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1133709

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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
	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 increase financial support for vulnerable claimants of universal credit to ensure that the amount of benefit they receive is not lower than what they received through the legacy system.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	267340
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2019 answer text <p>Claimants currently only move from existing benefits to Universal Credit when they experience a significant change in their circumstances that triggers a new claim to a benefit that Universal Credit replaces. Their entitlement is then calculated on the rules of their new benefit and their new circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>For those claimants who are moved onto Universal Credit without a change in their circumstances, the Department has committed to providing transitional protection to ensure that they see no decrease in their benefit entitlement at the point of transition.</p><p> </p><p>There are £2.4 billion of unclaimed legacy benefits not going to the people who need them, because they do not know that they are entitled to them or how to claim. Universal Credit makes sure that welfare payments reach those who need them most.</p><p> </p><p>We have also introduced a number of measures to assist claimants during their transition to Universal Credit. Claimants moving onto Universal Credit can access a Universal Credit advance, which is worth up to 100 per cent of their indicative award and is available from the date of their claim. This advance is currently repayable over 12 months, but as announced in the 2018 Budget, from October 2021 the maximum repayment period will be extended to 16 months. Claimants may also be entitled to a two-week Universal Credit Transitional Housing Payment. From July 2020 the Government is introducing a new two-week run on for income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 28/06/2019 10:09:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1147257

	registered interest
	date	30/09/2019
	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 Funds
	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 pension funds consider the impact of climate change when taking investment decisions.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	292199
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/10/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises that climate change is a defining national and international emergency, and we have introduced three key measures to ensure that pension schemes understand their responsibilities in responding to it.</p><p> </p><p>Firstly, since January 2019 those running single employer occupational pension schemes have been required to establish an effective system of governance including consideration of environmental, social and governance factors related to investment assets in investment decisions.</p><p> </p><p>Secondly, also since January 2019 schemes with 100 or more members must carry out and document a risk assessment of their system of governance including risks relating to climate change, the use of resources and the environment and risks relating to the depreciation of assets as a result of regulatory change (known as transition risk).</p><p> </p><p>Thirdly, as of 1st October, trustees of occupational pension schemes must state their policy on how they take account of the financial risks of climate change when developing their investment strategies. Defined contribution pension schemes are also required to publish their policy online.</p><p> </p><p>As the Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion I have spoken extensively about the new requirements and made clear this Government’s expectations of pension schemes.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 07/10/2019 11:42:36 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1167513

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2019
	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: Disability
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employers in (a) Crawley and (b) the UK have signed up to the Disability Confident scheme; and how many jobs have been created (i) in and (ii) under that scheme.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	7743
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2019 answer text <p>The Disability Confident (DC) scheme was launched in November 2016 and supports the Government’s commitment of helping one million more disabled people into work by 2027. Disability Confident provides employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace. The scheme is designed as a journey, with all employers starting at Level 1 and progressing through the scheme at their own pace. Accreditation for each level lasts for 3 years. No employer is too small or new to start the journey and even the most experienced employer will still find new techniques and best practice that can help them.</p><p> </p><p>As of 13/9/2019, the latest published figures show that over 13,600 employers are signed up to the scheme nationally at the following levels: Level 1 - DC Committed (10,031), Level 2 - DC Employer (3,336), Level 3 - DC Leader (244) of those, 62% are small or micro employers and 80% are SMEs. All main Government departments are DC Leaders (Level 3) and over 83% of Local Authorities signed up, with good penetration of NHS and blue-light services. In Crawley there are 17 Disability Confident organisations; 7 DC Committed (Level 1) and 10 DC Employer (Level 2).</p><p> </p><p>Of the 157,000 jobs currently advertised on the DWP Find a Job website, over 20,000 are from DC employers – totalling 13%. Over the last 5 years the number of disabled people in employment has increased by around 1.06 million since Q2 2013, and currently stands at 7.7 million.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 05/11/2019 13:49:31 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1232087

	registered interest
	date	07/09/2020
	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: Cancer
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions her Department has had with representatives of (a) Macmillan Cancer Support and (b) other similar charities on the potential merits of retaining (i) remote identity verification, (ii) flexible assessments and (iii) other such recently introduced measures to help universal credit claimants living with cancer.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	86019
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2020 answer text <p>The Department and its Ministers work in partnership with a variety of stakeholders, including local authorities, charities and employer groups, and listens directly to their feedback about Universal Credit. At its core, Universal Credit is about ensuring we deliver a service which is tailored to individual claimant circumstances and abilities. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, we adapted many of our services to be delivered remotely, and we will consider if changes can be retained longer term. But, many claimants benefit from having face to face contact with Work Coaches to overcome barriers and we will ensure this method of contact continues to be used where appropriate.</p><p> </p><p>Measures, such as identity verification, are key components of the Universal Credit claim process to confirm the accuracy of information supplied, allowing us to make timely and accurate decisions. In addition to our usual online verification, since early June we have been trialling the online identity service, Confirm Your Identity. This has enabled a higher number of claimants to verify their identity online, and we are continually monitoring and testing the impact this has on a claimant’s ability to verify remotely.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 14/09/2020 15:36:33 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith