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1132412

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	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	Basic Income: Sheffield
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to monitor the roll out of a universal basic income pilot by Sheffield City Council; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	265451
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>We are aware of experiments in universal basic income (UBI) around the world and we do not believe there is a case for UBI. We believe Universal Credit is the right approach for the UK because it simplifies the benefit system, promotes and incentivises work, including progression in work, and provides targeted support to those in most need in a way that is affordable.</p><p> </p><p>In February 2018 the OECD concluded in <a href="https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/oecd-economic-surveys-finland-2018_eco_surveys-fin-2018-en#page45" target="_blank">its survey of the Finnish Economy</a> that the complexity of the current benefits system in Finland was an obstacle to stepping into work and that the basic income experiment, whilst possibly enhancing work incentives, may increase poverty and would require increasing income taxation by nearly 30%. More recently, findings from the evaluation of the Finnish basic income experiment show some improvement in perceived wellbeing, but that it did not increase the employment level of the participants in the first year of the experiment. The OECD also developed a scenario for Finland inspired by the UK’s Universal Credit (UC). They found that this ‘would consistently improve work incentives and reduce complexity, with limited changes to the income distribution and limited fiscal cost.</p><p> </p><p>This <a href="https://oecdecoscope.blog/2018/02/28/why-would-a-universal-credit-be-better-than-a-basic-income-for-finland/" target="_blank">OECD blog</a> post is particularly useful on the OECD’s work to compare UBI and UC.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/06/2019 15:59:10 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1132436

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	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	Unemployment: Nottinghamshire
	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 trends in the level of youth employment in Nottinghamshire since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Mansfield
	tabling member printed	Ben Bradley
	uin	265574
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>There were 64,800 people aged 16-24 in employment across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire in 2010, and 71,000 in 2018.</p><p>The number of young people claiming unemployment-related benefits across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Local Authorities has fallen by 65.8% in the last six years and stands at 3,696 as at February 2019.</p><p>And, the overall level of employment across the East Midlands is now 2.343 million, an increase of just under a quarter of a million since 2010.</p><p>Across the UK, around 6.0 million (86.4%) 16-24 year olds are in full-time education (FTE) or work.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 25/06/2019 16:45:53 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4663 label Biography information for Ben Bradley

1132493

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	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: Payment Methods
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of universal credit received payments into a Post Office Card Account in each of the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	265586
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department’s standard method of payment for pensions and benefits is into a bank, building society or credit union account. For claimants who cannot open one of these accounts, or provide the details for their own account to access their payment, the Department can offer two alternatives: The Post Office Card Account and HM Government Payment Exception Service, both of which guarantee access to their payment of pension and or benefit.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has been contacting claimants using Post Office Card Accounts since September 2015 offering information to claimants to move to standard payment methods.</p><p> </p><p>As a claimant may receive more than one payment of Universal Credit in each month, we have supplied the total volume of Universal Credit payments made into Post Office Card Accounts in each of the last 12 months in the table below. Increasing volumes of Universal Credit payments into these types of account reflect those naturally migrating from legacy benefits and taking their payment method with them.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Month</p></td><td><p>Payments Made</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>June 2018</p></td><td><p>10,322</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>July 2018</p></td><td><p>9,699</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2018</p></td><td><p>10,686</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 2018</p></td><td><p>10,494</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>October 2018</p></td><td><p>10,302</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>November 2018</p></td><td><p>12,160</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>December 2018</p></td><td><p>12,649</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>January 2019</p></td><td><p>12,571</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2019</p></td><td><p>13,807</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2019</p></td><td><p>14,209</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2019</p></td><td><p>14,377</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May 2019</p></td><td><p>15,724</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/06/2019 14:50:39 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1132600

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	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: Overpayments
	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 17 June 2019 to Question 263062 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, if she will place in the Library an estimate of the costs of answering that Question.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	265448
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions follows guidance from Cabinet Office in setting the Disproportionate Cost Threshold. The current Disproportionate Cost Threshold across Government is set at £850.</p><p> </p><p>All waiver documents are stored clerically. We have estimated that reviewing the remaining waiver documents to ascertain how many related to Universal Credit overpayments would take around 51 hours of staff time and therefore would breach the cost limit of £850.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/06/2019 14:30:44 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132601

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	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: Overpayments
	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 5 June 2019 to Question 257458 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how many overpayments were waived in (a) full and (b) part as a result of applications made by (i) claimants and (ii) their representatives in 2017-18.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	265449
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>In 2017/18 there were fewer than 5 successful applications for the full waiving of a Universal Credit overpayment, and fewer than 5 successful partial waiver applications for UC overpayments.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has an obligation to ensure that public funds are administered responsibly and to abide by the principles set out in Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on Managing Public Money (which can be found on gov.uk). Waivers are only granted in limited circumstances including where the recovery of an overpayment is causing substantial financial and/or medical hardship and clear supporting evidence of this is provided.</p><p> </p><p>We are unable to provide a breakdown of how many applications were made by claimants or their representatives as this information is not stored.</p><p> </p><p><em>*The figures provided in this response have been sourced from internal management information and were not intended for public release. They should therefore not be compared to any other figures subsequently released by the Department. We are not able to report exact figures that are lower than 5, therefore this have been listed as “fewer than 5”.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/06/2019 15:01:13 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132387

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Heathrow Airport: Railways
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the projected cost to the public purse of the proposed Western Rail Link to Heathrow Airport.
	tabling member constituency	Slough
	tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
	uin	265557
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>Government policy is for developers to pay the costs of upgrading or enhancing road, rail or other transport networks or services where there is a need to cope with additional passengers travelling to and from expanded or growing airports. Where the scheme has a wider range of beneficiaries, the Government will consider, along with other relevant stakeholders, the need for additional public funding on a case-by-case basis.</p><p> </p><p>The Western Rail Link to Heathrow is being promoted by Network Rail and is expected to benefit both airport and non-airport users. The scheme must demonstrate a satisfactory business case; with the cost to the public purse being a factor. The Department and Network Rail are engaged with Heathrow Airport Limited, the Civil Aviation Authority and Her Majesty’s Treasury on this issue and to comment further would prejudice the department’s commercial position.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Harrogate and Knaresborough answering member printed Andrew Jones question first answered 20/06/2019 15:21:51 answering member 3996 label Biography information for Andrew Jones
	tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1132579

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Thameslink Line
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide the (a) punctuality and (b) reliability data for the Thameslink service between Bedford and London stations for each month of 2019 to date.
	tabling member constituency	Bedford
	tabling member printed	Mohammad Yasin
	uin	265612
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department holds performance data on a rail period (13 four-week periods per year) basis, rather than according to calendar months.</p><p>For punctuality we hold the data as the Public Performance Measure (PPM), the percentage of trains arriving at their destination within five minutes of schedule. For reliability we hold the data as Cancellations and Significant Lateness, the percentage of services that are cancelled or delayed by more than thirty minutes.</p><p>The periodic results for the Thameslink route between Bedford and London, covering all days of the week in both directions, are contained in the table below. This does include the vast majority of services that passengers from Bedford would use, except for a small number of services which stop at all stations south of St Albans, which are counted in a separate ‘metro’ category. As this is data for the entire service group, it will include some trains that did not run the full length of the route.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Period</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>PPM</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>CaSL</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>9 December 2018 – 5 January 2019</p></td><td><p>85.6%</p></td><td><p>4.4%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>6 January 2019 – 2 February 2019</p></td><td><p>83.0%</p></td><td><p>4.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3 February 2019 – 2 March 2019</p></td><td><p>85.9%</p></td><td><p>4.0%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3 March 2019 – 31 March 2019</p></td><td><p>83.7%</p></td><td><p>5.8%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 April 2019 – 27 April 2019</p></td><td><p>88.4%</p></td><td><p>4.2%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>28 April 2019 – 25 May 2019</p></td><td><p>86.4%</p></td><td><p>3.0%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Harrogate and Knaresborough answering member printed Andrew Jones question first answered 24/06/2019 12:46:41 answering member 3996 label Biography information for Andrew Jones
	tabling member	4598 label Biography information for Mohammad Yasin

1132503

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	English Language: Refugees
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of access to English language classes to reduce levels of loneliness among resettled refugees.
	tabling member constituency	Nottingham North
	tabling member printed	Alex Norris
	uin	265589
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The government is committed to tackling loneliness and published its first loneliness strategy on 15 October 2018, bringing together the government, local government, public services, the voluntary and community sector and businesses to identify opportunities to tackle loneliness and build more integrated communities.</p><p>The government recognises that learning English is essential in enabling refugees to rebuild their lives. We are working closely across government to develop a new strategy for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) in 2019, which will provide a shared vision for all publicly funded English language provision, including addressing the needs of refugees.</p><p>We know that language skills are crucial to help people integrate into life in England, as well as to break down barriers to work and career progression. This is why we support adults in England through the Adult Education Budget to secure the English language skills they need. The Home Office and the Department for Education have also provided £10 million to enable refugees resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme to access additional classes.</p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton question first answered 20/06/2019 12:53:28 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
	tabling member	4641 label Biography information for Alex Norris

1132536

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	English Language: Refugees
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all refugees who come to the UK are provided with English language education at the earliest opportunity.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	265552
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The government recognises that learning English is essential in enabling refugees to rebuild their lives. We are working across government to develop a new strategy for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) in 2019, which will provide a shared vision for all publicly funded English language provision, including addressing the needs of refugees.</p><p>The department funds ESOL through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), which is allocated to providers on an annual basis. Colleges and adult learning providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their AEB allocation to meet the needs of their communities and this includes planning, with local partners, the ESOL courses that they will deliver locally. The AEB also provides additional support for learners who face specific financial hardship, which is preventing them from taking part or continuing in learning.</p><p>The Home Office and the Department for Education have also provided £10 million to enable refugees resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme to access additional classes.</p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton question first answered 20/06/2019 12:50:01 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
	tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1132643

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
	answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
	hansard heading	Drugs: Misuse
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction's European Drug Report 2019: Trends and Developments, published in June 2019, and in particular the findings that the UK has the highest rate of cocaine use among young adults in Europe with almost five per cent of 15–34 year-olds having used cocaine in the last 12 months and three per cent of schoolchildren aged 15–16 having tried the drug; and what action they plan to take as a result of these findings in order to reduce drug use amongst young people, including any plans to establish effective prevention strategies and drug recovery services.
	tabling member printed	The Marquess of Lothian
	uin	HL16421
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>We are concerned by the findings of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction’s <em>European Drug Report 2019</em> on the prevalence of cocaine use in the United Kingdom, especially among younger people. The Home Secretary has appointed Professor Dame Carol Black to lead a major review which will build on existing Government strategies to combat drugs and will examine the harms that drugs cause and the best ways to prevent drug-taking. The report will also examine the drivers behind recent trends such as the increased recreational use of Class A drugs by young adults. The plan is for Dame Carol to present the Home Secretary with a report detailing her key findings and proposals by the end of the summer. The outcome of this meeting will shape phase 2 of the review. The Government will respond to recommendations made in the report once it is finalised and published.</p> answering member printed Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford question first answered 27/06/2019 13:34:46 answering member 4019 label Biography information for Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
	tabling member	259 label Biography information for The Marquess of Lothian