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1123703

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2019
	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	Food Poverty: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Food Foundation's Children’s Future Food Inquiry report published on 24 April 2019, what steps the Government is taking to support children who live in food insecure households.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	248684
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2019 answer text <p>This Government is committed to helping families into work, as the best route out of poverty. We are also supporting over 1 million children with free school meals, investing up to £26 million in school breakfast clubs, providing approximately 2.3 million children aged 4-6 with a portion of fresh fruit or vegetables each day at school, and, through the Healthy Start Programme, hundreds of thousands of low income families benefit from vouchers which can be redeemed against fruit, vegetables, milk and infant formula. In 2019/20, the government will be spending more than £95 billion a year on working-age benefits. The new set of food insecurity questions introduced into the existing Family Resources Survey from April will build a better understanding of household food needs, to help ensure we’re targeting support to those most in need.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 02/05/2019 10:21:47 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	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

1041379

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2019
	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	Occupational Pensions Scheme Review
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government has plans to respond to the report entitled, Review of Survivor Benefits in Occupational Pension Schemes, published in June 2014.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	208267
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/01/2019 answer text <p>The landscape of survivor benefits has changed significantly since the publication of the Review, not least because of the Walker judgement. Government will respond to the Review of Survivor Benefits in Occupational Pension Schemes when the assessment of the full implications of the judgement is complete.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 17/01/2019 15:55:08 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1015533

	registered interest
	date	27/11/2018
	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	Personal Independence Payment: Postural Tachycardia Syndrome
	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 claimants of personal independence payment with Postural Tachyacardia Syndrome (a) did not receive an award after their first assessment and (b) received an award at tribunal.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	196298
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/12/2018 answer text <p>In relation to part (a), statistics on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) first assessment outcomes at disability level are not readily available and have not previously been published as Official Statistics. We are producing the statistics requested and issuing them in an Official Statistics release on 11<sup>th</sup> December 2018 in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.</p><p> </p><p>In relation to part (b), since PIP was introduced, 40 people with a primary disabling condition of tachycardia who were disallowed PIP after their initial assessment went on to receive an award at tribunal. The figures in (b) have been rounded to the nearest 10.</p><p> </p><p>Overall, since PIP was introduced 3.5m decisions have been made up to June 2018, of these 9% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned.</p><p> </p><p>Appeals, data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics. The lowest level of detail available in this data allows us to identify claimants with a primary disabling condition of tachycardia, but not Postural Tachycardia Syndrome.</p><p> </p><p>The appeals may include decisions which are changed at mandatory reconsideration, and where the claimant continues to appeal for a higher PIP award, are then changed again at tribunal appeal.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 03/12/2018 17:30:49 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1010366

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	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: Self-employed
	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 the calculation of universal credit for self-employed people (a) accurately reflects (i) the amount that they allocate to expenses to maintain their business and (ii) their take-home earnings and (b) leaves those people in a better financial position as a result of being in work.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	192922
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2018 answer text <p>Claimants with earnings from self-employment are required to report them to DWP on a monthly basis. These earnings are reported on a simplified 'cash accounting' basis, which asks for the total income from receipts into the business and details of payments out of the business under defined categories during the assessment period. We assess net earnings after deducting business expenses. The requirements were designed to be as simple as possible in order for self-employed claimants to easily report their earnings and monthly reporting allows Universal Credit to be adjusted on a monthly basis.</p><p> </p><p>Where claimants are in the 12-month grace period or are gainfully self-employed and earning above the Minimum Income Floor (MIF), the single taper rate acts to ensure that they are better off working and earning more under Universal Credit, removing the cliff edges from the old legacy benefits system.</p><p>We announced at Autumn Budget 2018 that all new gainfully self-employed claimants can, from September 2020, access a 12-month exemption period from the MIF. This change will assist all gainfully self-employed claimants to grow their earnings, prepare and adjust for the application of the MIF. In 2022/23 it will allow 130,000 self-employed people the space to grow a successful business when moving on to Universal Credit.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 22/11/2018 16:20:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1007135

	registered interest
	date	14/11/2018
	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	Zero Hours Contracts: Young People
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Youth unemployment down 50% since 2010, published on gov.uk on 16 October 2018, what proportion of recorded employment was under a zero-hours contract.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	191422
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>The Office for National Statistics (ONS) use the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to provide estimates for the number of people employed on zero hours’ contracts.</p><p> </p><p>The ONS figures for people in employment on zero hours’ contracts broken down by age, do not go back to 2010 and are only currently available up to April-June 2018. Therefore no directly comparable figures to the youth unemployment statistics cited are available.</p><p> </p><p>The majority of young people are not employed on zero hours’ contracts. In 2018 (Apr-Jun) there were 261,000 16-24 year olds on a zero hours’ contracts – representing only 6.9% of employed 16-24 year olds.</p><p> </p><p>This is down from 299,000 young people (7.8% of employed young people) in 2017 (Apr-Jun), but a slight increase from the first comparable data available, which shows in 2014 (Apr-Jun) there were 235,000 young people on a zero hours’ contract (or 6.3% of employed young people).</p><p> </p><p>Many people in full-time education are employed on zero hours’ contracts, in part because of the flexibility they provide. 18.5% of all people in 2018 (Apr-Jun) on zero hours’ contracts were in full-time education – compared to 2.3% of people not on a zero hours’ contract.</p><p> </p><p>The ONS data shows that the majority of people on zero hours’ contracts are happy with the hours provided by their zero hours’ contract.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/11/2018 16:24:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 85857 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1000260

	registered interest
	date	02/11/2018
	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, for what reason the taper that is applied to wages is not applied to pensions in relation to universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	187333
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/11/2018 answer text <p>The taper is the rate at which Universal Credit is reduced to take account of earnings. It is specifically for in work claimants and linked to earnings to incentivise work, and those in work to earn more. Universal Credit has a single taper of 63 per cent so payments reduce in a transparent and predictable way as earnings increase. Universal Credit is a means tested benefit, and income other than earnings, such as pensions, is taken fully into account in the assessment of Universal Credit. This is consistent with how legacy means tested benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support treat pension income. Therefore it would not be consistent to extend the earnings taper to pensions income and doing so would also undermine the incentives to work for people of working age.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/11/2018 18:05:06 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

994667

	registered interest
	date	25/10/2018
	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 criteria her Department uses to determine the repayment rates for Advance Payments awarded to people struggling financially who are in receipt of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	183941
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2018 answer text <p>Universal Credit advances must be repaid in either a maximum of 12 months (for new claim, benefit transfer and budgeting advances) or 6 months (for a change of circumstances advances). The amount of the advance awarded is divided by either up to 6 or 12 to get the appropriate monthly repayment rate.</p><p> </p><p>This is explained in the advance award discussion with the claimant to make sure they can afford to repay the advance. However, if a claimant wishes, they can pay it back in less than the maximum number of months available, as long as the monthly repayment does not exceed the maximum repayment rate of a claimant’s standard allowance, which as a result of the 2018 Autumn Budget will be reduced from 40% to 30%.</p><p> </p><p>If during the recovery of an advance the claimant experiences an unforeseen expense that would cause them or their family genuine hardship if they were required to continue to repay the advance, then they can be offered a deferral period of the repayment of the advance of up to 3 months for a new claim, benefit transfer or change of circumstance advance and up to 6 months for a budgeting advance.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 30/10/2018 18:07:05 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

994668

	registered interest
	date	25/10/2018
	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	Work Capability Assessment: Mental Illness
	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 have any plans to amend the qualifying criteria for the home work capability assessment for people suffering from mental health concerns.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	183993
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2018 answer text <p>Work is ongoing with the Work Capability Assessment provider to fully review their process for dealing with requests for a home visit. This review will consider all aspects of the process, including how claimants requiring a home visit can be identified more effectively at the beginning of the process, the ease with which a claimant can request a visit, and how we can make more efficient use of existing evidence to support the decision on whether a home visit is required.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 30/10/2018 10:50:07 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis