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1657563

registered interest
date	04/09/2023
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	Local Housing Allowance: Families
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on families of freezing local housing allowance rates for the past three years.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Durham
uin	HL9771
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2023 answer text <p>No Assessment has been made, however the department works closely with stakeholders, Jobcentres and Local Authorities to understand the impact of its policies on families.</p><p> </p><p>The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) policy is kept under regular review and rates are reviewed annually by the Secretary of State. LHA rates are not intended to meet all rents in all areas.</p><p>In 2020 we spent almost £1 billion increasing LHA rates to the 30th percentile of market rents. This significant investment has been maintained ensuring that everyone who benefited continues to do so.</p><p>Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available for those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Since 2011 we have provided nearly £1.6 billion in funding to local authorities for DHPs.</p><p>We recognise that rents are increasing. However, the challenging fiscal environment means that difficult decisions have been necessary to ensure support is targeted effectively.</p><p>Over 2022-23 and 2023- 24 the Government is providing support in excess of £94 billion to help households with the rising cost of living.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 14/09/2023 12:41:24 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4312 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Durham

1657658

registered interest
date	04/09/2023
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	State Retirement Pensions: Australia
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they had last year with the government of Australia, if any, on the issue of frozen state pensions.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL9747
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2023 answer text <p>His Majesty's Government did not have any discussions on this issue last year with the Government of Australia.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 14/09/2023 12:40:39 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1657659

registered interest
date	04/09/2023
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	State Retirement Pensions: Uprating
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Department for Work and Pension's Estimated costs of uprating State Pension in frozen rate countries: 2024 to 2028, published on 19 July, whether they can publish the background workings to the estimated costs of uprating the State Pension in frozen rate countries.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL9748
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2023 answer text <p>The methodology is relatively straight forward and is contained within the publication but quoted below for ease:</p>Estimates of projected costs<p>1. The estimate is based on the latest available data (March 2022) from the 5% extract of DWP’s State Pension administrative data, the Quarterly Statistical Enquiry (QSE).</p><p>2. The QSE is used to estimate the volume of individuals in frozen rate countries and their State Pension amounts.</p><p>3. The State Pension amount, for all current and future recipients, is uprated (using the relevant indices) to the level they would have been if they had never been frozen.</p><p>4. To estimate the costs for subsequent financial years we make adjustments to the underlying caseload and associated costs by:</p><ul><li>applying mortality rates to existing cases, based on age and gender;</li><li>adding forecasts of future State Pension claims, which are based on historical trends and expected changes in the population, and are adjusted for mortality; and</li><li>uprating State Pension amounts using economic assumptions from the Office for Budget Responsibility at Spring Budget 2023.</li></ul><p>5. The total cost for a given financial year is the difference between the uprated State Pension amounts and the frozen State Pension amounts.</p><p>As with all estimates of projected costs, there is a degree of uncertainty, however where possible we have taken steps to try to minimise any significant measurement error.</p><p>Links for the relevant data sources publicly available are:</p><p>- OBR economic assumption for the relevant uprating indices <a href="https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/Long_term_economic-determinants_March_2023_EFO-2.xlsx&amp;wdOrigin=BROWSELINK" target="_blank">here</a></p><p>- Mortality projections <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/datasets/mortalityratesqxprincipalprojectionenglandandwales" target="_blank">here</a></p><p>- Benefit expenditure and caseload tables (table State_Pension) <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2023" target="_blank">here</a></p><p>- Stat-Xplore SP outturn data from Nov 20 <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/tableView/tableView.xhtml" target="_blank">here</a></p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 14/09/2023 12:44:56 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1657660

registered interest
date	04/09/2023
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	State Retirement Pensions: Uprating
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Department for Work and Pension's Estimated costs of uprating State Pension in frozen rate countries: 2024 to 2028, published on 19 July, whether there is any precedent where, when pensions were once frozen but started being uprated as a result of an international agreement, the pensions concerned were raised to the level they would have been had they never been frozen.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL9749
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2023 answer text <p>There is no standard model for international agreements on social security, which are agreed on a case-by-case basis between countries or groups of countries. The UK's international agreements on social security which include State Pension provisions are included here:</p><p><a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.listResults?p_lang=en&amp;p_country=GBR&amp;p_count=3017&amp;p_classification=23.01&amp;p_classcount=160" target="_blank">https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.listResults?p_lang=en&amp;p_country=GBR&amp;p_count=3017&amp;p_classification=23.01&amp;p_classcount=160</a></p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 14/09/2023 13:26:40 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1655125

registered interest
date	25/07/2023
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	Unemployment
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what were the unemployment percentage rates in each parliamentary constituency in April 2010; and what are the equivalent percentages per constituency for July 2023.
tabling member printed	Lord Hayward
uin	HL9689
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/08/2023 answer text <p>The estimated unemployment rates for the year to March 2010 and the year to December 2022 (the latest available data at a constituency level) are published and are given in the attached spreadsheet. As survey based estimates they are subject to sampling variation, which can be quite large for these small areas.</p><p> </p><p>The information requested is also available at: <a href="https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp" target="_blank">https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp</a></p><p>Guidance for users can be found at: <a href="https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp" target="_blank">https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp</a></p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 07/08/2023 14:46:51 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie attachment 1 file name Attachment.xlsx title Attachment
tabling member	863 label Biography information for Lord Hayward

1654986

registered interest
date	20/07/2023
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	Families: Disadvantaged
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government how many parents have been directly supported since the start of phase two of the Reducing Parental Conflict programme through tested interventions that are proven to help parents who (1) want to stay together, and (2) are separating or separated.
tabling member printed	Lord Farmer
uin	HL9553
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/08/2023 answer text <p>This phase of the Reducing Parental Conflict (RPC) programme (2022-25) focuses on supporting and funding Local Authorities (LAs) to integrate RPC into their family help offer. As such, the programme does not directly put parents through RPC interventions, these decisions are instead taken at a local level.</p><p>LAs receive RPC funding through the RPC Local Grant, which makes up to £19m available from 2022-25. In the first year of grant funding, LAs have directly supported around 18,000 parents, and over 30,000 training places for staff. Further details on LA breakdowns of grant funding have been appended to the end of this PQ.</p><p>In the first year of the RPC Local Grant, LAs had spent £159,000 of their Local Grant funding to undertake evaluation activities. As we are at the start of the second year of a three-year grant process, this work is ongoing. There are however positive findings emerging from local evaluation work. For instance, through our partnered working with ‘Foundations’, these have been published on their website.</p><p>LAs are not required to provide data on whether those parents are together or separating/separated. The forthcoming Reducing Parental Conflict evaluation reports, announced on 19th July, will provide further detail on the effects of support on the relationships between intact parents and separating/separated parents.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p>RPC Local Grant Year 1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Activity Type</p></td><td><p>LA Spend</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Training</p></td><td><p>£3,430,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Delivery</p></td><td><p>£1,260,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Co-ordination</p></td><td><p>£2,520,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Admin</p></td><td><p>£400,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Evaluation</p></td><td><p>£159,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>To Note:</p><p>The information in this PQ is derived from internal management information and is not quality assured to Official Statistics standards.</p><p>As this is ongoing Management Information, derived from 134 LAs, small amounts of additional resource which LAs have committed beyond their Grant Funding has not been disaggregated from the figures, as such totals may slightly exceed overall allocation in some places and the final reported figures will differ.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie grouped question UIN HL9555 question first answered 01/08/2023 11:08:41 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4321 label Biography information for Lord Farmer

1654988

registered interest
date	20/07/2023
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	Families: Disadvantaged
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what is the breakdown of spending by local authorities of Reducing Parental Conflict grants, in terms of matters such as internal human and other resources, training, and direct delivery to parents; and what are local evaluations showing is the impact of the way the grant is allocated locally.
tabling member printed	Lord Farmer
uin	HL9555
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/08/2023 answer text <p>This phase of the Reducing Parental Conflict (RPC) programme (2022-25) focuses on supporting and funding Local Authorities (LAs) to integrate RPC into their family help offer. As such, the programme does not directly put parents through RPC interventions, these decisions are instead taken at a local level.</p><p>LAs receive RPC funding through the RPC Local Grant, which makes up to £19m available from 2022-25. In the first year of grant funding, LAs have directly supported around 18,000 parents, and over 30,000 training places for staff. Further details on LA breakdowns of grant funding have been appended to the end of this PQ.</p><p>In the first year of the RPC Local Grant, LAs had spent £159,000 of their Local Grant funding to undertake evaluation activities. As we are at the start of the second year of a three-year grant process, this work is ongoing. There are however positive findings emerging from local evaluation work. For instance, through our partnered working with ‘Foundations’, these have been published on their website.</p><p>LAs are not required to provide data on whether those parents are together or separating/separated. The forthcoming Reducing Parental Conflict evaluation reports, announced on 19th July, will provide further detail on the effects of support on the relationships between intact parents and separating/separated parents.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p>RPC Local Grant Year 1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Activity Type</p></td><td><p>LA Spend</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Training</p></td><td><p>£3,430,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Delivery</p></td><td><p>£1,260,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Co-ordination</p></td><td><p>£2,520,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Admin</p></td><td><p>£400,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Evaluation</p></td><td><p>£159,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>To Note:</p><p>The information in this PQ is derived from internal management information and is not quality assured to Official Statistics standards.</p><p>As this is ongoing Management Information, derived from 134 LAs, small amounts of additional resource which LAs have committed beyond their Grant Funding has not been disaggregated from the figures, as such totals may slightly exceed overall allocation in some places and the final reported figures will differ.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie grouped question UIN HL9553 question first answered 01/08/2023 11:08:42 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4321 label Biography information for Lord Farmer

1652575

registered interest
date	12/07/2023
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: Refrigeration
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Markham on 14 December 2022 (HL Deb col 653), what assessment they have made of the provision of freezers and fridges to increase food banks’ storage capacity.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of St Albans
uin	HL9301
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2023 answer text <p>Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and the Department for Work and Pensions does not have any role in their operation.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst Government recognises that food charities are a great example of the generosity of spirit of communities across the country, it is important to recognise the important distinction between government welfare support and discretionary charitable support. Therefore, the Department for Work and Pensions is unable to make an assessment as Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations who design their own delivery models and criteria to access their services.</p><p> </p><p>Government understands the pressures people, including parents, are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help. Overall, the government is providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023- 24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of bills.</p><p> </p><p>The Government also announced over £100 million of support for charities and community organisations in England at the Spring Budget. This will support frontline organisations experiencing increased demand and higher delivery costs and will provide some investment in energy efficiency measures. It will be targeted towards those organisations most at risk from cost of living pressures, due to increased demand and higher delivery costs, as well as providing investment in energy efficiency measures. Further detail will be published by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport shortly.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 25/07/2023 16:01:59 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4308 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of St Albans

1652130

registered interest
date	11/07/2023
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	Offshore Industry: Safety
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the safety of additive manufacturer products in equipment in the oil and gas industries.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL9234
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/07/2023 answer text <p>The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 establishes duties for manufacturers to design and construct safe articles for use at work. In the various health and safety regulations that apply to the oil and gas industry it is the responsibility of the duty holder to ensure that any components used are fit for purpose for their intended use, and that they have the means to ensure those components will remain fit for purpose during their service life. Furthermore, product supply legislation places duties on the manufacturers of such products to assess their safety before their use.</p><p> </p><p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) undertakes market surveillance monitoring of the health and safety of most products used at work. HSE have been engaged with the additive manufacturing industry for a number of years, including the publication of a report into structure properties of the technique in 2015. Industry standards and guidance are being produced in this area and these assure quality control throughout additive manufacture and provide a sufficient quantity and quality of information to manufacturers and dutyholders seeking to make or use these articles which can also be used as benchmarks against which to judge regulatory compliance. HSE is also considering the implications of exposure to fumes and respirable dusts from those undertaking additive manufacturing.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 19/07/2023 11:43:45 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1652143

registered interest
date	11/07/2023
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: Carers
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the book by Kate Andersen Welfare That Works for Women? Mothers’ Experiences of the Conditionality within Universal Credit, published in January, what assessment they have made of their decision to introduce automated sanctions and intensify the conditionality regime for lead carers.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Durham
uin	HL9247
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2023 answer text <p>No assessment has been made. There are no plans to automate sanctions. However, we have automated the creation of the referral form for claimants who miss mandatory appointments. The referral form will be reviewed by the Work Coach before submitting to the Decision Maker in the normal way.</p><p> </p><p>By introducing the conditionality changes, we are providing increased opportunities for lead carers to engage with their work coach and work-related activity to help them prepare and move towards employment.</p><p> </p><p>As with all policies, we will review these changes to ensure that they are effective and meet the policy intent.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 21/07/2023 09:25:12 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4312 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Durham