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780324

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2017
	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, what was the (1) shortest, (2), median, and (3) longest, delay in days in paying Universal Credit, in each of the last four quarters of the financial year for which figures are available; whether those figures are based on all Universal Credit payments or payments to a representative group of applicants; and if the latter, what was the size of that group, and how was it composed.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
	uin	HL2688
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/11/2017 answer text <p>We do not have payment timeliness data broken down to the characteristics being requested. The latest data, published on 2 October on gov.uk, provides the most up to date information on payment timeliness and methodology, and is attached.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 13/11/2017 15:24:12 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe attachment 1 file name HL2688 universal-credit-payment-timeliness-statistical-ad-hoc.pdf title Universal Credit Payment Timeliness Data
	tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

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

795026

	registered interest
	date	24/11/2017
	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	Families: Disadvantaged
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, prior to the Budget Statement, what was their planned expenditure on the Department for Work and Pensions' relationship support work for (1) 2018–19, and (2) 2019–20; and where these figures were published.
	tabling member printed	Lord Farmer
	uin	HL3576
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/11/2017 answer text <p>We published Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families in April 2017 where we announced a spend of up to £30m to launch the new Reducing Parental Conflict Programme.</p><p>Planned spend in 17/18 is £5.91m. Funding allocations to projects/business areas in future years are decided on an annual basis and are subject to internal prioritisation – the funding that was announced as part of the 2017 Autumn Budget safeguards £15m pa investment on relationship support/parental conflict in 18/19 and 19/20.</p><p>DWP has no plans to fund other projects than those mentioned in the budget statement, however, strengthening families is a cross-government objective and other government departments will be able to confirm their own plans in this area.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL3577 HL3578 HL3579 question first answered 30/11/2017 13:10:48 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4321 label Biography information for Lord Farmer

785836

	registered interest
	date	07/11/2017
	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: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the Institute for Fiscal Studies report, Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2017–18 to 2021–22, what steps they will take to prevent the projected increase in the level of absolute child poverty.
	tabling member printed	Lord Bird
	uin	HL2984
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2017 answer text <p>Employment is key to helping people out of poverty and our welfare and tax reforms are designed to support people into employment. Employment is at historically high levels and the number of children living in a household where no one is working is 608,000 lower than it was in 2010. <br></p><p>This Government is committed to action that will make a meaningful difference to the lives of the most disadvantaged children and families. Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families, published on 4 April, set out a framework for a continued focus on improving children’s outcomes, now and in the future. A copy of this report is attached.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 21/11/2017 15:31:59 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe attachment 1 file name HL2984 improving-lives-helping-workless-families.pdf title Improving Lives - Helping Workless Families
	tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

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

782415

	registered interest
	date	02/11/2017
	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	Shops: Wheelchairs
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the study conducted by DisabledGo and the Department for Work and Pensions in 2014, what is their current estimate of the number or proportion of shops with wheelchair access; and whether they intend to conduct a further study.
	tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
	uin	HL2838
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2017 answer text <p>There are no plans to conduct a further study with DisabledGo at this time and DCLG have no current data on the number of accessible shops.</p><p> </p><p>Earlier this year the Minister for Disabled People appointed a number of Sector Champions to help tackle the issues disabled people face as consumers. The champions represent a range of different sectors and businesses, including retail (Helen Drury) and tourism (Chris Veitch). The Champions are using their influential status as leaders to drive improvements to the accessibility and quality of services and facilities for disabled people.</p><p> </p><p>On 27 November the Minister will be hosting a round table with the Retail Sector Champion and leaders of large retail companies to discuss accessibility in the retail industry.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 15/11/2017 17:21:53 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra

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