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1548635

registered interest
date	06/12/2022
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	Housing Benefit: Rents
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 has he made of the adequacy of housing benefits in light of increasing rental costs.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	102971
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/12/2022 answer text <p>The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) determines the maximum financial support available for renters in the private rented sector who are in receipt of housing benefit or the housing element of universal credit. LHA rates are not intended to meet all rents in all areas.</p><p> </p><p>For Great Britain in May 2022, 55% of the households on LHA had rents higher than the LHA rates. For these households the average gap was £146 per month.</p><p> </p><p>In 2020 LHA rates were raised to the 30th percentile, a significant investment of almost £1 billion, we have maintained the increase since then so that everyone who benefited from the increase continues to do so.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that rents are increasing but the challenging fiscal environment means that difficult decisions were necessary to ensure support is targeted effectively. The Chancellor announced at Autumn Statement a package of targeted support worth £26 billion.</p><p> </p><p>To protect the most vulnerable, working age and disability benefits will be increased in line with inflation for 2023-24, increasing expenditure by £11 billion in 23/24. In addition, to ensure that households will see an increase in their benefits following uprating – the benefit cap will also be increased in line with CPI (10.1%) in April 2023.</p><p> </p><p>For those who require extra support, the government is extending the Household Support Fund providing an additional £1bn to help with the cost of household essentials, for the 2023-24 financial year, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding for this support to £2.5 billion.</p><p> </p><p>For those who require additional support with housing costs, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available. Since 2011 we have provided nearly £1.5 billion in funding for DHPs.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 08/12/2022 10:53:15 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1548556

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	Cost of Living Payments: Medical Equipment
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 introduce additional Cost of Living payments for those using powered medical equipment at home.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
tabling member printed	Ian Byrne
uin	103035
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/12/2022 answer text <p>The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living, including disabled people, and has taken further, decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee is supporting millions of households with rising energy costs, and will continue to do so through cost of living support announced earlier this year, which includes:</p><p> </p><ul><li>the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme;</li><li>a Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 to six million people in recognition of the extra costs they face, including with energy costs;</li><li>up to £650 in Cost of Living Payments for the eight million households in receipt of a means-tested benefit;</li><li>a one-off payment of £300 through, and as an addition to, the Winter Fuel Payment from November to pensioner households.</li></ul><p> </p><p>To ensure ongoing stability and certainty for households, in the Autumn Statement, we announced further support for next year designed to target the most vulnerable households. This cost of living support is worth £26 billion in 2023-24, in addition to uprating benefits for working age households and disabled people as well as the basic and new State Pensions by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions the benefit cap will also be increased by 10.1%. Alongside further Cost of Living Payments for the most vulnerable, the amended Energy Price Guarantee will save the average UK household £500 in 2023-24.</p><p> </p><p>For those who require extra support, the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. This is on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England, this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove grouped question UIN 103036 question first answered 08/12/2022 10:56:09 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4831 label Biography information for Ian Byrne

1548557

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	Cost of Living Payments: Medical Equipment
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 make an assessment of the adequacy of Cost of Living payments at enabling people who use powered medical equipment at home to pay their energy costs.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
tabling member printed	Ian Byrne
uin	103036
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/12/2022 answer text <p>The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living, including disabled people, and has taken further, decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee is supporting millions of households with rising energy costs, and will continue to do so through cost of living support announced earlier this year, which includes:</p><p> </p><ul><li>the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme;</li><li>a Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 to six million people in recognition of the extra costs they face, including with energy costs;</li><li>up to £650 in Cost of Living Payments for the eight million households in receipt of a means-tested benefit;</li><li>a one-off payment of £300 through, and as an addition to, the Winter Fuel Payment from November to pensioner households.</li></ul><p> </p><p>To ensure ongoing stability and certainty for households, in the Autumn Statement, we announced further support for next year designed to target the most vulnerable households. This cost of living support is worth £26 billion in 2023-24, in addition to uprating benefits for working age households and disabled people as well as the basic and new State Pensions by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions the benefit cap will also be increased by 10.1%. Alongside further Cost of Living Payments for the most vulnerable, the amended Energy Price Guarantee will save the average UK household £500 in 2023-24.</p><p> </p><p>For those who require extra support, the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. This is on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England, this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove grouped question UIN 103035 question first answered 08/12/2022 10:56:09 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4831 label Biography information for Ian Byrne

1547573

registered interest
date	02/12/2022
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	Local Housing Allowance: Uprating
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 make an assessment of the potential impact of the decision not to uprate Local Housing Allowance in line with September 2022 CPI inflation on the proportion of homes available to rent in Wales in respect of which the requested rent would be fully covered by LHA rates in the next twelve months.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	101703
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2022 answer text <p>No recent assessment has been made.</p><p> </p><p>Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates determine the maximum housing support available to claimants in the private rented sector. They are not intended to cover all rents in all areas.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that rents are increasing but the challenging fiscal environment means that difficult decisions were necessary to ensure support is targeted effectively. The Chancellor announced at Autumn Statement a package of targeted support worth £26 billion.</p><p> </p><p>To protect the most vulnerable, working age and disability benefits will be increased in line with inflation for 2023-24, increasing expenditure by £11 billion in 23/24. In addition, to ensure that households will see an increase in their benefits following uprating – the benefit cap will also be increased in line with CPI (10.1%) in April 2023.</p><p> </p><p>For those who require extra support, the government is extending the Household Support Fund providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. In England this will be through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding (£158m).</p><p>For those who require additional support with housing costs, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available. Since 2011 we have provided nearly £1.5 billion in funding for DHPs.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 07/12/2022 11:37:24 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1547633

registered interest
date	02/12/2022
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	Employment: Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative assessment he has made of employers complying with their obligation to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people in the (a) public and (b) private sectors.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Dan Carden
uin	101772
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2022 answer text <p>The most recent assessment was set out in the Government’s response to the Health is Everyone's Business consultation. It identified a lack of awareness and understanding of rights and responsibilities under the Equality Act among both employers and employees, in particular around providing reasonable adjustments. A separate assessment was not made for the public and private sectors. The measures the Government is taking forward provide greater clarity around employer and employee rights and responsibilities and address the need for employers to have access to clear and compelling information and advice that is easy to understand, trustworthy and accessible.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 07/12/2022 17:19:28 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4651 label Biography information for Dan Carden

1547634

registered interest
date	02/12/2022
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	Universal Credit: Veterans
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 2 November 2022 to Question 72201 on Universal Credit: Veterans, how many Universal Credit claimants have been identified as (a) serving and (b) having previously served in the Armed Forces for the assessment periods ending in October 2022.
tabling member constituency	Wentworth and Dearne
tabling member printed	John Healey
uin	101692
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2022 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) started collecting data on the Armed Forces status of Universal Credit (UC) claimants in Great Britain (GB) in April 2021. Initially only new claimants were asked about their Armed Forces status. From June 2021 onwards, other UC claimants reporting changes in their work and earnings have also been able to report their status. From July 2021 onwards, UC agents have also been able to record claimants’ Armed Forces status if they are told about this via other means such as journal messages, face-to-face meetings or by telephone.</p><p> </p><p>Data coverage continues to improve over time and by October 2022 data was held on the armed forces status of approximately 56% of the GB UC caseload (see table below).</p><p> </p><p>It should be noted that Armed forces status is self-reported by claimants and is not verified by the Ministry of Defence or Office for Veterans’ Affairs. A claimant’s status can be recorded as “currently serving”, “served in the past”, “not served” or “prefer not to say”. Data is not collected on the specific branch of the Armed Forces that claimants are serving in or have served in in the past.</p><p> </p><p>Data is not held on the total number of UC claimants who are currently serving in the Armed Forces or who have served in the past, but data is held on those who have identified themselves so far.</p><p> </p><p>The way the data is collected means the claimants for whom an Armed Forces status is recorded are not representative of the UC caseload as a whole. This means it is not yet possible to produce reliable estimates of the overall number or proportion of UC claimants who are currently serving in the Armed Forces or who have served in the past.</p><p> </p><p>Increases in the numbers of claimants, on UC, with a recorded status of “currently serving” or “served in the past” do not necessarily mean the overall numbers of claimants who are currently serving or have served in the past have increased and may reflect increases in the number of claimants for whom data is held as data coverage improves over time.</p><p> </p><p>The table below shows the proportion of the GB UC caseload with a recorded Armed Forces status. It also shows how many claimants on the caseload had a recorded status of each type.</p><p> </p><p>GB UC caseload by recorded Armed Forces status</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>UC caseload Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Proportion of caseload with a recorded status</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> Currently serving</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> Served in the past</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Not served</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> Prefer not to say”</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>October 2022</p></td><td><p>56%</p></td><td><p>3,400</p></td><td><p>43,500</p></td><td><p>3,173,000</p></td><td><p>23,800</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><p>1. Data is not collected on the Armed Forces status of UC claimants in Northern Ireland. The figures provided only relate to Great Britain.</p><p>2. Percentages are rounded to the nearest percent and numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred.</p><p>3. Figures may be subject to retrospective changes as more up-to-date data becomes available or if methodological improvements are made.</p><p>4. Due to methodological improvements, these figures are based on the Official Statistics UC caseload definition. Some previous figures have used an alternative caseload definition based on assessment period end dates.</p><p>5. Further information on the caseload definition used for the UC official statistics can be found on Stat-Xplore: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 07/12/2022 11:53:39 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	400 label Biography information for John Healey

1547672

registered interest
date	02/12/2022
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: Complaints
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints submitted to the DWP Independent Case Examiner are awaiting allocation to an Investigation Case Manager as of 2 December 2022; what the average wait time was for complaints to be allocated to an Independent Case Manager in the latest period for which data is available; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce Independent Case Examiner waiting times.
tabling member constituency	Newport East
tabling member printed	Jessica Morden
uin	101705
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2022 answer text <p>Post-Covid, ICE has seen an increased number of referrals accompanied by an increase in the number of cases it has accepted. In the year April 2021 to March 2022, there was a 17% increase in the number of complaints being referred to ICE and a 68% increase in the number of complaints being accepted for examination, compared to the previous reporting year.</p><p> </p><p>Currently, there are 1249 cases awaiting allocation to an ICE investigator.</p><p> </p><p>The rate at which complaints can be allocated to an investigator is dependent on multiple factors, including the volume and complexity of complaints received, as well as available investigative resource.</p><p> </p><p>The average time taken, as at 5 December, from complaint receipt to allocation to an investigator (based on all current live cases being investigated) is 53 weeks (67 weeks for CMS cases, 50 weeks for DWP cases, 44 weeks for Provider cases).</p><p> </p><p>The ICE office is continuously reviewing its own processes and operating model to improve productivity and is piloting a new way of allocating cases according to their nature and complexity as part of the initial complaint review.</p><p> </p><p>The office has recruited 11 more investigators since April with a further 6 due to start in January 2023.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 07/12/2022 16:22:24 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	1548 label Biography information for Jessica Morden

1547679

registered interest
date	02/12/2022
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	Universal Credit: Payments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for Hardship Payments for Universal Credit were (a) received and (b) approved in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Leicester South
tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
uin	101728
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2022 answer text <p>It is not possible to respond to this Question with sufficient precision as there is no data on applications made.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 07/12/2022 12:42:05 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth

1547680

registered interest
date	02/12/2022
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	Employment: Disability
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 implications for his policies of trends in the level of the disability employment gap; and what steps he will take to reduce that gap.
tabling member constituency	Leicester South
tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
uin	101729
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2022 answer text <p>Latest figures from the Labour Force Survey show the disability employment gap was 29.8 percentage points (ppts) in Q3 2022, an increase of 1.7ppts on the year and an overall decrease of 4.4ppts since the same quarter in 2013.</p><p> </p><p>The trend in the disability employment gap was strong up to the pre-pandemic period, reflecting a healthy labour market in general and even greater progress in disability employment, which resulted in a consistent narrowing of the gap.</p><p> </p><p>It is difficult to isolate the direct impact of policies on the disability employment gap as numerous elements are at play and interacting, including overall labour market trends and changes to the composition of the disabled population, in addition to the effects of disability employment policies and programmes in themselves. However, policy will have played an important role with positive employment outcomes reported across many programmes, such as <a href="https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&amp;&amp;p=9c77f17dc70c9c88JmltdHM9MTY3MDI4NDgwMCZpZ3VpZD0xOTczMmRiMC03NDZjLTY0ZjYtMGY3ZS0zZmMyNzVkNzY1ZjEmaW5zaWQ9NTE3Mw&amp;ptn=3&amp;hsh=3&amp;fclid=19732db0-746c-64f6-0f7e-3fc275d765f1&amp;psq=EAs+in+IAPTs+evaluation&amp;u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ292LnVrL2dvdmVybm1lbnQvcHVibGljYXRpb25zL2VtcGxveW1lbnQtYWR2aXNlcnMtaW4taW1wcm92aW5nLWFjY2Vzcy10by1wc3ljaG9sb2dpY2FsLXRoZXJhcGllcw&amp;ntb=1" target="_blank">Employment Advisers in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-work-programme-evaluation-2020/the-work-programme-evaluation-2020-html" target="_blank">the Work and Health Programme</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The trend in the disability employment gap since the pandemic had been largely flat, but the latest quarterly stats show a widening which we will continue to monitor closely, ensuring our policy efforts match our continued commitment to closing the DEG.</p><p> </p><p>To close the disability employment gap, a range of Government initiatives are supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, to start, stay and succeed in work. These include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Increasing Work Coach support in Jobcentres for people with health conditions receiving Universal Credit or Employment Support Allowance;</li><li>Support in partnership between DWP and the health system, including Employment Advice in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services, which combines psychological treatment and employment support for people with mental health conditions;</li><li>Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres offering advice and expertise on how to help disabled people and people with health conditions into work;</li><li>The Work and Health Programme and Intensive Personalised Employment Support, providing tailored and personalised support for participants;</li><li>Access to Work grants towards extra costs of working beyond standard reasonable adjustments;</li></ul><ul><li>Disability Confident encouraging employers to think differently about disability and health, and to take positive action to address the issues employees face in the workplace;</li><li>The Information and Advice Service providing better integrated and tailored guidance on supporting and managing health and disability in the workplace.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Source: <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/labourmarketstatusofdisabledpeoplea08" target="_blank">A08: Labour market status of disabled people - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)</a></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 07/12/2022 17:21:43 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth

1547682

registered interest
date	02/12/2022
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	Work and Health 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 people have left the Work and Health programme as a result of finding employment in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Leicester South
tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
uin	101731
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2022 answer text <p>The number of job outcomes each month for the Work and Health Programme is available on GOV.UK and can be found <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/work-and-health-programme-statistics-to-august-2022" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 07/12/2022 11:56:16 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth