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1400447

registered interest
date	06/01/2022
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	Social Security Benefits: Newport West
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the number of households in Newport West affected by the benefit cap.
tabling member constituency	Newport West
tabling member printed	Ruth Jones
uin	99055
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>Statistics for the number of households receiving Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, who were subject to the Benefit Cap, by Parliamentary Constituency (including Newport West), are published every three months and can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></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 11/01/2022 11:29:16 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4716 label Biography information for Ruth Jones

1400014

registered interest
date	05/01/2022
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	Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of rising energy costs on trends in the levels of poverty.
tabling member constituency	Leicester South
tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
uin	98305
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/01/2022 answer text <p>No such assessment has been made of the potential impact of rising energy costs on levels of poverty.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to monitor and publish trends in poverty across the UK. The latest poverty figures (2019/20) demonstrate that absolute poverty rates (both before and after housing costs) have fallen since 2009/10. In 2019/20, 14% were in absolute poverty (before housing costs), compared to 16% in 2009/10.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, and continues to do so through many measures, including by spending over £110 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22.</p><p> </p><p>With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, our focus now is on continuing to support people into and to progress in work. Our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit recipients in work can now benefit from a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%, and an increase in the work allowance by £500 per year meaning that working households will be able to keep substantially more of what they earn. These measures effectively represent a tax cut, worth around £2.2bn a year in 2022-23, for the lowest paid in society and will benefit almost two million of the lowest paid workers by £1000 a year on average. We are also increasing the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour from April 2022.</p><p> </p><p>We are helping people with energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, Cold Weather Payments and Winter Fuel Payments. The Energy Price Cap will continue to protect consumers, ensuring they pay a fair price for their energy this winter.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, we recognise that some people require extra support over the winter, through the final stages of recovery, which is why vulnerable households across the country are now able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund is providing £421 million to help vulnerable people in England. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.</p><p> </p><p /><p><strong> </strong></p><p /><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 10/01/2022 17:48:03 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth

1400019

registered interest
date	05/01/2022
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	Food Banks
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of rising inflation on levels of use of foodbanks.
tabling member constituency	Leicester South
tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
uin	98306
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/01/2022 answer text <p>No assessment has been made of the potential impact of rising inflation on levels of use of foodbanks.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and the Department for Work and Pensions does not have any role in their operation. There is no consistent and accurate measure of food bank usage. We take the issue of food security seriously and understand the data limitations in this area, and thus from April 2021 we introduced a set of questions into the Family Resources Survey (FRS) to measure and track food bank usage.</p><p> </p><p>We understand that with inflation rising, some people will be concerned about the cost of living. That is why this government is continuing to take action to support living standards by spending over £110 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22 and by increasing the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 from April 2022.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit recipients in work can now benefit from a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%, and an increase in the work allowance by £500 per year meaning that working households will be able to keep substantially more of what they earn. These measures effectively represent a tax cut, worth around £2.2bn a year in 2022-23, for the lowest paid in society and will benefit almost two million of the lowest paid workers by £1000 a year on average.</p><p> </p><p>To support low-income families further we have also increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, helping eligible low income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins, and we are investing over £200m a year to continue our Holiday Activities and Food programme, which is already providing enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all Local Authorities in England.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that some people require extra support over the winter, through the final stages of recovery, which is why vulnerable households across the country are now able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund is providing £421 million to help vulnerable people in England. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p /> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 10/01/2022 17:32:03 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth

1399306

registered interest
date	04/01/2022
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	Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2021 to Question 84427 on Social Security Benefit: Disqualification, how many of the 149,057 cases that were suspended under the Risk Review Process remain suspended as of December 2021.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	96988
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2022 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p /> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley grouped question UIN 97004 question first answered 12/01/2022 11:46:28 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1399347

registered interest
date	04/01/2022
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	Social Security Benefits: Solihull
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were claiming benefits in Solihull constituency in (a) November 2020 and (b) November 2021.
tabling member constituency	Solihull
tabling member printed	Julian Knight
uin	96917
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Department does publish Experimental Statistics on Benefit Combinations and the latest available statistics to May 2021, which can be broken down by parliamentary constituency, are available on the Department’s Stat-Xplore website:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance for users of Stat-Xplore is available 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><p> </p><p>Statistics for a majority of the individual benefits administered by the Department are available at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/statistics" target="_blank">Statistics at DWP - Department for Work and Pensions - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p><p>Most of these statistics are available by parliamentary constituency on the <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Stat-Xplore website</a> and in particular, the statistics for People on Universal Credit are available for both November 2020 and November 2021.</p><p> </p><p>The Department also publishes annual benefit expenditure tables and the latest publication by parliamentary constituency covers 2010/11 to 2020/21 and is available at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2021" target="_blank">Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 11/01/2022 11:24:53 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight

1399373

registered interest
date	04/01/2022
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	Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what financial support is available to claimants whose benefits have been suspended under the Risk Review process.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	96998
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2022 answer text <p>Any decision to suspend a claim to benefit by the Risk Review Team is not made lightly and includes an assessment of a person’s personal circumstances. Suspension of benefit is a last resort and is based on the risk that a person may not be entitled to benefit.</p><p> </p><p>Where a claim is suspended, we are unable to make any alternative payments. In law, there is no right of appeal against a decision to suspend payment of benefit.</p><p> </p><p>If it is determined there is entitlement to Universal Credit, following the receipt of additional information and evidence from the claimant, the suspension would be lifted immediately and we would always aim to pay benefits at the earliest opportunity, including any arrears that may be due.</p><p> </p><p>Where a review determines there is no entitlement to Universal Credit an outcome decision will be made to that effect. This decision can be appealed.</p><p> </p><p>We make all claimants aware of the evidence we need and the consequence of failing to provide it within prescribed timescales. For any Universal Credit claim that is suspended as a consequence of the Risk Review Team activity, the claimant is notified by journal and text messages, along with a means by which they can contact the Department and speak to the agent responsible for that case. At no time should claimants be unaware of the action they need to take and how they may contact us to provide evidence.</p><p> </p><p>The length of time a review may take to complete is largely dependent on the engagement of the claimant and the timely provision of any information requested. Claimants are asked to provide requested information within a 14-day window for digital submissions, extended to 28 days if they have indicated a postal submission. Once a customer engages with us, the time taken to complete a review is case specific, dependant on the information provided. Once entitlement is established, payments are put into payment as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley grouped question UIN 97000 97001 97002 question first answered 12/01/2022 16:39:16 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1399375

registered interest
date	04/01/2022
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	Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information the Risk Review Team shares with claimants whose benefits have been suspended under the Risk Review process.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	97000
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2022 answer text <p>Any decision to suspend a claim to benefit by the Risk Review Team is not made lightly and includes an assessment of a person’s personal circumstances. Suspension of benefit is a last resort and is based on the risk that a person may not be entitled to benefit.</p><p> </p><p>Where a claim is suspended, we are unable to make any alternative payments. In law, there is no right of appeal against a decision to suspend payment of benefit.</p><p> </p><p>If it is determined there is entitlement to Universal Credit, following the receipt of additional information and evidence from the claimant, the suspension would be lifted immediately and we would always aim to pay benefits at the earliest opportunity, including any arrears that may be due.</p><p> </p><p>Where a review determines there is no entitlement to Universal Credit an outcome decision will be made to that effect. This decision can be appealed.</p><p> </p><p>We make all claimants aware of the evidence we need and the consequence of failing to provide it within prescribed timescales. For any Universal Credit claim that is suspended as a consequence of the Risk Review Team activity, the claimant is notified by journal and text messages, along with a means by which they can contact the Department and speak to the agent responsible for that case. At no time should claimants be unaware of the action they need to take and how they may contact us to provide evidence.</p><p> </p><p>The length of time a review may take to complete is largely dependent on the engagement of the claimant and the timely provision of any information requested. Claimants are asked to provide requested information within a 14-day window for digital submissions, extended to 28 days if they have indicated a postal submission. Once a customer engages with us, the time taken to complete a review is case specific, dependant on the information provided. Once entitlement is established, payments are put into payment as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley grouped question UIN 96998 97001 97002 question first answered 12/01/2022 16:39:16 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1399379

registered interest
date	04/01/2022
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	Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claims that have been suspended under the Risk Review process have been closed under suspicion of fraud as of 24 December 2021.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	97004
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2022 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p /> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley grouped question UIN 96988 question first answered 12/01/2022 11:46:28 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1399555

registered interest
date	04/01/2022
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	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new universal credit claimants with limited capability for work and work-related activities were previously included in their parents’ claim for child tax credit with disabled child element in 2021.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	96982
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>The information requested is not available.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 11/01/2022 11:29:53 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1388573

registered interest
date	16/12/2021
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	Universal Credit
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 amend universal credit regulations so that maternity allowance is treated as earned income.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	94449
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>We have no plans to change the way that Maternity Allowance is treated in Universal Credit.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 11/01/2022 11:18:24 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor