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804227

	registered interest
	date	11/12/2017
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish the updated Universal Support framework as set out in the Ministerial Foreword to Universal Credit: Local Support Services Update and Trialling Plan, published in December 2013.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL4048
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2017 answer text <p>‘Local Support Services’ and ‘Universal Support’ are the same. We started referring to the service as Universal Support in 2014/15.</p><p> </p><p>We published the Local Support Services Framework on 11 February 2013. The evidence from the Universal Support trials around joint working to support the needs of our disadvantaged customers informed the DWP Improving Lives policy paper (April 2017).</p><p> </p><p>There are no current plans to commission research in to the effectiveness of Universal Support but as announced by Secretary of State on 23 November 2017, we are exploring the scope for greater collaborative working with Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland to help claimants locally as they move to Universal Credit, within the Universal Support framework approach.</p><p> </p><p>Annual funding provided to Universal Credit for delivery of Universal Support is:</p><p> </p><p>• 2013/14 - £1.3m</p><p>• 2014/15 - £8.4m</p><p>• 2015/16 - £15.4m</p><p>• 2016/17 - £13.1m</p><p>• 2017/18 - £21.5m</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL4049 HL4050 question first answered 20/12/2017 13:31:07 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

804228

	registered interest
	date	11/12/2017
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to commission research into the effectiveness of Universal Support in meeting the support needs of Universal Credit claimants.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL4049
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2017 answer text <p>‘Local Support Services’ and ‘Universal Support’ are the same. We started referring to the service as Universal Support in 2014/15.</p><p> </p><p>We published the Local Support Services Framework on 11 February 2013. The evidence from the Universal Support trials around joint working to support the needs of our disadvantaged customers informed the DWP Improving Lives policy paper (April 2017).</p><p> </p><p>There are no current plans to commission research in to the effectiveness of Universal Support but as announced by Secretary of State on 23 November 2017, we are exploring the scope for greater collaborative working with Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland to help claimants locally as they move to Universal Credit, within the Universal Support framework approach.</p><p> </p><p>Annual funding provided to Universal Credit for delivery of Universal Support is:</p><p> </p><p>• 2013/14 - £1.3m</p><p>• 2014/15 - £8.4m</p><p>• 2015/16 - £15.4m</p><p>• 2016/17 - £13.1m</p><p>• 2017/18 - £21.5m</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL4048 HL4050 question first answered 20/12/2017 13:31:07 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

804229

	registered interest
	date	11/12/2017
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money has been provided to local authorities to support Universal Credit claimants for each year since the introduction of (1) Local Support Services, and (2) Universal Support.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL4050
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2017 answer text <p>‘Local Support Services’ and ‘Universal Support’ are the same. We started referring to the service as Universal Support in 2014/15.</p><p> </p><p>We published the Local Support Services Framework on 11 February 2013. The evidence from the Universal Support trials around joint working to support the needs of our disadvantaged customers informed the DWP Improving Lives policy paper (April 2017).</p><p> </p><p>There are no current plans to commission research in to the effectiveness of Universal Support but as announced by Secretary of State on 23 November 2017, we are exploring the scope for greater collaborative working with Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland to help claimants locally as they move to Universal Credit, within the Universal Support framework approach.</p><p> </p><p>Annual funding provided to Universal Credit for delivery of Universal Support is:</p><p> </p><p>• 2013/14 - £1.3m</p><p>• 2014/15 - £8.4m</p><p>• 2015/16 - £15.4m</p><p>• 2016/17 - £13.1m</p><p>• 2017/18 - £21.5m</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL4048 HL4049 question first answered 20/12/2017 13:31:07 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1123300

	registered interest
	date	25/04/2019
	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
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish the evaluation of the lower benefit cap they stated would be published in Spring 2019 in the letter from the Minister of Family Support to the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee dated 18 December 2018.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL15356
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/05/2019 answer text <p>Work on the evaluation of the lower benefit cap is ongoing. The impact evaluation uses a complex methodology that must first isolate the impacts of the lower cap from the original cap, and then analyse how these impacts differ across geographical regions and household types. It is important to ensure that the methodological approach is robust, and the Department has contracted the Institute for Fiscal Studies, independent experts, to advise on the evaluation design and peer review the results for the duration of the project.</p><p> </p><p>Work is progressing well, but in order to ensure that the evaluation design is as rigorous as possible we have decided to extend the timeframe over which we conduct the analysis.</p><p> </p><p>The impact evaluation findings will provide crucial context for the interpretation of the other strands of the evaluation; the claimant survey and local authority case study research undertaken by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).</p><p> </p><p>The full evaluation will be published when the peer review of the impact evaluation is completed; we now anticipate this to be in Autumn 2019.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 03/05/2019 13:57:03 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1134314

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	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	Social Security Benefits
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the current (1) weekly rates of Child Benefit, and (2) monthly rates of Universal Credit standard allowances and child elements; and what would each of those rates have been had they not been frozen for the past four years.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL16599
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Work is the best route out of poverty and for people to be more financially independent. Our welfare reforms are part of the Government’s commitment to incentivise moves into work and progression in work, and to better support working families.</p><p>The Department completed an Impact Assessment titled ‘Welfare Reform and Work Bill: Impact Assessment of the Benefit rate freeze’ in July 2015 which included information surrounding the policy objectives and the intended effects. Benefits for the additional costs of disability, and for carers, are exempt from the benefit freeze.</p><p>Currently the weekly rate of Child Benefit is £20.70 for the eldest or only child and £13.70 for additional children.</p><p>Universal Credit is made up of a standard allowance and any additional amounts which apply to claimants with certain circumstances, such as dependent children. The current monthly rates for the requested Universal Credit components are shown in the tables below.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Standard allowance</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Single and under 25</p></td><td><p>£251.77</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Single and over 25</p></td><td><p>£317.82</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>In a couple and both under 25</p></td><td><p>£395.20 (for both)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>In a couple and either are 25 or over</p></td><td><p>£498.89 (for both)</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Child components</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>For the first child</p></td><td><p>£277.08 (born before 6 April 2017) £231.67 (born on or after 6 April 2017)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>For the second or other eligible children</p></td><td><p>£231.67</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>For a disabled or severely disabled child</p></td><td><p>£126.11 or £392.08</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>We are unable to determine what each of the rates would have been had they not been subject to a freeze, as the legacy system is not comparable with Universal Credit.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 08/07/2019 15:17:12 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

804225

	registered interest
	date	11/12/2017
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the claimant commitment signed by a universal credit claimant takes account of any hours of paid work already being performed by a claimant when setting the number of hours a week that claimant is required to spend actively seeking work.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL4046
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2017 answer text <p>Work coaches should take into account the hours of paid work that a claimant is doing each week and reduce the expected hours of work search accordingly.</p><p> </p><p>All work-related requirements are set in discussion with claimants, are tailored to their personal circumstances and capacity, and recorded in their claimant commitment. This includes agreement of the total time they have available and can be expected to be engaged in work related activities. Hours of paid work that the claimant then does will be counted towards that total and will reduce the hours available for other work activities, including work search.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 19/12/2017 17:54:27 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1453866

	registered interest
	date	23/03/2022
	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: Offenders
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what training they provide to work coaches to help them to support women with criminal records or who are on probation, when they are applying for jobs.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL7287
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/04/2022 answer text <p>Work Coach learning is designed to be gender neutral, and support tailoring actions to individual customer needs. It does not specifically reference women with criminal records or who are on probation, when they are applying for jobs.</p><p> </p><p>Specific Universal Credit Prison Work Coach (PWC) learning is provided for Work Coaches who will be undertaking a role with prison leavers. This comprises of 47 hours of learning, blended to include facilitation, self-study and group work. The learning content can be tailored to learners’ requirements.</p><p> </p><p>This PWC learning aims to provide skills and knowledge without any reference to gender, preparing the PWC to support prison leavers with their Universal Credit claim and journey into employability. There is a focus on building relationships with employment partners to help create workshops and job vacancies for prison leavers.</p><p> </p><p>All Work Coaches including PWCs complete Complex Needs learning. This is upskilling to identify a claimant who has complex needs and be aware of the support that they can give. Concerns, such as prevalent employer attitudes to ex-offenders, stigma and common misconceptions are discussed. Learning highlights that ex-offenders are often vulnerable because they may have lived outside of the modern world for a period and may be less used to managing their own affairs.</p><p> </p><p>The learning provides information on what has to be declared and supports giving advice to ex-offenders on disclosure. Learning stipulates that a Work Coach must get a customer's consent before declaring that they have a conviction to an employer.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 06/04/2022 11:36:53 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1276458

	registered interest
	date	13/01/2021
	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: Statistics
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish poverty statistics based on the measures recommended in the report by the Social Metrics Commission A new measure of poverty for the UK, published in September 2018; and, in preparing these statistics, whether they are incorporating the proposals of that report that indicators of the lived experience of poverty should not be included as part of the central measure used to assess the number of people in poverty.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL12110
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/01/2021 answer text <p>With re-prioritisation of workloads during Covid-19, this project was paused. We will provide an update on this work in due course.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 27/01/2021 17:35:34 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

804226

	registered interest
	date	11/12/2017
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, when a Universal Credit claimant has an alternative payment arrangement in place by which the housing element is paid directly to their landlord, the 63 per cent taper on any applicable earnings is applied to (1) both the housing and other elements, (2) the housing element alone, or (3) only the other elements.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL4047
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2017 answer text <p>Whilst there are elements in the calculation there is only one payment of Universal Credit. This is important because it allows one taper rate to be applied to any earnings and thus means that work always pays and taking more work will always pay. It is for this reason, that attempts to pay portions of entitlement direct could damage work incentives and add complexity. As a consequence, there are no special rules for elements. Universal Credit is one payment and treated as such.</p><p><em></em></p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 20/12/2017 12:01:40 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1488572

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2022
	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	Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011: Welfare Reform Act 2012
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government why the repeal of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011 required a provision to amend the Welfare Reform Act 2012 to review the benefit cap every five years, rather than in each Parliament; and why this five year period began in March 2022.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL1699
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/07/2022 answer text <p>When the review was undertaken once in each Parliament this created potential uncertainty, given the possibility of an early election. This was dealt with by a specific reference to the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The repeal of that Act meant that there would be no certainty as to the time period in which the duty had to be complied with and therefore, a significant risk of inadvertent non-compliance.</p><p> </p><p>For this reason, The Welfare Reform Act 2012 was amended to impose a statutory duty to carry out a review of the levels within a certain time frame.</p><p> </p><p>The new five-year period begins in March 2022 as this is when the amending legislation came into force.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 26/07/2022 14:27:14 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett