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 question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1170313

registered interest
date	13/01/2020
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	Employment: Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2020 to Question 318 on Employment: Poverty, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on in-work poverty of raising the statutory National Living Wage to at least the level of the Real Living Wage.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	2555
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2020 answer text <p>It is not possible to predict the impact of the real living wage on in-work poverty as poverty projections are inherently speculative as they require projecting how income will change for every individual in society which are affected by a huge range of unknown factors.</p><p> </p><p>On 1 April 2020, the Government will increase the National Living Wage (NLW) for over 25s by 6.2% to £8.72. This increase is projected to meet the Government’s target of reaching 60% of median earnings by 2020. This latest increase will mean that the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW will have increased by nearly £3,700 since the year the policy was announced. In September last year, the Chancellor pledged to raise the NLW to two-thirds of median earnings within five years, making the UK the first major economy in the world to set such an ambition.</p><p>The Government considers the expert and independent advice of the Low Pay Commission (LPC) when setting the NMW and NLW rates. The LPC draws on economic, labour market and pay analysis, independent research and stakeholder evidence. The key distinction between the NLW and other rates, such as the Living Wage Foundation’s voluntary Living Wage, is that the LPC considers the impact on businesses and the economy when making its recommendations.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 16/01/2020 14:13:32 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1170419

registered interest
date	13/01/2020
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	Personal Independence Payment: Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many former disability living allowance claimants living in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency receive (a) a reduced mobility element or (b) a zero mobility element as a result of moving to personal independence payment.
tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
uin	2664
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2020 answer text <p>The latest available data on the outcomes of reassessments of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claimants to personal independence payment (PIP) at initial decision can be found on Stat-Xplore here: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a>.</p><p>The ‘DLA to PIP reassessment’ data table includes a breakdown of a claimant’s DLA Mobility component entitlement and their PIP Mobility award at initial decision, broken down by geographical area (local authority and parliamentary constituency), for clearances made from the introduction of PIP in April 2013 to October 2019.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html</a></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 16/01/2020 14:23:10 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone

1170459

registered interest
date	13/01/2020
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	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 her Department is taking to reduce the use of food banks.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	2416
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2020 answer text <p>This Government is committed to a sustainable solution to poverty in all its forms, by building a strong economy and reforming the benefit system so that it supports employment and higher pay.</p><p>Households where all adults are in work are around 6 times less likely to be in relative poverty than adults in a household where nobody works. Compared to 2010, there are 3.7 million more people in work and around 1 million fewer workless households.</p><p>We have worked with food insecurity experts, the Office for National Statistics and the Scottish Government to introduce a new set of food security questions in the Family Resources Survey starting from April 2019. This means that we will in future be able to monitor the prevalence and severity of household food insecurity across the UK and for specific groups, to better understand the drivers of food insecurity and identify which groups are most at risk.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 15/01/2020 17:02:51 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1169966

registered interest
date	10/01/2020
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	Employment and Support Allowance
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 length of time is for claimants in the (a) support and (b) work-related activity groups to be awarded employment support allowance.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	1884
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2020 answer text <p>As of May 2019, the latest point at which this information is available, the mean duration of a claim for Employment and Support Allowance claimants currently in the (a) support group is 5.15 years and (b) work-related activity group is 4.60 years.</p><p> </p><p>Alternatively, the median duration of a claim for Employment and Support Allowance claimants currently in the (a) support group is 5.49 years and (b) work-related activity group is 4.76 years.</p><p> </p><p>Source: DWP 100% Employment Support Allowance data source</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><ul><li>Figures are rounded to the nearest 2 decimal places.</li></ul> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 15/01/2020 11:42:24 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1169967

registered interest
date	10/01/2020
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	Work Capability Assessment
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 cost to her Department is of undertaking a work capability assessment.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	1885
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2020 answer text <p>The Health and Disability Assessment Services (HDAS) Contract is let on a target cost of service basis alongside performance incentives and remedies rather than on an output cost per assessment or administrative task basis. Therefore we are unable to provide an average cost per assessment undertaken.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 16/01/2020 14:45:28 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1169751

registered interest
date	09/01/2020
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	Employment: Autism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what stage her discussions have reached with the Office for National Statistics on including the number of autistic people in work as a recordable characteristic in the labour force survey; and when that recordable characteristic will be included in that survey.
tabling member constituency	East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow
tabling member printed	Dr Lisa Cameron
uin	1761
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2020 answer text <p>Following testing in late 2019, the Office for National Statistics has added a measure of autism to the Labour Force Survey questionnaire for interviews carried out from January 2020 onwards and I welcome this development. In time, this will give us a better understanding of the employment status for many people with autism as a long standing health condition. It is anticipated that early data will be available from May 2020, however, numbers are likely to be low to start with and it may be longer before numbers are high enough to support further analysis of the data.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 16/01/2020 14:33:37 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4412 label Biography information for Dr Lisa Cameron

1169792

registered interest
date	09/01/2020
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	Workplace Pensions: West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
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 West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine 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	West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
tabling member printed	Andrew Bowie
uin	1780
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/01/2020 answer text <p>Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving. It has reversed the decline in workplace pension participation seen in the decade prior to its introduction. 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.</p><p> </p><p>I am providing the following information about the impact of automatic enrolment in your constituency, as of November 2019.</p><p> </p><p>In the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine constituency, since 2012, approximately 10,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,870 employers have met their duties.</p><p> </p><p>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>The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink: https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 13/01/2020 14:20:06 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4601 label Biography information for Andrew Bowie

1169824

registered interest
date	09/01/2020
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: Telephone Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she will make it her policy that all universal credit claimants making phone calls to her Department should be informed that staff can phone them back free of charge.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	1663
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2020 answer text <p>The Department takes seriously the need to support claimants, and wants Universal Credit to be easy to access. It is designed to be a ‘digital-first’ service, ensuring we make best use of technology to deliver a modern and effective working-age welfare system. This allows our staff to concentrate on those people who require additional support through different channels.</p><p> </p><p>Since 29 November 2017 all Universal Credit telephone lines are Freephone ‘0800’ numbers. Once connected to this service, a virtual telephone network will route the call to the most appropriate agent available with required skills to support the caller. Should a claimant call a previous chargeable Universal Credit telephone number, they will be redirected to our current numbers and the call will terminate.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 14/01/2020 15:19:44 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1169826

registered interest
date	09/01/2020
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: 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 proportion of universal credit claimants who have been offered a free of charge call back by her Department have accepted that offer in the latest period for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	1664
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2020 answer text <p>The Department does not hold the data requested.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 14/01/2020 15:22:58 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1169827

registered interest
date	09/01/2020
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, how many and what proportion of job centres operate a universal credit full digital service.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	1665
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2020 answer text <p>Rollout of the Universal Credit Full Service was completed on 12 December 2018 and is available in every Jobcentre Plus.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit is a 24 hour, seven days a week, digital service that allows every claimant to manage their own data and account online at a time which is convenient for them. Claimants can check their Universal Credit benefit payments through their account, notify us of changes and record notes on the online journal facility.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit has been designed to be as quick and easy as possible for the user, ensuring that claimants receive money at the earliest opportunity. It is designed to be a ‘digital-first’ service, ensuring we make best use of technology to deliver a modern and effective working-age welfare system.</p><p> </p><p>Our Universal Credit Claimant Survey, found that 98 per cent of claimants have internet access and did claim online, and the majority of those said they found the claim process overall to be straightforward and this can be accessed at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey</a></p><p> </p><p>All Jobcentre Plus offices across the country have Wi-Fi and computers available for claimants to access the internet. For those that are still unable to access or use digital services, or are not able to travel, assistance to make and maintain their claim is available via the Freephone Universal Credit helpline – which is clearly displayed on GOV.UK.</p><p> </p><p>Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland have been delivering the ‘Help to Claim’ service on a pilot basis since April 2019. The Citizens Advice ‘Help to Claim’ service offers tailored, practical support to help people make a Universal Credit claim up to receiving their first full correct payment on time, and is available online, on the phone and face-to-face through local Citizen’s Advice services.</p><p> </p><p>Although the Department offers comprehensive support for claimants to use our digital service, there will be occasions when people are unable to make their claim online, so telephone applications can be accepted. In these instances, information normally available through a claimant’s online account will be communicated in an alternative format, which is best suited to an individual’s circumstances.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 14/01/2020 17:54:53 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms