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

1138618

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Police: Disciplinary Proceedings
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2019 to Question 267262 on Police: Disciplinary Proceedings, what plans he has to ensure the (a) police and (b) Independent Office for Police Conduct take forward the next steps identified in the event of an investigation going beyond 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	276578
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government intends to legislate to establish a requirement for the police and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to provide written notification to the Local Policing Body and, as appropriate, other prescribed parties, when an investigation into alleged police misconduct takes more than 12 months to complete.</p><p>A further notification will be required every 6 months thereafter if necessary. The notification will require the police or IOPC to provide an update on the progress of the investigation, an estimate of when it expects the report of the investigation to be submitted, an explanation for any delay and a summary of planned steps to bring the investigation to a conclusion.</p><p>This is the first time that the police or IOPC will have a statutory requirement to report on timeliness of investigations. This increased level of scrutiny is intended to improve accountability, and greater transparency will help to deliver further improvements in timeliness.</p> answering member constituency Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner answering member printed Mr Nick Hurd grouped question UIN 276577 276579 question first answered 17/07/2019 15:45:38 answering member 1561 label Biography information for Mr Nick Hurd
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1138617

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Police: Disciplinary Proceedings
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2019 to Question 267262 on Police: Disciplinary Proceedings, what information a written explanation is required to include in the event of an investigation going beyond 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	276577
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government intends to legislate to establish a requirement for the police and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to provide written notification to the Local Policing Body and, as appropriate, other prescribed parties, when an investigation into alleged police misconduct takes more than 12 months to complete.</p><p>A further notification will be required every 6 months thereafter if necessary. The notification will require the police or IOPC to provide an update on the progress of the investigation, an estimate of when it expects the report of the investigation to be submitted, an explanation for any delay and a summary of planned steps to bring the investigation to a conclusion.</p><p>This is the first time that the police or IOPC will have a statutory requirement to report on timeliness of investigations. This increased level of scrutiny is intended to improve accountability, and greater transparency will help to deliver further improvements in timeliness.</p> answering member constituency Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner answering member printed Mr Nick Hurd grouped question UIN 276578 276579 question first answered 17/07/2019 15:45:38 answering member 1561 label Biography information for Mr Nick Hurd
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1138619

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Police: Disciplinary Proceedings
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2019 to Question 267262 on Police: Disciplinary Proceedings, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of requiring a written explanation in the event of an investigation going beyond 12 months times on lowering investigation times; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	276579
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government intends to legislate to establish a requirement for the police and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to provide written notification to the Local Policing Body and, as appropriate, other prescribed parties, when an investigation into alleged police misconduct takes more than 12 months to complete.</p><p>A further notification will be required every 6 months thereafter if necessary. The notification will require the police or IOPC to provide an update on the progress of the investigation, an estimate of when it expects the report of the investigation to be submitted, an explanation for any delay and a summary of planned steps to bring the investigation to a conclusion.</p><p>This is the first time that the police or IOPC will have a statutory requirement to report on timeliness of investigations. This increased level of scrutiny is intended to improve accountability, and greater transparency will help to deliver further improvements in timeliness.</p> answering member constituency Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner answering member printed Mr Nick Hurd grouped question UIN 276577 276578 question first answered 17/07/2019 15:45:38 answering member 1561 label Biography information for Mr Nick Hurd
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1138710

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	UK Visas and Immigration: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff are employed in the processing asylum applications in the UK Visa and Immigration team.
	tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough
	tabling member printed	Gill Furniss
	uin	276581
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The number of staff who are employed by UK Visas and Immigration in the processing of asylum applications, is not held in a way that can be easily aggregated. To obtain this information would require detailed reporting against multiple cost centres and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.</p><p>Decisions on asylum claims are made by decision makers in Asylum Operations. There are recruitment strategies in place to maintain staffing at the required levels to allow us to manage asylum intake and reduce the overall time to make initial asylum decisions.</p><p>All asylum claim lodged in the UK are carefully considered on their individual merits against a background of relevant case law and up to date country information.</p> answering member constituency Romsey and Southampton North answering member printed Caroline Nokes question first answered 17/07/2019 15:40:58 answering member 4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes
	tabling member	4571 label Biography information for Gill Furniss

1137837

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	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	Child Maintenance Service
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to increase (a) funding and (b) staffing of the Child Maintenance Service.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington South
	tabling member printed	Faisal Rashid
	uin	275246
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>Child Maintenance Service funding and staffing is determined as part of the funding settlement that DWP receives to provide the range of services that it provides. DWP, along with all other Government Departments, is currently agreeing its budgets for the approaching Spending Review period with HM Treasury. No decisions on the level of future budgets has been agreed at this point but is expected to be resolved in the latter part of 2019.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 17/07/2019 10:05:34 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4670 label Biography information for Faisal Rashid

1137479

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	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	Pension Credit and 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 steps she is taking to improve accessibility to pension credit and universal credit for pensioners.
	tabling member constituency	Norwich South
	tabling member printed	Clive Lewis
	uin	274595
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>Pension Credit is an important benefit specifically intended to help the poorest pensioners. There are over 1.6m pensioners already claiming Pension Credit worth over £5billion a year. However, the Government wants to ensure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled.</p><p> </p><p>We also welcome and encourage initiatives to promote take up of Pension Credit by national and local organisations who may often be best placed to understand the local circumstances and needs in the community. For this reason we have developed the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up. It can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-<strong>credit</strong>-toolkit</a></p><p> </p><p>The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits.</p><p> </p><p>Organisations can use the Pension Credit calculator <a href="https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator</a> to help people check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits to potential claimants; including information on <a href="https://gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://gov.uk/</a> but also in leaflets and by telephone. DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit.</p><p> </p><p>People can telephone either the Pension Service helpline for general enquiries on 0800 731 0469 or those wishing to claim Pension Credit can do so by calling 0800 99 1234.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit is designed to target resources at those that need them most and to provide support for people who cannot work or need help moving towards the labour market.</p><p> </p><p>For those that are unable to access or use digital services, assistance to make and maintain their claim is available via the Freephone Universal Credit helpline on 0800 328 5644 and face-to-face support is available in Jobcentres. In exceptional circumstances, a home visit can be arranged to support a claimant in making and maintaining their claim.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, claimants can access support with their Universal Credit application through the Citizen’s Advice Help to Claim service which, offers tailored, practical support online, over the phone, and face-to-face. You can contact an adviser through the free national Help to Claim phone service:</p><p>England: 0800 144 8 444</p><p>Wales: 08000 241 220</p><p>Scotland: 0800 023 2581</p><p>We are continuously reviewing and improving the service for people who claim Universal Credit to ensure that it is accessible and responsive to their needs. This includes how they are identified and supported, either from our own staff or via referrals from local services.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 17/07/2019 15:44:28 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4500 label Biography information for Clive Lewis

1138699

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	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: Fraud
	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 victims of universal credit scams.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	276513
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department takes benefit fraud very seriously and is committed to taking appropriate action when it is detected.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant has been the victim of fraud, and has not benefitted financially in any way, they will not be asked to repay the money. The Department considers all cases on their individual merits and decisions are made on the strength of the evidence provided.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has been working to improve knowledge and awareness of advances fraud amongst Jobcentre and Service Centre staff. Guidance has also been issued to ensure that staff are aware how to refer cases of suspected fraud to the Department’s Counter-fraud team.</p><p> </p><p>Most welfare losses, across Government, arise from claimants failing to report changes of circumstances, Universal Credit (UC) provides a single, digital interface through which claimants can more easily report these changes. As such, once UC is fully rolled out, we expect cross-welfare losses to fraud, error and overpayments to be reduced by around £1 billion per year.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/07/2019 13:47:42 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1138694

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	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: Proof of Identity
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure accurate verification of universal credit claimants who request an advance.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	276512
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>As of June 2019, potential fraudulent advance claims equate to less than 1 per cent of all Universal Credit claims.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has been working to improve knowledge and awareness of advances fraud amongst Jobcentre and Service Centre staff. Guidance has also been issued to ensure that staff are aware how to refer cases of suspected fraud to the Department’s Counter-fraud team.</p><p> </p><p>We are developing our service iteratively and improving any areas in the service that may currently be presenting issues, to minimise the risk of fraud while ensuring that we can continue to provide financial support to those claimants who need it.</p><p>We cannot share advance detail of the specific security improvements we are making but this includes improving our process for verifying a claimant’s circumstances.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/07/2019 12:46:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1138693

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	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: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps he is taking to tackle universal credit fraud.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	276511
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department takes its obligation to prevent, detect and investigate fraud very seriously and will investigate all claims where fraud may have been committed. We have recently set up a dedicated team to investigate a specific type of emergent fraud, and we are also committed to the use of penalties such as prosecutions and tough financial penalties to discourage fraudulent behaviour.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has also recently been working to further improve knowledge and awareness of Universal Credit (UC) fraud amongst Jobcentre and Service Centre staff. Guidance has also been issued to ensure that all staff are aware how to quickly refer cases of suspected fraud to the Department’s Counter-fraud team.</p><p> </p><p>Most welfare losses, across Government, arise from claimants failing to report changes of circumstances. UC provides a single, digital interface through which claimants can more easily report these changes. UC also allows us to adjust benefit entitlement in line with changing circumstances in real time. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping to inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances. Once UC is fully rolled out, we expect cross-welfare losses to fraud, error and overpayments to be reduced by around £1 billion per year</p><p> </p><p>As of June 2019, potential fraudulent advance claims equate to less than 1 per cent of all Universal Credit claims.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/07/2019 12:58:00 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1137841

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	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	Flexible Support Fund and 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 increase awareness of the (a) universal support and (b) flexible support fund.
	tabling member constituency	Bermondsey and Old Southwark
	tabling member printed	Neil Coyle
	uin	275211
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>Alongside the Universal Credit telephony and face to face support for non-digital and vulnerable claimants, The Help to Claim service is being delivered from 1 April 2019 by Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland. Some aspects of this were previously delivered by Local Authorities before 31 March 2019 under the name “Universal Support”.</p><p>DWP works together with Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland through the Help to Claim partnership to ensure that support is signposted for claimants and partners: this is not a fund but a support offer for claimants making their claim to Universal Credit through to receiving their first payment.</p><p> </p><p>The Flexible Support Fund (FSF) is a discretionary fund that work coaches can use to support eligible claimants to get closer to or move into work. On 11 January 2019, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced that the FSF could also be used more widely to pay for upfront childcare costs until the claimant receives their first wage. The availability of this fund is actively promoted in jobcentres and to all claimants who might benefit.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/07/2019 13:24:43 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4368 label Biography information for Neil Coyle