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 printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member printed question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1137366

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	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	Disadvantaged: Children and Young People
	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 report by Barnardo’s Overcoming Poverty of Hope, published on 8 July; and what steps they intend to take to improve how they (1) listen to, and (2) act upon, the concerns of younger generations.
	tabling member printed	Lord Bird
	uin	HL16973
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>We welcome the Overcoming Poverty of Hope report which provides valuable insight into young people’s views and concerns about their own future.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to providing support for young people so that everyone, no matter what their start is in life, is given the best chance of getting into work. The department has a variety of support for young people such as the Youth Obligation Support Programme which provides support tailored to the needs and ambitions of individual 18 to 21 year olds. We have been working with Barnardo’s to develop a pilot specifically for care leavers. The pilot offers enhanced work experience and a personal mentor to support the care leaver throughout the placement, building the skills and confidence needed to start a career.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 22/07/2019 12:41:10 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

916538

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2018
	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: Medical Examinations
	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 report by Muscular Dystrophy UK Focus on disability benefits published in June 2016; and what steps they have taken to ensure benefit assessment centres are fully accessible for disabled people.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL8244
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2018 answer text <p>Ensuring our assessment services are accessible to all claimants is a priority in line with the access standards under the Equality Act 2010. Where customers are not able to access an assessment at one of our assessment centres, our assessment providers provide an alternative method of delivering the service. For example they may arrange an appointment at an alternative nearby assessment centre or arrange a home visit.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 18/06/2018 13:13:14 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1077079

	registered interest
	date	25/02/2019
	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	Social Security Benefits: Interviews
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of claimants who arrive late for an interview being subject to sanctions, what facilities are available at Jobcentres and associated contractors’ premises to accommodate claimants who arrive early; whether there are any time restrictions for the accommodation of early arrivals; and whether good practice guidance on early arrivals has been, or will be, issued.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL13999
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2019 answer text <p>Assisting claimants who arrive early for appointments is an established daily occurrence for Jobcentre staff. Our Service Delivery teams provide a professional, supportive and welcoming environment for our customers, providing advice, digital coaching and helping claimants set up and maintain their Universal Credit claims.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants who arrive early for an interview are able to make use of the available facilities within the Jobcentre. This includes access to free Wi-Fi and customer computers. Computers are available at jobcentres to support claimants who need help with making their claim digitally and apply for jobs online. This provides access to digital channels in every Jobcentre for claimants to use if they do not have access at home.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 11/03/2019 17:16:23 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

967421

	registered interest
	date	04/09/2018
	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	Local Housing Allowance
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the report of the Chartered Institute of Housing Missing The Target? Is targeted affordability funding doing its job?, published on 29 August, what steps they are taking to alleviate the problems faced by tenants of private rented homes caused by the four year freeze on local housing allowance levels.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL9920
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2018 answer text <p>As part of the measures to bring the welfare bill under control and alongside the freeze to other working age benefits Local Housing Allowance rates have been frozen for four years from April 2016 until March 2020. At Autumn Budget 2017, it was announced that an additional £125 million would be available for Targeted Affordability Funding in 2018/19 and 2019/20. In 2018/19 this enables us to increase 213 Local Housing Allowance rates by 3 per cent in those areas where rates have diverged the most from local rents. More Targeted Affordability Funding will be available in 2019/20 and arrangements for its distribution will be finalised at the end of this year.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, from 2011 the Government has provided around £1 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments to local authorities to protect the most vulnerable claimants and support households affected by different welfare reforms including the freeze to Local Housing Allowance rates.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 18/09/2018 14:08:53 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

905287

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2018
	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	Chronic Illnesses: Employment
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the recent report from the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation The Dependency Trap—are we fit to face the future?, what steps they are taking to reduce the rates of economic inactivity in the UK due to preventable chronic conditions among those aged over 50.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Burt of Solihull
	uin	HL7878
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/05/2018 answer text <p>The number of workers aged 50 and over currently in employment is at a record high of 10.1 million aged 50 plus in the UK: an increase of 1.4 million over the last 5 years and an increase of 2.2 million over the last 10 years</p><p> </p><p>The Government has in place a comprehensive Fuller Working Lives strategy to support older workers to remain in and return to the labour market and tackle the barriers to doing so.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has appointed the Business in The Community (BITC) Age at Work leadership team, as Business Champion for Older Workers; the BITC team of employers spearhead the Government’s Fuller Working Lives work. The Department has also expanded its network of Older Claimant Champions to all 34 Jobcentre Plus districts to work collaboratively with over 11,000 work coaches.</p><p> </p><p>The Government understands the importance to individuals and the wider economy of preventing avoidable ill-health and enabling more disabled people and people with long-term health conditions to get into and stay in work. We continue to support and encourage employers to recruit and retain with confidence; to build our offer of personalised employment support and are exploring how to improve access to Occupational Health services.</p><p> </p><p>From 2013 to 2017; the number of people with a long term health condition in work increased by nearly 600,000 to 7.4 million; with an employment rate of 62 per cent that is an increase of 4.3 percentage points in the same period.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has also committed to seeing one million more disabled people in work over the next ten years. On 30 November 2017, we published ‘Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability’, which sets out actions we are taking across three key settings; in the welfare system; in the workplace and in health services – with health professionals ready to talk about health barriers to work.</p><p> </p><p>We are investing up to £115 million of programme funding to support the work and health agenda to enable investment in new models and the evidence of what works this includes:</p><p> </p><p>o more than doubling the number of Employment Advisers in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services;</p><p>o mental health trials; and</p><p>o the Work and Health Innovation Fund – which is funded by contributions from Department for Work and Pensions , Department for Health and social Care, and NHS England.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Background note:</p><p>Please note that Office for National Statistics did recently release some more recent employment estimates for people with disabilities and people with long-term health conditions. However, these are subject to health warnings while ONS complete their investigations into an apparent discontinuity in the figures. Therefore, we have advised that public statements should be based on estimates up to quarter 2 (April-June) 2017, the most period for which ONS have published estimates without health warnings.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 30/05/2018 15:17:39 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	1567 label Biography information for Baroness Burt of Solihull

938813

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2018
	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, in the light of the demand on the services of food banks, whether they plan to introduce any modifications and improvements to the administration of Universal Credit; and in particular whether they will reduce (1) the waiting time for first payments, and (2) the level of advance loan repayments.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
	uin	HL9429
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2018 answer text <p>We continuously modify and improve Universal Credit in response to feedback, and have also implemented a number of further improvements.</p><p>This package of measures, which are set out below, not only addresses concerns raised around the first assessment period and the budgeting issues faced by some claimants at the start of their claim, but also supports the vast majority of claimants transitioning onto Universal Credit. They include:</p><ul><li>from 29 November 2017, all DWP Universal Credit phone lines are free and claimants will not be charged when they need to get help with their Universal Credit claim.</li></ul><ul><li>from 3 January, the repayment period of Universal Credit advances has been increased to 12 months and claimants can now get up to 100 per cent of their estimated monthly entitlement upfront. These advances are available to claimants interest-free. Earlier this month (July 2018), advances also became available to apply for online.</li></ul><ul><li>from 14 February, the seven-day waiting period that some claimants had at the start of their Universal Credit claim was removed; and,</li></ul><ul><li>from 11 April, we have provided an additional payment for claimants already receiving support towards their housing costs of two weeks of their Housing Benefit to support them as they transfer onto Universal Credit. Claimants will not be required to repay this money.</li></ul> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 24/07/2018 16:37:41 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1123298

	registered interest
	date	25/04/2019
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Information Commissioner's Office's criticisms of Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) policy on Universal Credit representative recognition, what plans they have to revise guidance to DWP staff and others so as to enable effective communications between Universal Credit claimants' advisers and that Department.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL15354
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2019 answer text <p>We have had a number of workshops with stakeholders during which consent has been discussed, and we plan to do further work. This will include working with claimants and their representatives to ensure the process works effectively for vulnerable claimants to access the service.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 10/05/2019 12:45:09 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1014696

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2018
	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
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Draft Political Declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, published on 22 November, which aspects of social security will be co-ordinated with the EU.
	tabling member printed	Lord Wigley
	uin	HL11825
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>The details of which aspects of social security will be coordinated with the EU under the future relationship are subject to further negotiation with the EU.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 10/12/2018 14:48:07 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	547 label Biography information for Lord Wigley

1002477

	registered interest
	date	06/11/2018
	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: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their decision to extend the policy to provide Universal Tax Credit to a maximum of two children to new Universal Credit claimants from February 2019, whether there will be an exception for families with three or more children who were born before 6 April 2017.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Durham
	uin	HL11318
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>Since 6 April 2017 families with third and subsequent children born on or after this date are able to claim additional support through Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit for their first two children only. This maximum support will also apply to entirely new claims to Universal Credit on or after 1 February 2019, regardless of the date of birth of their children.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants that are already receiving support for those born before 6 April 2017 will continue to do so. If they subsequently move to or reclaim Universal Credit (following a break in claim of less than 6 months) they will receive the child element for the same number of children they were previously. This will apply both if they naturally migrate following a significant change of circumstances or are moved as part of managed migration, so long as they remain responsible for the same children.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 20/11/2018 17:10:57 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4312 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Durham

1105833

	registered interest
	date	28/03/2019
	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	Poverty
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their commitment to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, what steps they are taking to ensure that people living more than 50 per cent below the poverty line in the UK are not left behind.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Stroud
	uin	HL14919
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>This government is committed to delivering a sustainable long-term solution to poverty, by building a strong economy and ensuring that the benefit system works with the tax system and the labour market, to support employment and higher pay.</p><p>The Government does not publish data on those living more than 50% below the poverty line as comparisons of household income and expenditure suggest that those households reporting the very lowest incomes may not have the lowest living standards, meaning such a measure is likely to be unreliable.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Work and Pensions, through its Jobcentre Plus network and local delivery partners, provides support for vulnerable customers or those with complex needs to address barriers so that they can move forward with their lives.</p><p> </p><p>A report on progress on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda will be presented to the UN’s High Level Political Forum in July as part of the UK’s Voluntary National Review. The Department for Work and Pensions is leading work across Government to assess progress against the first of these goals: ‘End poverty in all its forms everywhere’.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 04/04/2019 16:27:51 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4546 label Biography information for Baroness Stroud