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100959

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the percentage of people using food banks who also receive benefits; and whether they have any plans to discuss the matter with the organisers of food banks or to adapt benefits to take account of the situation.
tabling member printed	Baroness Gould of Potternewton
uin	HL2415
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>DWP does not monitor or estimate the percentage of people using food banks.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise the extremely valuable work of civil society in supporting local communities. Government officials and Ministers routinely meet with a range of civil society organisations, some of which may be connected to foodbanks.</p><p> </p><p>DWP reforms are already making the benefits system simpler and helping claimants to move into work.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 04/11/2014 14:50:14 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	3573 label Biography information for Baroness Gould of Potternewton

100980

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	Jobseeker's Allowance Sanctions Independent Review
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government further to the remarks by Lord Freud on 21 October that they were "taking forward all recommendations" of the Oakley Report on Jobseeker's Allowance sanctions (HL Deb, col 547), whether they will provide an implementation date for each of the recommendations.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL2436
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>We have already published our response to the Oakley Report and a copy can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/332137/jsa-sanctions-independent-review-government-response.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/332137/jsa-sanctions-independent-review-government-response.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p>We are considering all recommendations made by the Oakley Report and we have already implemented a number of improvements. Our response sets out a number of target completion dates for recommendations made by the Oakley Report.</p><p> </p><p>We will look at the remaining recommendations and will keep the House informed on progress and implementation.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 04/11/2014 16:26:08 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

101223

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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: Barrow in Furness
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 in Barrow and Furness constituency he expects to have transferred to universal credit by 1 January 2015.
tabling member constituency	Barrow and Furness
tabling member printed	John Woodcock
uin	212064
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>I refer the hon. member to the Written Ministerial Statement made by my Rt. Hon. Friend, Iain Duncan Smith on of Monday 13th October 2014.</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/2014-October/13th%20October/17.DWP-welfare-reform.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/2014-October/13th%20October/17.DWP-welfare-reform.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>DWP are not setting targets for numbers in receipt of Universal Credit at various points in time. Final numbers will vary according to a number of factors such as the economic circumstances over time and behavioural change of claimants.</p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper question first answered 03/11/2014 17:54:37 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
tabling member	3917 label Biography information for Lord Walney

101237

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	Access to Work Programme: Suffolk
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disabled people in (a) Bury St Edmunds constituency and (b) Suffolk have received new support from the Access to Work scheme to participate in internships, traineeships and work placements since September 2010.
tabling member constituency	Bury St Edmunds
tabling member printed	Mr David Ruffley
uin	211955
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>Access to Work does not have an historic means of reporting on DWP programme participant volumes nor do we have a means of reporting DWP programme participant volumes for specific constituencies, or geographical districts. Cases are recorded by disability type, not by the categories specific to your request.</p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper question first answered 03/11/2014 17:48:56 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
tabling member	133 label Biography information for Mr David Ruffley

101243

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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, whether the level of income disregard threshold for employment and support allowance will be reviewed prior to the Autumn Statement 2014.
tabling member constituency	North Ayrshire and Arran
tabling member printed	Katy Clark
uin	212041
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government considers a disregard of occupational/personal pension income of £85.00 a week before contributory Employment and Support Allowance is reduced to be reasonable. This is being currently reviewed as part of the annual benefits uprating exercise.</p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper grouped question UIN 212050 question first answered 03/11/2014 17:51:27 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
tabling member	1590 label Biography information for Baroness Clark of Kilwinning

101247

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2014 to question 201294, for what reason it was decided not to change the income disregard threshold for employment and support allowance; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	North Ayrshire and Arran
tabling member printed	Katy Clark
uin	212050
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government considers a disregard of occupational/personal pension income of £85.00 a week before contributory Employment and Support Allowance is reduced to be reasonable. This is being currently reviewed as part of the annual benefits uprating exercise.</p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper grouped question UIN 212041 question first answered 03/11/2014 17:51:28 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
tabling member	1590 label Biography information for Baroness Clark of Kilwinning

101248

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	Disability Living Allowance: Appeals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who the decision maker is in the case of a DLA review; and what the assessment process is.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	212004
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>A Case Manager, the term for a DWP DLA decision maker, will conduct the review. In conducting the review, DLA Case Managers are instructed, through training and guidance, to ensure they have all the necessary information before making their decision. They will consider the evidence held and/or received, sending out for more evidence as appropriate, and only then make their decision.</p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper question first answered 03/11/2014 17:47:22 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

100930

registered interest
date	24/10/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the steps they are taking to reduce the cost of benefit fraud, what they propose to do, and how much they plan to spend, to reduce underpayments to claimants due to mistakes by officials or claimants.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL2398
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>The Department takes both under and overpayments seriously and has in place a number of initiatives to address the errors that cause them. These activities address fraud as well as error, and both under and overpayments. It is therefore not possible to separate out the cost of activities focused exclusively on underpayments as a result of error.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit will make the welfare system simpler by replacing six benefits and credits with a single monthly payment. This simplification is expected to lead to a reduction in fraud and error due to the fact that information about claimants will be held in one place and updated more frequently and easily.</p><p> </p><p>For claimants that have income taxed under PAYE, Universal Credit will be linked to HMRC’s Real Time Information system, which will provide an automatic monthly update of their income thus reducing the potential for both error and fraud.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has invested in compliance activity, so that case correctness is maintained and fraud and error entering the system are detected and resolved quickly. Across all delivery arms there is a focus on accuracy and quality, including a continuous quality checking regime to review claims and check processing accuracy.</p><p> </p><p>We constantly review claims by checking them against data coming into our systems, in order to highlight potential anomalies. We do this by using business rules which focus on potential error to identify both under and overpayments.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is taking steps to encourage claimants to ensure that the information provided to us is accurate and up-to-date. This includes a fraud and error communications campaign about driving behaviour change and emphasising that claimants must report any change of circumstances.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 07/11/2014 13:39:35 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

100946

registered interest
date	24/10/2014
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	Industrial Health and Safety: Agriculture
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the latest figures they have of the number of fatal and serious accidents occurring in the farming industry.
tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
uin	HL2414
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <p>These figures are published on the Health and Safety Executive’s website: <a href="http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/agriculture/index.htm" target="_blank">http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/agriculture/index.htm</a>. They can also be found in the published report attached, “Health and safety in agriculture in Great Britain, 2014” on pages 6 and 7.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 04/11/2014 15:42:22 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud attachment 1 file name HSE Agri Stats.pdf title Health and Safety in agriculture in Great Britain
tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

100645

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government why housing benefit overpayments increased to £1.4 billion in 2013–14 and how they are addressing the issue.
tabling member printed	Baroness Manzoor
uin	HL2376
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>Housing Benefit is a complex benefit administered by 380 Local Authorities. It has a high proportion of in-work claimants and this caseload is more likely to undergo changes in circumstances than out-of-work claimants. If claimants fail to report changes in circumstances correctly and in a timely manner then overpayments will occur.</p><p>The rate of fraud in Housing Benefit has been stable for many years at 1.4% since 2008-09. Official error has also remained relatively stable over the last six years, currently standing at 0.6% which is the same level as in 2008-09. Claimant error has increased from 2.7% in 2008-09 to 3.8% in 2013-14.</p><p>The rise in HB claimant error is primarily earnings related and a consequence of failure to report these changes. DWP is taking action to deal with this issue through better data sharing with Local Authorities, such as the introduction of real time information (RTI) on earnings, so that local authorities are alerted to changes quickly and do not have to rely on the claimant informing them of changes.</p><p>Longer term, Housing Benefit for working age claimants will be replaced by the housing cost element of Universal Credit and will be paid as a single monthly payment with the other elements. This will reduce the opportunity for Fraud and Error and prevent overpayments from occurring.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 04/11/2014 15:11:36 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4289 label Biography information for Baroness Manzoor