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1198008

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of suspending the Universal Credit (Miscellaneous Amendments, Saving and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2018 for the duration of the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Wirral South
tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
uin	51925
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/06/2020 answer text <p><em>The Universal Credit (Miscellaneous Amendments, Saving and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2018</em> introduced a package of positive measures announced in the Autumn Budget on 22 November 2017 and the SSWP’s oral statement the following day. It also introduced additional measures that are very technical by nature, which had been highlighted as part of the learning process of Universal Credit and ensured the legislation reflected the intended policy.</p><p> </p><p>We cannot see any merit in suspending these regulations. For example, we have no plans to re-introduce waiting days to Universal Credit during the Covid period, as this would reduce financial support for claimants and delay the initial payment, nor do we have any plans to suspend the Transition to UC Housing Payment (the two-week run on of Housing Benefit), as this would remove vital financial support for people moving to UC.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 15/06/2020 13:15:36 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 25871 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1198156

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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: Advertising
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her Answer of 13 May 2020 to Question 43081, for what reason the Government Communications Service was instructed to undertake the investigation into the circumstances in which her Department’s Communications Director authorised the advertisements entitled Universal Credit Uncovered in The Metro.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	52276
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2020 answer text <p>It is commonplace for the Government Communications Service (GCS) to review communications projects undertaken by individual government departments. Following the ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) it was agreed that further information on engagement with the ASA would be beneficial for all communications teams across government. It was subsequently agreed that the GCS would review the partnership with The Metro. The review found that DWP had not intentionally misled the public through the partnership, while recognising the importance of continuing to work closely with the ASA to inform campaigns and establish best practice.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/06/2020 12:45:00 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1198157

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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: Advertising
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government Communications Service’s internal review of the circumstances in which her Department authorised the Universal Credit Uncovered adverts in The Metro, for what reason the Tier One and Tier Two internal clearance process has been redacted from the copy placed in the Library.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	52277
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2020 answer text <p>As the request was to publish the review in the Library, which is accessible to the public, personal details were redacted. If required I can share a revised version with you that includes names and job titles for everyone at Senior Civil Service grade and above, as is common practice.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/06/2020 12:52:07 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1198158

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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: Advertising
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government Communications Service’s internal review of the circumstances in which her Department authorised the Universal Credit Uncovered adverts in The Metro, how many staff members from the Government Communications Service were involved in that review by civil service grade.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	52278
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2020 answer text <p>The review was undertaken by two members of staff from the Government Communications Service, both at Senior Civil Service band 2 grade. These two members of staff are independent to DWP, as is standard practice for reviews by the Government Communications Service.</p><p /><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/06/2020 12:56:43 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1198160

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the amount of universal credit payments that are suspected to have been claimed fraudulently since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Stalybridge and Hyde
tabling member printed	Jonathan Reynolds
uin	51934
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2020 answer text <p>Between 16<sup>th</sup> March 2020 and 29<sup>th</sup> May 2020, 129,000 Universal Credit claims were referred to the Department as at least one aspect of the claim was suspected to be incorrect. These referrals can occur for a number of reasons and will not all relate to fraud; some may be a simple misunderstanding by a claimant. Where DWP has a doubt about a person’s identity, no payment is made until that doubt has been cleared.</p><p> </p><p>The figure includes referrals made by DWP staff and referrals to our Serious and Organised Crime team. Over 2.3 million new claims were made for Universal Credit during this period. We continue to monitor the level of referrals received in order to identify trends.</p><p> </p><p>The Department continues to take the issue of benefit fraud extremely seriously. We have taken decisive action, creating our Enhanced Checking Service (ECS). ECS is a team of fully trained fraud investigators and is responsible for conducting additional checks on claims where front line staff have expressed doubt over a claimant’s entitlement to benefit. We have also maintained our Serious and Organised Crime and Economic Crime Group activity during this period, ensuring we continue to respond to risks and threats referred to us.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, we are able to identify claims made during this period so we can review them as required once we return to business as usual. If benefit fraud is identified, we will ensure that appropriate action is taken.</p><p> </p><p><em>*The figure relating to the number of fraud referrals received by the Department has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other figures subsequently released by the Department. This figure has been rounded to the nearest thousand.</em></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 17/06/2020 13:15:17 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4119 label Biography information for Jonathan Reynolds

1198228

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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	Social Security Benefits: Students
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason income from student maintenance was disregarded for the purposes of calculating Child Tax Credits.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool North and Cleveleys
tabling member printed	Paul Maynard
uin	51819
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/06/2020 answer text <p>Tax credits are designed to be closely aligned with the tax system, and therefore generally only take into account taxable income. As student loans are not liable to income tax, they are not included in the calculation of income for tax credits purposes.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 51820 question first answered 09/06/2020 17:08:14 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard

1198229

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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	Social Security Benefits: Students
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason student maintenance income is taken into account for universal credit purposes but not for child tax credit purposes.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool North and Cleveleys
tabling member printed	Paul Maynard
uin	51820
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/06/2020 answer text <p>Tax credits are designed to be closely aligned with the tax system, and therefore generally only take into account taxable income. As student loans are not liable to income tax, they are not included in the calculation of income for tax credits purposes.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 51819 question first answered 09/06/2020 17:08:14 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard

1198237

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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: Young People
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 the adequacy of the universal credit standard allowance for people aged under 25 who are living independently.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	52274
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2020 answer text <p>We have increased the Universal Credit standard allowance by around £20 per week for the next 12 months – equivalent to up to £1,040 a year.</p><p> </p><p>This is in addition to the 1.7% inflation increase (announced Nov 2019) as part of the Government’s decision to end the benefits freeze and means more financial support for millions of people across the UK.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/06/2020 11:46:58 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 25865 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1198251

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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: Wales
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 submitted claims for universal credit in Wales from 1 March to 12 May in (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019 and (d) 2020.
tabling member constituency	Newport East
tabling member printed	Jessica Morden
uin	51747
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/06/2020 answer text <p>Information on new Universal Credit claims made in a) 2017, b) 2018 and c) 2019 is published online and can be found at <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at: <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><strong> </strong></p><p>For figures for 2020, I refer to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Newport East on 21 May 2020 to Question <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&amp;max=20&amp;questiontype=AllQuestions&amp;house=commons%2Clords&amp;uin=39515" target="_blank">39515</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 15/06/2020 13:02:37 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 25864 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1548 label Biography information for Jessica Morden

1198421

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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	Jobseeker's Allowance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the £20 hardship payment allocated to universal credit claimants was not also allocated to legacy Jobseeker's Allowance claimants.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool North and Cleveleys
tabling member printed	Paul Maynard
uin	51821
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2020 answer text <p>The Government has announced a suite of measures that can be quickly and effectively operationalised to benefit those facing the most financial disruption during the pandemic. The Department is experiencing significantly increased demand and has to prioritise the safety and stability of the benefits system overall. The IT system which supports Universal Credit has more capacity to make the necessary changes than the systems that support legacy benefits. It also uses different technology from other DWP systems and these older systems have complex interactions and interdependencies.</p><p>We estimate that 2.5m households receiving Universal Credit will benefit straight away from the increase in the standard allowances which was announced on 20 March, and which is additional to the planned annual uprating. New claimants who have either become unemployed, or whose earnings or work hours have decreased because of the outbreak, will benefit too; subject to their eligibility.</p><p>We have also made a number of changes to legacy and other working age benefits in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including increasing certain entitlements, such as Local Housing Allowance. Up-to-date information about the employment and benefits support available, including Universal Credit, Statutory Sick Pay, New style Jobseeker’s Allowance, and Employment and Support Allowance, can be found here: <a href="https://www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk/employment-and-benefits-support/" target="_blank">https://www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk/employment-and-benefits-support/</a></p><p>The COVID-19 outbreak continues to be a rapidly evolving situation and we are keeping it under review.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 26/06/2020 13:08:22 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard