools, skills and behaviours required to provide a high quality service to all claimants. All Work Coaches within Jobcentres receive specific training regarding identifying when new style Employment and Support Allowance and new style Jobseekers Allowance are appropriate, and have the knowledge and skills to support claimants throughout the process.</p><p> </p><p>More widely, the Department provides benefit eligibility information to help people make decisions surrounding benefits to which they may be entitled, along with details about how to claim them. This is available through Jobcentre Plus offices and via the GOV.UK website.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 482 question first answered 21/10/2019 14:22:31 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	1383 label Biography information for Mark Tami

1149358

	registered interest
	date	15/10/2019
	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: Vale of Clwyd
	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 and proportion of economically active people claiming universal claimant in the Vale of Clwyd constituency in August (a) 2018 and (b) 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	430
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2019 answer text <p>The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost to the Department.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit claimants that are economically active could either be employed or unemployed and therefore, information on Conditionality Regimes by parliamentary constituency can be found at: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/10/2019 13:54:27 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1149469

	registered interest
	date	15/10/2019
	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: Disability
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employers in (a) Birkenhead and (b) the UK have signed up to the Disability Confident scheme; and how many jobs have been created (i) in and (ii) under that scheme.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	449
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2019 answer text <p>The Disability Confident (DC) scheme was launched in November 2016 and supports the Government’s commitment of helping one million more disabled people into work by 2027. Disability Confident provides employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace. The scheme is designed as a journey, with all employers starting at Level 1 and progressing through the scheme at their own pace. Accreditation for each level lasts for 3 years. No employer is too small or new to start the journey and even the most experienced employer will still find new techniques and best practice that can help them. As of 13/9/2019, the latest published figures show that over 13,600 employers are signed up to the scheme nationally at the following levels: Level 1 - DC Committed (10,031), Level 2 - DC Employer (3,336), Level 3 - DC Leader (244) of those, 62% are small or micro employers and 80% are SMEs. All main Government departments are DC Leaders (Level 3) and over 83% of Local Authorities signed up, with good penetration of NHS and blue-light services. In Birkenhead there are 42 Disability Confident organisations; 31 DC Committed (Level 1), 10 DC Employer (Level 2) and 1 DC Leader (Level 3). Of the 157,000 jobs currently advertised on the DWP Find a Job website, over 20,000 are from DC employers – totalling 13%.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 21/10/2019 11:30:59 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1149471

	registered interest
	date	15/10/2019
	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	Access to Work Programme
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Access To Work grants have been awarded in (a) Birkenhead and (b) the UK; and what the total value of those grants was in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	451
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2019 answer text <p>To get help from Access to Work you must live in England, Scotland or Wales – there is a different system in Northern Ireland.</p><p> </p><p><strong>England, Scotland or Wales: </strong></p><p> </p><p>Number of people who receive an Access to Work payment and total Access to Work expenditure are published annually as part of the Access to Work statistics which can be found here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/access-to-work-statistics-april-2007-to-march-2019" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/access-to-work-statistics-april-2007-to-march-2019</a></p><p> </p><p>Please see specifically:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Table 6: The number of people who received a payment for any Access to Work provision of each type, 2009/10 - 2018/19</li><li>Table 11: Expenditure on Access to Work provision, 2009/10 - 2018/19 (Nominal Terms)</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p>The tables below show the number of people in Birkenhead who received an Access to Work grant payment in the last five financial years and the total value of those grants.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Birkenhead:</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2014/15</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015/16</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016/17</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017/18</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2018/19</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Number of people who received an Access to Work payment</strong></p></td><td><p>50</p></td><td><p>40</p></td><td><p>40</p></td><td><p>60</p></td><td><p>80</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Access to Work Expenditure</strong></p></td><td><p>£97,000</p></td><td><p>£90,000</p></td><td><p>£98,000</p></td><td><p>£110,000</p></td><td><p>£153,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Please note:</p><p> </p><ol><li>In some cases, Access to Work provision is approved however a DWP payment is not required, for example because provision can be provided at no cost or the employer covers the relevant costs. These cases are not captured above.</li><li>The same person can receive payment for more than one grant of Access to Work of the same type or of different types in a given financial year or in different financial years. The table above shows the number of people who received a payment for one or more Elements in each financial year.</li><li>Expenditure figures have been calculated using a methodology consistent with that used in the published Access to Work statistics. Please see the background information and methodology note for more information, in particular the “Weighting” section on pages 8-9.</li></ol><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-to-work-statistics-background-information-and-methodology" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-to-work-statistics-background-information-and-methodology</a></p><ol start="4"><li>Access to Work expenditure for Birkenhead is based on residency of the beneficiary as opposed to place of work.</li><li>Expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 due to the weighting methodology used (see Note 3).</li><li>Number of people who received an Access to Work payment are rounded to the nearest 10 (in line with the published statistics).</li></ol><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 21/10/2019 13:48:28 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1149348

	registered interest
	date	15/10/2019
	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, for what reason universal credit is paid pro-rata when a claimant becomes eligible part way through an assessment period for state pension credit but not when a claimant becomes eligible for the state pension without state pension credit.
	tabling member constituency	Alyn and Deeside
	tabling member printed	Mark Tami
	uin	481
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2019 answer text <p>This measure ensures that there is no gap in entitlement for people who rely on means-tested benefits, such as Pension Credit. It provides a smooth transition between working-age and pension-age income related welfare support.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 21/10/2019 14:46:44 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1383 label Biography information for Mark Tami