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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

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

1364305

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2021
	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	Vacancies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what she is taking with the Chancellor of the Exchequer through the Plan for Jobs to fill vacancies in the labour market.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	65397
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2021 answer text <p>Throughout the pandemic, the Government has provided historic levels of support to the economy<em>. </em>DWP’s Plan for Jobs programmes, including Kickstart, are delivering tailored support for claimants in receipt of Universal Credit to support them into work.</p><p>Alongside Plan for Jobs measures, DWP is working across government to support people into sectors with immediate or growing demand for jobs but with barriers to entry. We are also working with industry to provide our work coaches with the knowledge they need to identify suitable candidates and to develop relationships with key employers and stakeholders in their local areas. As a result, local jobcentres continue to connect directly with employers in their area, to discuss their recruitment needs and to offer advice on the support available, including work trials, work experience and Sector-based Work Academies Programmes (SWAPs).</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 65420 question first answered 05/11/2021 15:10:40 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1459985

	registered interest
	date	25/04/2022
	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: Immunosuppression
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether Work Coaches are being given guidance on immunocompromised patients; and whether that guidance includes avoiding recommendations for in-person work for those individuals.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	158935
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2022 answer text <p>The Department is committed to providing the best possible support for all claimants to meet their individual circumstances. Claimants with a health condition or disability, including those who are immunocompromised, continue to have tailored commitments agreed based on their personal circumstances, including considering the impact of their health and wider situation.</p><p>Any work-related requirements are set in discussion with the claimant, tailored to their individual capability and circumstances, making them realistic and achievable. The guidance available to DWP staff outlines the easements which may be applied including that work search reflects the type and location of jobs which are appropriate to the individual.</p><p>Although DWP does not routinely provide guidance specifically on supporting people who are immunocompromised, we do ensure that staff are aware of the sources of information available to them relating to medical conditions that are associated with this. Staff are signposted to tools, guidance support and websites to effectively use resources from both internal and external sites, such as information directly from the NHS.</p><p>This ensures that staff can access the most up to date advice and can use this to inform how they support individual customers.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 28/04/2022 09:03:45 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1462010

	registered interest
	date	11/05/2022
	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: Immunosuppression
	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 issued guidance to work coaches on avoiding recommendations for in-person work for people who are immunocompromised.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	694
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2022 answer text <p>As mentioned in my previous response, the Department is committed to providing the best possible support for all claimants to meet their individual circumstances. Claimants with a health condition or disability, including those who are immunocompromised, continue to have tailored commitments agreed based on their personal circumstances, including considering the impact of their health and wider situation.</p><p>Any work-related requirements are set in discussion with the claimant, tailored to their individual capability and circumstances, making them realistic and achievable. The guidance available to DWP staff outlines the easements which may be applied including that work search reflects the type and location of jobs which are appropriate to the individual.</p><p>Although DWP does not routinely provide guidance specifically on supporting people who are immunocompromised, we do ensure that staff are aware of the sources of information available to them relating to medical conditions that are associated with this. Staff are signposted to tools, guidance support and websites to effectively use resources from both internal and external sites, such as information directly from the NHS found <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions" target="_blank">here.</a></p><p>This ensures that staff can access the most up to date advice and can use this to inform how they support individual customers.</p><p>We empower our Work Coaches to use all available resources to best support each claimant, however they are not trained to provide comprehensive healthcare advice, therefore while we do discuss the implications certain jobs may have on their health, we would not advise against jobs the claimant wishes to apply for.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 18/05/2022 16:48:20 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1359198

	registered interest
	date	15/10/2021
	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	Household Support Fund: Crawley
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what level of funding from the Household Support Fund will initially be received by Crawley Borough Council.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	56260
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2021 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions is boosting households with £500m funding this winter, with £421m dedicated to the Household Support Fund in England, which will help vulnerable people in England with essential household costs. The funding is being made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England. West Sussex will receive £4,870,362.11. County Councils are expected to work together with District Councils to provide support and to ensure the funding meets its objectives by identifying those most in need.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 25/10/2021 15:12:55 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1484670

	registered interest
	date	29/06/2022
	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	Cost of Living Payments: Crawley
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of Universal Credit claimants who will receive a cost of living payment in Crawley constituency.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	27575
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/07/2022 answer text <p>Universal Credit claimants who were entitled to at least 1p during assessment periods that ended between 26 April 2022 to 25 May 2022 will be eligible for the £326 Cost of Living Payment.</p><p> </p><p>Statistics on the number of households that had an assessment period which covered the monthly count date and received a Universal Credit payment are available by Westminster parliamentary constituency at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The latest statistics show the number of households with Universal Credit in payment on 10<sup>th</sup> February 2022.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 07/07/2022 14:51:51 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
	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

1233027

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2020
	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	Pensions: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential increase in pension scams since the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	87524
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2020 answer text <p>Through Project Bloom, DWP works with other government departments, regulators, enforcement agencies and the pensions industry to monitor the evolution of scam typology and respond with a collective and coordinated response. Project Bloom is examining the range of measures that all agencies including providers and financial professionals could take to help prevent scams.</p><p> </p><p>At the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, the Department convened a cross-government and regulator group to closely monitor and respond to any increase in transfers and scams. The group includes DWP, HMT, both the Pensions Regulator and the FCA as well as the Money and Pensions Service and the Pension Ombudsman. This is supported by cross government and regulator gathering, monitoring and evaluating of data in order to develop as complete and robust a picture as possible. At this point the Department doesn’t yet have any robust evidence showing an increase in pension scams activity but will continue to monitor across the industry.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to active monitoring, the Government, working with the regulators and the Money and Pension Service has been communicating with pension savers to alert them to the risk of scams in the current climate. DWP continues to communicate regularly on social media out the warning signs of a scam. A <a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions" target="_blank">joint statement</a> was issued by The Pension Regulator, Financial Conduct Authority, and Money Advice and Pension Service on 7 April pointing to the actions members should seek to take to safeguard against becoming victims of scams. Additional guidance was issued to trustees, and providers from both The Financial Conduct Authority and the Pensions Regulator to support them to produce suitable communications during the Covid-19 outbreak.</p><p> </p><p>Please see links below for more information about the joint statement from Regulators and the Money Advice Service, and help available, produced by the Pension Protection Fund and supported by government.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions" target="_blank">https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions</a></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 17/09/2020 15:35:38 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith