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1659265

registered interest
date	07/09/2023
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	Poverty
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 Poverty Strategy Commission’s interim report A New Framework for Tackling Poverty, published on 5 September, and in particular the recommendations that a net rise in benefit awards by 5 per cent would reduce numbers in poverty by 725,000 and a net rise in earnings wound reduce poverty by 515,000.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Southwark
uin	HL10000
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2023 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions has not undertaken any specific assessment but notes that the analysis included in the report is based on the Social Metric Commission’s (SMC) measure of poverty.</p><p> </p><p>The Government accepts that the SMC’s approach offers a more expansive view of inescapable costs, and alternative income sources will add new insight to the understanding of poverty. In March 2023, the Department for Work and Pensions announced plans to resume work developing an experimental measure of poverty based on the SMC’s innovative work. The Government already publishes national statistics on low income using a range of measures.</p><p>The Government’s focus is firmly on supporting people into and to progress in work. Our approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty.  The latest statistics show that working age adults living in workless households were over 7 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than working age adults in households where all adults work. To help people into work our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance. We are also addressing progression barriers through our comprehensive package of childcare support, our in work progression offer, and changes to the administrative earnings threshold which ensure that more claimants can benefit from work coach support.</p><p>The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help. Overall, we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of bills. From April 2023, everyone who receives a state benefit or pension will have seen their benefit rates increase by 10.1%.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 14/09/2023 12:43:54 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4345 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Southwark

1658469

registered interest
date	05/09/2023
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) proportion, and (2) number of (a) male, and (b) female, retirees do not receive the full pre-2016 and post-2016 state pension.
tabling member printed	Lord Sikka
uin	HL9908
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2023 answer text <p>During 2019, a new DWP computer system called “Get Your State Pension” (GYSP) came online to handle State Pension claims. The GYSP system is now handling a sizeable proportion of new claims.</p><p> </p><p>The department has not yet been able to include GYSP system data in our published statistics for State Pension and the number of GYSP cases are too high to allow us to continue to publish State Pension data on Stat-Xplore. We have been providing GYSP estimates based on payment systems data and as a temporary measure, State Pension statistics are being published via data tables only. The latest release in August 2023 contains State Pensions estimates for the quarters to February 2023.</p><p> </p><p>A biannual release of supplementary tables to show State Pension deferment increments and proportions of beneficiaries receiving a full amount was suspended. This release is normally based on a 5 per cent sample of the legacy computer system. Given the absence of GYSP data, the figures are affected by the same issues as described above. The latest available time period for these figures is for September 2020 and can be found in the DWP benefits statistics published in May 2021 on gov.uk.</p><p> </p><p>We are developing new statistical datasets to properly represent both computer systems. Once we have quality assured the new data it will be published on Stat-Xplore, including a refresh of historical data using the best data available.</p><p> </p><p>For more information on these developments, see the State Pension section of the ‘Background information note: DWP benefits statistical summary’ published on gov.uk.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 14/09/2023 12:42:33 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4885 label Biography information for Lord Sikka

1658476

registered interest
date	05/09/2023
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	Social Security Benefits: Artificial Intelligence
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the response to requests for transparency over the use of artificial intelligence to verify welfare claims.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL9915
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/09/2023 answer text <p>DWP recognises the public interest in being transparent about what we do and how we process personal information. However, we have to balance this with keeping the information secure, by not revealing publicly all methods and practices used particularly to detect fraudulent claims and cyber-attack against our systems.</p><p> </p><p>DWP takes its responsibility to protect data very seriously and we have published the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/personal-information-charter" target="_blank">Personal information charter (PIC) </a>which gives details of how we use information provided to us. We have done this to be as transparent as we can without hindering our ability to detect fraud and protect data.</p><p> </p><p>The PIC also explains that DWP does not use artificial intelligence to replace human judgement to determine or deny a payment to a claimant. We will only use data for lawful purposes.</p><p> </p><p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023" target="_blank">DWP annual report and accounts 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a> also makes mention of audits covering data management and artificial intelligence.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 13/09/2023 13:26:40 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

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

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