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1171399

registered interest
date	16/01/2020
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	Department for Work and Pensions: Climate Change
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 effect of climate change on the work of her Department; and what steps she is taking in response to that effect.
tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
tabling member printed	Darren Jones
uin	4447
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2020 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions assesses climate change as a potential risk to its operational responsibilities.</p><p>The UK Government recognises climate change as a material risk to most if not all pension schemes. Therefore, we have clarified trustees’ investment duties in legislation to consider all financially material considerations – including climate change. Trustees have to document a policy on how they take account of climate change. Defined contribution and hybrid benefit schemes are required to publish their policy and defined benefit schemes will be required to publish from 1 October.</p><p>With respect to its own operations, the Department applies criteria that considers the effect of climate change, such as flood risk, when deciding on future site strategy.</p><p>The Department also undertakes regular reviews of their location specific emergency planning, disaster recovery and business continuity plans.</p><p>The Department’s estate supply chain is undertaking site visits which include an assessment of climate change risk with recommendations on investment. Investment in the Departmental estate is focused upon its core assets, with the level of criticality of those assets a key measure. This helps to ensure that its buildings are as resilient as possible. By using data, asset management principles and specialist knowledge we are able to identify assets most at risk of failure and to mitigate accordingly.</p><p>The DWP has a dedicated Estates Sustainability and Environment Team. Their purpose is to oversee that from an estate perspective: -</p><p>• Our effects on sustainability and the environment from appropriately managed and</p><p>• That risks from the environment are proportionately managed.</p><p>In terms of sustainability, the Department is committed to tackling climate change and delivering against the Government’s sustainability targets. We are currently exceeding our carbon reduction targets under the Greening Government Commitments (GGC). The GGC requires the Department to reduce carbon emissions by 51% by 2020 against a 2009/10 baseline. As of June 2019, we are currently at a 56% reduction.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 23/01/2020 17:39:52 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4621 label Biography information for Darren Jones

1171105

registered interest
date	15/01/2020
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, if she will amend the universal credit (a) application form and (b) online journal to enable applicants to consent to their data being used to automatically register eligible children in their household for free school meals.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	3828
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2020 answer text <p>The Universal Credit system is structured around an online personal account which contains all the information relevant to the claim. This includes claimant’s bank account details, savings, capital, medical history, family relationships and address information. We need to ensure a high level of security and protection is maintained to combat unscrupulous individuals and organisations who try to access the information we hold and seek to impersonate genuine advisers. We take all reasonable steps to protect the position of claimants and their data.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants may currently be entitled to a number of other benefits because they are in receipt of Universal Credit. These are known as passported benefits and include free school meals and free prescriptions. The eligibility criteria for each passported benefit remain the responsibility of the departments and devolved administrations that own them. In Scotland and Wales, eligibility criteria for free school meals is a matter for the devolved administrations.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Education provides an electronic eligibility checking service to all local authorities in England, which is used to confirm eligibility for free school meals.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 23/01/2020 17:27:16 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1148774

registered interest
date	14/10/2019
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, whether she plans to permit Universal Credit claimants to backdate a claim due to ill health in circumstances where medical evidence is provided by a GP.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	168
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/10/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit claims may be backdated, by up to one calendar month, in some circumstances for vulnerable claimants who may be delayed in claiming Universal Credit through no fault of their own. More specifically, in cases where medical evidence satisfies the Department that a claimant had an illness that prevented them from making a claim sooner, Universal Credit can be awarded from an earlier date.</p><p> </p><p>In order to provide the best possible support to our claimants it is important that the Department are able to engage with claimants at the earliest possible opportunity, whether to support them back into work or to provide other support and guidance. It is therefore important that backdating provisions are used in specific circumstances, and that all claimants are encouraged to contact us at the earliest opportunity.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 18/10/2019 11:06:26 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1104879

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	Children: Maintenance
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 ensure that arrears are not discarded without the permission of the parent to whom the arrears are owed when cases are migrated from the Child Support Agency to the Child Maintenance Service.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	236438
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/04/2019 answer text <p>Under the Compliance and Arrears strategy we are writing to clients with CSA debt above certain thresholds to ask if they want us to try to collect their arrears. These thresholds provide a reasonable cut off point to ensure that we do not pursue cases at disproportionate cost to the taxpayer. They are: over £500 and the case is less than 10 years old, and over £1,000 and the case 10 years old or over.</p><p> </p><p>If correspondence is returned as the client is not known at the address held, the Service will attempt to trace a current address in order to reissue the letter.</p><p> </p><p>If a client confirms they want the Service to attempt collection, the case is checked to ensure the debt balance is accurate before arrears are transferred from the CSA IT system to the CMS one.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 02/04/2019 12:58:35 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1104880

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to ensure the use of previous tribunal decisions in the event of (a) new assessments or (b) re-assessments.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	236439
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/04/2019 answer text <p>Where an award which is based on a tribunal’s decision is being reviewed, that decision is considered as evidence alongside any new evidence, for example a HCP report and the claimant’s own evidence. Its relevance and the weight given to it by a decision maker will depend on the date of the decision and whether the claimant’s circumstances have changed in the meantime.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 02/04/2019 12:59:08 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1051454

registered interest
date	30/01/2019
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	Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the Government's timescale is for (a) acknowledging the concluding observations from the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and (b) responding to that convention's recommendations.
tabling member constituency	Bury North
tabling member printed	James Frith
uin	214659
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2019 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Government is committed to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and to the progressive realisation of the rights for disabled people that it sets out.</p><p> </p><p>We have provided our first report to the UN Committee as requested. We published this report on 6 September 2018. This report and accompanying ministerial letter setting out the UK's progress are available on GOV.UK website:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disabled-peoples-rights-information-following-the-uks-first-periodic-review" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disabled-peoples-rights-information-following-the-uks-first-periodic-review</a></p><p> </p><p>I tabled a Written Statement (HCWS938) on 6 September 2018, providing an update on the UK’s follow-up response to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-09-06/HCWS938" target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-09-06/HCWS938</a></p><p> </p><p>We will be responding to the recommendations in the Concluding Observations during our next periodic review, currently scheduled for 2023. In the meantime, we will be preparing in due course, as recommended by the UN Committee, a progress update on the 2016 inquiry recommendations.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 08/02/2019 12:57:03 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4637 label Biography information for James Frith

1047096

registered interest
date	23/01/2019
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: Refugees
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many resettled refugee families arriving in the UK since 2015 under the (a) Vulnerable Person’s Resettlement Scheme, (b) Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme and (c) Gateway Protection Programme are subject to the benefit cap.
tabling member constituency	Stretford and Urmston
tabling member printed	Kate Green
uin	211734
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2019 answer text <p>The Department does not hold this data on our administration system for capped households under Housing Benefit or Universal Credit.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 29/01/2019 13:13:39 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4120 label Biography information for Kate Green

1038460

registered interest
date	09/01/2019
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: Foreign Nationals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether non-UK citizens will be part of the test group that receive the new benefit as part of the roll-out of universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Leicester East
tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
uin	206722
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/01/2019 answer text <p>We are still in the planning stages for managed migration and we have yet to agree the characteristics of those claimants who we will include in the initial pilot for managed migration. We are currently working closely with stakeholders and claimants to design our migration processes. Our focus remains on delivering a process that works well for everyone.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/01/2019 11:39:40 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

1038461

registered interest
date	09/01/2019
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: Asylum
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on the ability of asylum seekers to claim benefits in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Leicester East
tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
uin	206723
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/01/2019 answer text <p>I refer the Hon. Member to my answer to Question the response to PQ<a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-12-18/203324/" target="_blank">203324</a> answered on 28 December 2018.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/01/2019 11:24:09 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz