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1567773

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2023
	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: Cold Weather Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing people in receipt of Universal Credit who work but have limited capacity to work to be eligible for the Cold Weather Payment.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	125487
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/01/2023 answer text <p>Cold Weather Payments make an important contribution towards the additional heating costs incurred during periods of exceptionally cold weather, between 1st of November and the 31st of March each year. <ins class="ministerial">There are no plans to change eligibility.</ins></p> answering member constituency Sevenoaks answering member printed Laura Trott question first answered 24/01/2023 17:45:51 question first ministerially corrected 26/01/2023 10:05:08 answering member 4780 label Biography information for Laura Trott previous answer version 49806 answering member constituency Sevenoaks answering member printed Laura Trott answering member 4780 label Biography information for Laura Trott
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1641893

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2023
	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: Windrush Generation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department has issued on backdating pension credit for those who have received a naturalisation certificate through the Windrush Scheme.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester South
	tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
	uin	187664
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2023 answer text <p>Claims from customers identified as being part of the Windrush scheme are referred to a specialist team for action, who will consider and apply all agreed easements in Policy regarding the usual <del class="ministerial">13-month</del> <ins class="ministerial"><strong>3 month </strong></ins>time limit for backdating.</p> answering member constituency Sevenoaks answering member printed Laura Trott question first answered 08/06/2023 11:34:32 question first ministerially corrected 26/06/2023 08:25:41 answering member 4780 label Biography information for Laura Trott previous answer version 79606 answering member constituency Sevenoaks answering member printed Laura Trott answering member 4780 label Biography information for Laura Trott
	tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth

1420809

	registered interest
	date	08/02/2022
	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: Disqualification
	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 the potential merits of exempting people from sanctions if there is evidence of severe mental health or associated risk of self harm.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	120811
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2022 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">We are fully committed to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which we ratified in 2009, and the progressive realisation of rights for disabled people that it sets out. The UK has some of the strongest equalities legislation in the world, including the Equality Act 2010, and we will continue to make sure that these rights are protected.The UK has a proud record of furthering the rights of disabled people. The principles of the UN Convention are at the heart of our approach. We continue to reform and modernise our public services and welfare system to ensure that disabled people are able to participate in every aspect of society.The UK’s 2021 report demonstrates our ongoing commitment across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support disabled people, through legislation, policies and programmes that tackle the barriers faced by disabled people to realise their full participation and inclusion in society. The Government’s response was submitted to the UNCRPD Committee in 2021, and published on GOV.UK with accessible formats in December 2021 and can be found <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disabled-peoples-rights-the-uks-2021-report-on-select-recommendations-from-the-uncrpd-periodic-review" target="_blank">here</a>.The UK Government’s recently published National Disability Strategy has been a milestone in this respect, with over 100 practical commitments which are being delivered to improve the everyday lives of disabled people.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Those who are not expected to look for work, such as those with severe health conditions, including mental health, are not subject to work search or work availability requirements.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Work Coaches engage at an individual level with them and are committed to tailoring support for specific individual needs, including agreeing realistic and structured steps to encourage claimants into or towards the labour market where conditionality requirements are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain appropriate for the claimant. This would include tailoring to reflect any mental health or associated self-harm issues the claimant raised.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Sanctions are only applied where a claimant fails to comply with a mandatory requirement set out in their claimant commitment such as a failure to attend an appointment. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good reason, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.</ins></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 21/02/2022 13:31:54 question first ministerially corrected 21/02/2022 14:28:15 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies previous answer version 51832 answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith answering member 1609
	tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1422881

	registered interest
	date	18/02/2022
	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: Disqualification
	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 her Department's publication entitled Benefit sanctions statistics to October 2021, on what date her Department plans to resume publication of benefit sanction durations data.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow East
	tabling member printed	David Linden
	uin	125427
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2022 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">DWP has recently moved to a new data platform to store and process data. During our live running process an issue was identified with the availability of software required to process Universal Credit full service (UCFS) sanction decisions data. This is currently being investigated and we aim to reinstate the decisions measure as soon as possible. We expect to provide a further update in late March 2022.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Statistics for Universal Credit (UC) durations and median sanction length remain suspended, and we will continue to publish the UC rate for UC Full Service only from April 2019. This is to allow for investigations to continue into the code used to produce these statistics in order to ensure methods are robust. We will keep users updated on progress via the Benefit Sanctions statistics page, and further details are available in section 5 of the latest Benefit Sanctions statistics bulletin.</ins></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 23/02/2022 17:50:09 question first ministerially corrected 28/02/2022 15:16:14 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies previous answer version 52612 answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4640 label Biography information for David Linden

1422883

	registered interest
	date	18/02/2022
	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: Disqualification
	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 her Department's publication entitled Benefit sanctions statistics to October 2021, for what reasons her Department has not given an update on progress made on the suspension of benefit sanction durations data beyond the original reasons stated in the November 2020 publication of that data.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow East
	tabling member printed	David Linden
	uin	125428
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2022 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">DWP has recently moved to a new data platform to store and process data. During our live running process an issue was identified with the availability of software required to process Universal Credit full service (UCFS) sanction decisions data. This is currently being investigated and we aim to reinstate the decisions measure as soon as possible. We expect to provide a further update in late March 2022.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Statistics for Universal Credit (UC) durations and median sanction length remain suspended, and we will continue to publish the UC rate for UC Full Service only from April 2019. This is to allow for investigations to continue into the code used to produce these statistics in order to ensure methods are robust. We will keep users updated on progress via the Benefit Sanctions statistics page, and further details are available in section 5 of the latest Benefit Sanctions statistics bulletin.</ins></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 23/02/2022 17:50:09 question first ministerially corrected 28/02/2022 15:16:27 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies previous answer version 52613 answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4640 label Biography information for David Linden

1548435

	registered interest
	date	05/12/2022
	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: Accountancy
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) nature and (b) value was of all (i) contracts, (ii) consultancies and (iii) other services placed with the accountancy firms (A) Deloitte & Touche, (B) Ernst & Young, (C) KPMG and (D) PricewaterhouseCoopers in each year since 2010-11 by (1) their Department, (2) any predecessor Departments and (3) departmental agencies.
	tabling member constituency	Leyton and Wanstead
	tabling member printed	John Cryer
	uin	102743
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/12/2022 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">Between 1 December 2021 and 31 August 2022, the Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser met with a) the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in a total of 4 meetings and with b) other Ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions in a total of 7 meetings. This included:</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">(i) Between 1 December 2021 – 28 February 2022 – a) 1 meeting, b) 3 meetings</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">(ii) Between 1 March to 31 May 2022 – a) 1 meeting, b) 2 meetings</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">(iii) Between 1 June to 31 August 2022 - a) 2 meetings, b) 2 meetings</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Please see the attachment provided for a comprehensive list for each of the organisations requested covering the data sets requested in the PQ.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Further Information regarding the contracts can be found on gov.uk’s Contract Finder Service located <a href="https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search" target="_blank">here.</a></ins></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 09/12/2022 12:33:37 question first ministerially corrected 09/12/2022 14:30:20 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies attachment 1 file name Attachment.xlsx title PQ 102743 previous answer version 40903 answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	181 label Biography information for John Cryer

1550310

	registered interest
	date	09/12/2022
	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: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department spent in 2021 on purchasing goods and services with a value of less than £500 on a government procurement card.
	tabling member constituency	Islington South and Finsbury
	tabling member printed	Emily Thornberry
	uin	107067
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2022 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">The total spent by the Department for Work and Pensions on items with a value of less than £500 on a Government Procurement card in 2021 was £36,488,921.81.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">Source: GPC Transactions Folder - Discoverer</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The total spent by the Department for Work and Pensions on items with a value of less than £500 on a Government Procurement Card (GPC) in 2021 was £8,507,730.65 (69,786 transactions).</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>Source:</strong> GPC data. This gives details of all transactions posted during the 2021 calendar year and includes expenditure as well as refunds. The figure quoted is net of refunds.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> <strong>Points to note:</strong> </ins></p><ul><li><ins class="ministerial">The Government Procurement Card (GPC) is a purchasing solution specifically for low risk/ low value purchases, enabling Government to buy from particular suppliers that include both small and medium sized enterprises.</ins></li><li><ins class="ministerial">The card transaction limit for Approval to Buy (A2B) transactions is £500. Approximately 96% of all transactions are A2B.</ins></li><li><ins class="ministerial">The card transaction limit for a ‘physical’ card is £600, with exceptions allowed on approval of a supporting business case.</ins></li><li><ins class="ministerial">Most GPC transactions are for Flexible Support Fund (FSF) expenditure, supporting claimants back into the workplace by covering costs associated with seeking employment, e.g. interview travel expenses.</ins></li></ul> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 19/12/2022 17:11:53 question first ministerially corrected 09/01/2023 17:27:06 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies previous answer version 43278 answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	1536 label Biography information for Emily Thornberry

1581831

	registered interest
	date	30/01/2023
	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	Health and Safety Executive: Wind Power
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Health and Safety Executive are responsible for offshore windfarm operations in international waters.
	tabling member constituency	East Lothian
	tabling member printed	Kenny MacAskill
	uin	135417
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/02/2023 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">Health and safety standards for workers employed on offshore windfarms on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) are regulated in Great Britain by the Health and Safety Executive.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">The Energy Act 2004 vests rights to The Crown Estate and the Crown Estate Scotland to license the generation of renewable energy on the UKCS within the Renewable Energy Zone out to 200 nautical miles.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Health and safety standards for workers employed on offshore windfarms on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) are regulated in Great Britain by the Health and Safety Executive.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Energy Act 2004 vests rights to The Crown Estate to license the generation of renewable energy on the UKCS within the Renewable Energy Zone out to 200 nautical miles. In Scotland, Crown Estate Scotland is the body which leases seabed, whilst Marine Scotland oversees licensing.</ins></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 01/02/2023 16:34:18 question first ministerially corrected 22/02/2023 13:03:49 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies previous answer version 52146 answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4772 label Biography information for Kenny MacAskill

1607116

	registered interest
	date	24/03/2023
	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	Means-tested Benefits: 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 estimate he has made of the number of families receiving income-related benefits that used food banks in the last 12 months; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of that estimate.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester South
	tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
	uin	173022
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/03/2023 answer text <p>National statistics on food bank use for 2021/22 are available<del class="ministerial"> here.</del> <ins class="ministerial"><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2020-to-2021" target="_blank">here.</a></ins> We aim to publish statistics for 2022/23 in March 2024.</p><p> </p><p>The statistics show that in 2021/22 11% of households in receipt of any income-related benefits had used a food bank in the 12 months prior to the survey.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 29/03/2023 11:01:32 question first ministerially corrected 29/03/2023 13:12:11 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies previous answer version 65957 answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth

1646807

	registered interest
	date	22/06/2023
	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: Automation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish details on the sixty-five scaled and transitioned automations created by the Intelligence Automation Garage.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester South
	tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
	uin	190878
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2023 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">Housing Benefit regulations has powers which allow local authorities to make payments of Housing Benefit direct to the landlord if it appears to be in the interest of the claimant and their family. Serious rent arrears, for example arrears equivalent of six weeks’ rent, may indicate it is in the claimant’s best interests to arrange direct payment.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">When deciding whether to make direct payments local authorities must consider the individual circumstances of each case.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">There are currently no plans to review this policy.</del></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Since its inception in 2018, the Intelligent Automation Garage (IAG) has delivered 65 automations. This has enabled DWP to save money and operational hours as well as increasing accuracy through transforming DWP services, making processes easier for users to deliver better outcomes for our citizens. It has a culture of pioneering new and innovative technologies to reduce the reputational risk and citizen impact across our systems.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The IAG works predominantly in large scale processing supporting customer facing colleagues in quickly reducing backlogs with improved accuracy and compliance. It does this across a range of benefit lines including: Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseekers Allowance, Social fund, Carers Allowance and Pension credit.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Automations to date include: Bundle Builder, Letters of Entitlement, Think Secure Chatbot, Budgeting Loans, Employment and Support Allowance Fit Notes, Faster Payments and Department for Communities in Northern Ireland mail scanning. Other supported functionalities include: sending SMS text messages to citizens, generating letters to notify citizens about a change in benefit status and processing benefit payments.</ins></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 28/06/2023 16:24:17 question first ministerially corrected 29/06/2023 11:31:23 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies previous answer version 84494 answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth