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 grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label previous answer version answering member constituency answering member printed answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1400014

registered interest
date	05/01/2022
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	Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of rising energy costs on trends in the levels of poverty.
tabling member constituency	Leicester South
tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
uin	98305
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/01/2022 answer text <p>No such assessment has been made of the potential impact of rising energy costs on levels of poverty.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to monitor and publish trends in poverty across the UK. The latest poverty figures (2019/20) demonstrate that absolute poverty rates (both before and after housing costs) have fallen since 2009/10. In 2019/20, 14% were in absolute poverty (before housing costs), compared to 16% in 2009/10.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, and continues to do so through many measures, including by spending over £110 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22.</p><p> </p><p>With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, our focus now is on continuing to support people into and to progress in work. Our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit recipients in work can now benefit from a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%, and an increase in the work allowance by £500 per year meaning that working households will be able to keep substantially more of what they earn. These measures effectively represent a tax cut, worth around £2.2bn a year in 2022-23, for the lowest paid in society and will benefit almost two million of the lowest paid workers by £1000 a year on average. We are also increasing the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour from April 2022.</p><p> </p><p>We are helping people with energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, Cold Weather Payments and Winter Fuel Payments. The Energy Price Cap will continue to protect consumers, ensuring they pay a fair price for their energy this winter.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, we recognise that some people require extra support over the winter, through the final stages of recovery, which is why vulnerable households across the country are now able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund is providing £421 million to help vulnerable people in England. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.</p><p> </p><p /><p><strong> </strong></p><p /><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 10/01/2022 17:48:03 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth

1385759

registered interest
date	07/12/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to prevent families falling into poverty as a result of rising inflation above wage growth.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough
tabling member printed	Gill Furniss
uin	88815
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2021 answer text <p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting people on low incomes and we continue to do so through many measures, including through spending over £110 billion in 2021/22 on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22 who meet the relevant eligibility conditions.</p><p> </p><p>With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, our long-term focus remains on continuing to support people into work and to help those in work to progress out of low pay. Our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects. We have doubled the number of work coaches to 27,000 to provide people with the tailored support they need to move into work.</p><p> </p><p>Through the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW) the Government protects the lowest paid within our society. The National Living Wage increased by 2.2% to £8.91 from April 2021 - the equivalent of more than £345 extra per year for someone working full-time. At Autumn Budget 2021, we announced a further increase of 6.6% to £9.50 for over 23s from April 2022, as well as reinforcing our commitment for the National Living Wage to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, provided economic conditions allow.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit supports people in and out of work and working claimants will now benefit from a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%; and the increase in the work allowance by £500 per year means that 1.9m working households will be able to keep substantially more of what they earn. These measures effectively represent a tax cut worth around £2.2bn a year in 2022-23 for the lowest paid in society and will benefit almost two million of the lowest paid workers by £1000 a year on average.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that some people may require extra support over the winter as we enter the final stages of recovery, which is why vulnerable households across the country are able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.</p><p> </p><p>To support low income families further we have increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, helping eligible low income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins, and we are also investing over £200m a year from 2022 to continue our Holiday Activities and Food programme which is already providing enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all English LAs.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p /> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley grouped question UIN 88816 question first answered 10/12/2021 11:47:20 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4571 label Biography information for Gill Furniss

1385760

registered interest
date	07/12/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help prevent people in insecure work experiencing poverty during winter 2021-22.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough
tabling member printed	Gill Furniss
uin	88816
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2021 answer text <p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting people on low incomes and we continue to do so through many measures, including through spending over £110 billion in 2021/22 on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22 who meet the relevant eligibility conditions.</p><p> </p><p>With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, our long-term focus remains on continuing to support people into work and to help those in work to progress out of low pay. Our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects. We have doubled the number of work coaches to 27,000 to provide people with the tailored support they need to move into work.</p><p> </p><p>Through the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW) the Government protects the lowest paid within our society. The National Living Wage increased by 2.2% to £8.91 from April 2021 - the equivalent of more than £345 extra per year for someone working full-time. At Autumn Budget 2021, we announced a further increase of 6.6% to £9.50 for over 23s from April 2022, as well as reinforcing our commitment for the National Living Wage to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, provided economic conditions allow.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit supports people in and out of work and working claimants will now benefit from a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%; and the increase in the work allowance by £500 per year means that 1.9m working households will be able to keep substantially more of what they earn. These measures effectively represent a tax cut worth around £2.2bn a year in 2022-23 for the lowest paid in society and will benefit almost two million of the lowest paid workers by £1000 a year on average.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that some people may require extra support over the winter as we enter the final stages of recovery, which is why vulnerable households across the country are able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.</p><p> </p><p>To support low income families further we have increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, helping eligible low income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins, and we are also investing over £200m a year from 2022 to continue our Holiday Activities and Food programme which is already providing enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all English LAs.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p /> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley grouped question UIN 88815 question first answered 10/12/2021 11:47:20 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4571 label Biography information for Gill Furniss

1356885

registered interest
date	20/09/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to develop a new measure of poverty in line with the recommendations of the Social Metrics Commission.
tabling member constituency	Stalybridge and Hyde
tabling member printed	Jonathan Reynolds
uin	51688
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/09/2021 answer text <p>Our current priority is to improve the quality of our statutory measures before considering any further work on the Social Metric Commission’s measure specifically.</p><p> </p><p>However, we are making changes to the Family Resource Survey which will benefit the Social Metrics Commission, including improved measurement of assets, adding in new questions on debt, doubling the sample size and further linking with administrative data.</p><p /> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 30/09/2021 11:09:42 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley previous answer version 23495 answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4119 label Biography information for Jonathan Reynolds

1345836

registered interest
date	12/07/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people living in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty in (i) England, (ii) Yorkshire and (iii) the city of York.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	31454
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2021 answer text <p>National Statistics on the number and percentage of individuals in low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. Data for the city of York is unavailable due to insufficient sample size.</p><p> </p><p>Latest statistics for the number of people who are in low income in England and Yorkshire and the Humber, covering 2019/20, can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020</a> in population-hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2019-20-tables data table 3.18ts (relative low income, before and after housing costs) and in data table 3.20ts (absolute low income, before and after housing costs).</p><p> </p><p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, including by increasing the living wage, and by spending £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2020/21. This included around £7.4 billion of Covid-related welfare policy measures.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 20/07/2021 16:42:41 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1314945

registered interest
date	11/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative assessment she has made of the effect on trends in the level of poverty among young parents of those in receipt of (a) universal credit and (b) legacy benefits.
tabling member constituency	North East Fife
tabling member printed	Wendy Chamberlain
uin	900017
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2021 answer text <p>It is not possible to make meaningful comparisons between universal credit and legacy benefit claimants due to differences in the size, and composition of these caseloads.</p><p> </p><p>Anyone on legacy benefits, who feels they would be better off on UC, can make a new claim to UC.</p><p> </p><p>The Government encourages anybody to go on GOV.UK and use one of the independent benefit calculators to check carefully their eligibility, because on applying for Universal Credit, their entitlement to legacy benefits will cease and they will not be able to return to them in the future.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 17/05/2021 16:45:50 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4765 label Biography information for Wendy Chamberlain

1301294

registered interest
date	10/03/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the findings of research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which states that 56% of people in poverty are in a working family, compared to 39% 20 years ago.
tabling member constituency	Hemsworth
tabling member printed	Jon Trickett
uin	166324
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2021 answer text <p>No assessment has been made.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 18/03/2021 16:37:51 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	410 label Biography information for Jon Trickett

1283404

registered interest
date	03/02/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Poverty
house id	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 11 December 2020 to Question 124122, if she will publish an anti-poverty strategy.
tabling member constituency	Hemsworth
tabling member printed	Jon Trickett
uin	148696
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2021 answer text <p>I refer the Hon (or Rt Hon) Member to the answer I gave on 11 December 2020 to question number <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-12-02/124122" target="_blank">124122</a></p><p> </p><p>This Government champions the principle of work as the best route out of poverty and towards financial independence. Getting people back to work and supporting them to progress is at the heart of our approach and our new £30 billion Plan for Jobs is the first step on the ladder to achieving this.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/02/2021 17:25:47 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	410 label Biography information for Jon Trickett

1273748

registered interest
date	06/01/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Poverty
house id	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 implications for her policies of the finding of research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that 1 in every 100 households in Blackpool, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham and Salford are in extreme poverty.
tabling member constituency	Hemsworth
tabling member printed	Jon Trickett
uin	133695
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2021 answer text <p>No assessment has been made.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 15/01/2021 14:58:54 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	410 label Biography information for Jon Trickett

1273382

registered interest
date	30/12/2020
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	Poverty
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 she has made of the potential effect of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on levels of poverty in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	133015
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>No such assessment has been made.</p><p> </p><p>Estimating the potential impact of individual policies on future levels of poverty is not possible as it would require making judgements about what will happen to every persons’ income in the future and then also isolating potential changes in income due to the effect of specific policies on certain individuals. It is not possible to do this accurately as there is so much uncertainty involved in projecting incomes.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 11/01/2021 15:04:05 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows