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
tabling member	label

Search

1127991

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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	Occupational Money Purchase Schemes
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to bring forward legislation to introduce collective defined contribution pension schemes in the UK.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hain
	uin	HL15876
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>This Government has recently published a response to a Collective Defined Contribution schemes consultation setting out its plans, and has engaged extensively with key stakeholders.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 05/06/2019 15:16:53 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	567 label Biography information for Lord Hain

1127966

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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, how many and what proportion of universal credit claims that had a deduction applied had (a) up to 20 per cent, (b) between 21 and 30 per cent, (c) between 31 and 40 per cent and (d) more than 41 per cent deducted in the latest period for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	257147
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. Universal Credit already has procedures and regulations in place to protect claimants from excessive deductions. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance, and from October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent.</p><p> </p><p>However, last resort deductions can be applied to protect vulnerable claimants from eviction and/or having their fuel supply (gas/electricity) cut off, by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of these essential services. In these circumstances, when it is considered to be in the best interests of the claimant and their family, deductions may be taken above the 40 per cent limit.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant is in financial difficulty as a result of the level of deductions being made they can contact the Department to request that a reduction in deductions be considered.</p><p> </p><p>Of all eligible claims to Universal Credit Full Service due a payment in Feb 2019, 57% (840,000 claims) had a deduction.</p><p> </p><p>Of this 840,000 claims with a deduction:</p><p>a) 50% (420,000 claims) had deductions up to 20% of the Standard Allowance (29% of all eligible claims).</p><p>b) 20% (170,000 claims) had deductions between 21% and 30% of the Standard Allowance (12% of all eligible claims).</p><p>c) 28% (238,000 claims) had deductions between 31% and 40% of their Standard Allowance (16% of all eligible claims).</p><p>d) 1% (13,000 claims) had deductions above 40% of their Standard Allowance (1% of all eligible claims).</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p>Claim numbers may not match official statistics caseloads due to small methodological differences.</p><p>Claim numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000</p><p>When categorising claims into the groups above the figures for the percentage of the Standard Allowance for individual claims have been rounded to the nearest percent.</p><p>Deductions include advance repayments and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties which are reductions of benefit rather than deductions.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p /> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/06/2019 15:57:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1127958

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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	Poverty: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of children in absolute poverty in each year between 1989 and 1997.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	256960
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>National statistics on the number of children living in absolute low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication.</p><p> </p><p>HBAI data is unavailable before 1994/95 and are for the United Kingdom from 2002/03 onwards. Earlier years are for Great Britain only. The number of children in absolute poverty from 1994/95 can be found using the link below, in table 4.4tr, in the file “children-trends-hbai-1994-95-2017-18-tables.ods”.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 04/06/2019 14:27:34 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127849

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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	Employment: Learning Disability
	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 ensure that people with learning disabilities are given (a) adequate support and (b) opportunities to hold down meaningful employment.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	256950
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>Improving employment opportunities for people with a learning disability is a Government priority. We take a life course approach and are working with other Departments to tackle barriers to employment that start early in life. For example, we work with Department for Education on implementing the Maynard Task Force recommendations which help people with learning disabilities to access Apprenticeships. DWP is also testing ways to improve our support to this group, through initiatives like the Local Supported Employment proof of concept, which seeks to build our evidence base on how we can best help users of adult social care (many of whom have learning disabilities) to be able to work.</p><p> </p><p>Through Disability Confident, we are encouraging employers to offer more opportunities to disabled people, including people with a learning disability. Nearly 12,000 employers are signed up to the scheme and we recently announced our commitment to increase this number to 20,000 over the year.</p><p> </p><p>Access to Work supports disabled people, including those with learning disabilities, who are in work or participating on Traineeships, apprenticeships or supported internships. Last year, record numbers of people with learning disabilities received support from Access to Work, with figures up 22% on 16/17.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is working with the Supported Business Alliance (SBA) and The British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) to:</p><ul><li>help them develop a new quality mark for supported businesses and</li><li>to develop a new long term element of Access to Work to continue support for those already working for a supported business, and help more disabled people to join them.</li></ul><p>This will help those with the most severe barriers to work, including people with learning disabilities.</p><p> </p><p>We are investing £40m in a new Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme, which rolls out in late 2019 and is expected to benefit 10,000 people. It will provide highly personalised packages of employment support for disabled people, including those with a learning disability, who are at least a year away from moving into work.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 256951 question first answered 04/06/2019 14:00:20 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1127850

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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	Employment: Learning Disability
	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 support employers in creating equal opportunities for people with learning disabilities in the workplace.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	256951
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>Improving employment opportunities for people with a learning disability is a Government priority. We take a life course approach and are working with other Departments to tackle barriers to employment that start early in life. For example, we work with Department for Education on implementing the Maynard Task Force recommendations which help people with learning disabilities to access Apprenticeships. DWP is also testing ways to improve our support to this group, through initiatives like the Local Supported Employment proof of concept, which seeks to build our evidence base on how we can best help users of adult social care (many of whom have learning disabilities) to be able to work.</p><p> </p><p>Through Disability Confident, we are encouraging employers to offer more opportunities to disabled people, including people with a learning disability. Nearly 12,000 employers are signed up to the scheme and we recently announced our commitment to increase this number to 20,000 over the year.</p><p> </p><p>Access to Work supports disabled people, including those with learning disabilities, who are in work or participating on Traineeships, apprenticeships or supported internships. Last year, record numbers of people with learning disabilities received support from Access to Work, with figures up 22% on 16/17.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is working with the Supported Business Alliance (SBA) and The British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) to:</p><ul><li>help them develop a new quality mark for supported businesses and</li><li>to develop a new long term element of Access to Work to continue support for those already working for a supported business, and help more disabled people to join them.</li></ul><p>This will help those with the most severe barriers to work, including people with learning disabilities.</p><p> </p><p>We are investing £40m in a new Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme, which rolls out in late 2019 and is expected to benefit 10,000 people. It will provide highly personalised packages of employment support for disabled people, including those with a learning disability, who are at least a year away from moving into work.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 256950 question first answered 04/06/2019 14:00:20 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1127967

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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, what plans her Department has to introduce an affordability test for deductions taken from universal credit payments.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	257148
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to Question 218205 answered on 7 February 2018.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/06/2019 15:33:51 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1127931

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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	Poverty: Children
	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 20 May 2019 to Question 254154 on Poverty: Children, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the decline in the number of children in absolute low-income households between 2004-5 and 2009-10.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	256959
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>Absolute low income takes the 60 per cent of median income threshold from 2010/11 and moves this in line with inflation. This is designed to assess how low incomes are faring with reference to inflation. The percentage of individuals in absolute low income will decrease if individuals with lower incomes see their real incomes rising (increasing by more than inflation).</p><p> </p><p>Trends in the number of children in absolute poverty can be found using the link below, in table 4.4tr, in the file “children-trends-hbai-1994-95-2017-18-tables.ods”.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789816/hbai-2017-2018-tables-ods-files.zip</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Between 2004/05 and 2009/10 the number of children in absolute low income households before housing costs fell, indicating that children in lower income households saw their real incomes rise by more than inflation. However, the number of children in absolute low income households after housing costs was 3.8m in both 2004/05 and 2009/10. This suggests that for low income households with children, these real rises in income were offset by increasing housing costs during this period.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 04/06/2019 14:38:17 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1127763

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	Disability: Access
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to improve enforcement of requirements of the Equality Act 2010 on access to facilities for disabled people.
	tabling member constituency	Camborne and Redruth
	tabling member printed	George Eustice
	uin	256978
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2019 answer text <p>The Equality Act 2010 contains strong, enforceable protections for disabled people who experience discrimination, including a failure by employers or service providers to make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled people to access work and services like everybody else.</p><p> </p><p>In 2018 the Government committed to the commencement of section 36 of the Equality Act, which will enable disabled tenants to require that landlords and building owners to make reasonable adjustments to the common parts of dwellings, such as entry points, landings and stairs. Work to determine the cost of implementation is proceeding and an announcement will be made in due course.</p><p> </p><p>The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which enforces the Equality Act, recently delivered a Legal Support Project to increase access to justice for people experiencing disability discrimination. It offered groups £189,000 for legal assistance across 94 cases in areas including employment.</p><p> </p><p>The EHRC has increased its capacity to advise on discrimination cases in its new strategic plan, and has supported several court cases which resulted in strengthened rights for disabled people, including those wishing to make reasonable adjustments to their homes and disabled children who may demonstrate a tendency to physical abuse as a result of their disability, whose schools must now make reasonable adjustments in such cases.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 11/06/2019 14:58:15 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
	tabling member	3934 label Biography information for George Eustice

1127847

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Public Sector: Redundancy Pay
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason he has included employees of Magnox Ltd in the consultation on the redundancy compensation cap for public sector workers.
	tabling member constituency	Stroud
	tabling member printed	Dr David Drew
	uin	256909
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>The scope of the cap is guided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) independent classification of public sector bodies. The ONS determines whether a body falls within the public sector by reference to objective criteria based upon governance, funding, ownership and function. Magnox Ltd is classified as a public sector body by the ONS classification guide.</p><p> </p><p>We are undertaking staged implementation of the cap, with the first stage capturing: the UK Civil Service, non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies, non-ministerial departments, the National Health Service, academy schools, local government, and police forces. The cap on exit payments will then be extended to the rest of the public sector including Magnox Ltd, as guided by ONS classification, in due course.</p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 04/06/2019 06:48:05 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
	tabling member	252 label Biography information for Dr David Drew

1127861

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will place in the libraries of both Houses the methodology for calculating payments to Equitable Life policyholders.
	tabling member constituency	Kettering
	tabling member printed	Mr Philip Hollobone
	uin	256997
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>The methodology for calculating payments to Equitable Life policyholders was published in 2011 and can be found at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equitable-life-payment-scheme-design" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equitable-life-payment-scheme-design</a> .</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 04/06/2019 06:47:46 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	1537 label Biography information for Mr Philip Hollobone