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170247

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 8 December (HC Deb, col 633), what specific new steps they are taking to raise awareness of short-term benefit advances.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL3743
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p /> <p>I refer the Noble Baroness to the oral answer given by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Rt.Hon. Iain Duncan Smith, Official Report, 8 December 2014, column 633. He set out how the Department for Work and Pensions will be doing much more to raise awareness of Short Term Benefit Advances (STBAs) as recommended by the All-Party Parliamentary inquiry and others, including the Social Security Advisory Committee. This will include providing more information to claimants about STBAs online and in Jobcentres. Staff guidance on STBAs will also be updated and staff reminded of the process for considering an STBA.</p><p> </p><p>A key part of the STBA process is a discussion between the claimant and the Decision Maker to consider the circumstances of the request and make an informed discretionary decision about the claimant’s needs. Such a discussion needs to be had with the claimant and cannot be done online or with a third party.</p><p> </p><p>Benefits are normally paid in arrears and where the Department can pay any benefit due to the claimant it does. Where an STBA can be paid it is usually paid the day after it is first requested by the claimant.</p><p> </p><p>The Government believes the current system for claiming STBAs is simple. All claimants need to do is mention to staff that they will not be able to manage until their payment is due and the STBA process will start. However, the Government has accepted the need to raise awareness of STBAs as set out above.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has made improvements to the hardship process. In July 2014 it strengthened guidance for work coaches so that all claimants are informed about how and when they can make an application for hardship payment and processing times have also been improved.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud grouped question UIN HL3744 HL3745 HL3746 question first answered 17/12/2014 17:21:20 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

170248

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will examine "the possibility of allowing advice workers to request automatically short-term benefit advances electronically for their clients" as recommended by the report of the All-Party Parliamentary inquiry into Hunger and Food Poverty in Britain.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL3744
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>I refer the Noble Baroness to the oral answer given by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Rt.Hon. Iain Duncan Smith, Official Report, 8 December 2014, column 633. He set out how the Department for Work and Pensions will be doing much more to raise awareness of Short Term Benefit Advances (STBAs) as recommended by the All-Party Parliamentary inquiry and others, including the Social Security Advisory Committee. This will include providing more information to claimants about STBAs online and in Jobcentres. Staff guidance on STBAs will also be updated and staff reminded of the process for considering an STBA.</p><p> </p><p>A key part of the STBA process is a discussion between the claimant and the Decision Maker to consider the circumstances of the request and make an informed discretionary decision about the claimant’s needs. Such a discussion needs to be had with the claimant and cannot be done online or with a third party.</p><p> </p><p>Benefits are normally paid in arrears and where the Department can pay any benefit due to the claimant it does. Where an STBA can be paid it is usually paid the day after it is first requested by the claimant.</p><p> </p><p>The Government believes the current system for claiming STBAs is simple. All claimants need to do is mention to staff that they will not be able to manage until their payment is due and the STBA process will start. However, the Government has accepted the need to raise awareness of STBAs as set out above.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has made improvements to the hardship process. In July 2014 it strengthened guidance for work coaches so that all claimants are informed about how and when they can make an application for hardship payment and processing times have also been improved.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud grouped question UIN HL3743 HL3745 HL3746 question first answered 17/12/2014 17:21:20 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

170249

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recommendation of the All-Party Parliamentary inquiry into Hunger and Food Poverty that the Department for Work and Pensions should "automatically consider paying short-term benefit advances if a benefit claim has not been paid within five working days".
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL3745
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>I refer the Noble Baroness to the oral answer given by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Rt.Hon. Iain Duncan Smith, Official Report, 8 December 2014, column 633. He set out how the Department for Work and Pensions will be doing much more to raise awareness of Short Term Benefit Advances (STBAs) as recommended by the All-Party Parliamentary inquiry and others, including the Social Security Advisory Committee. This will include providing more information to claimants about STBAs online and in Jobcentres. Staff guidance on STBAs will also be updated and staff reminded of the process for considering an STBA.</p><p> </p><p>A key part of the STBA process is a discussion between the claimant and the Decision Maker to consider the circumstances of the request and make an informed discretionary decision about the claimant’s needs. Such a discussion needs to be had with the claimant and cannot be done online or with a third party.</p><p> </p><p>Benefits are normally paid in arrears and where the Department can pay any benefit due to the claimant it does. Where an STBA can be paid it is usually paid the day after it is first requested by the claimant.</p><p> </p><p>The Government believes the current system for claiming STBAs is simple. All claimants need to do is mention to staff that they will not be able to manage until their payment is due and the STBA process will start. However, the Government has accepted the need to raise awareness of STBAs as set out above.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has made improvements to the hardship process. In July 2014 it strengthened guidance for work coaches so that all claimants are informed about how and when they can make an application for hardship payment and processing times have also been improved.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud grouped question UIN HL3743 HL3744 HL3746 question first answered 17/12/2014 17:21:20 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

170250

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to simplify the application process for hardship payments and short-term benefit advances as recommended by the All-Party Parliamentary inquiry into Hunger and Food Poverty.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL3746
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>I refer the Noble Baroness to the oral answer given by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Rt.Hon. Iain Duncan Smith, Official Report, 8 December 2014, column 633. He set out how the Department for Work and Pensions will be doing much more to raise awareness of Short Term Benefit Advances (STBAs) as recommended by the All-Party Parliamentary inquiry and others, including the Social Security Advisory Committee. This will include providing more information to claimants about STBAs online and in Jobcentres. Staff guidance on STBAs will also be updated and staff reminded of the process for considering an STBA.</p><p> </p><p>A key part of the STBA process is a discussion between the claimant and the Decision Maker to consider the circumstances of the request and make an informed discretionary decision about the claimant’s needs. Such a discussion needs to be had with the claimant and cannot be done online or with a third party.</p><p> </p><p>Benefits are normally paid in arrears and where the Department can pay any benefit due to the claimant it does. Where an STBA can be paid it is usually paid the day after it is first requested by the claimant.</p><p> </p><p>The Government believes the current system for claiming STBAs is simple. All claimants need to do is mention to staff that they will not be able to manage until their payment is due and the STBA process will start. However, the Government has accepted the need to raise awareness of STBAs as set out above.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has made improvements to the hardship process. In July 2014 it strengthened guidance for work coaches so that all claimants are informed about how and when they can make an application for hardship payment and processing times have also been improved.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud grouped question UIN HL3743 HL3744 HL3745 question first answered 17/12/2014 17:21:20 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

170548

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Written Questions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the savings to his Department from the Q&A system in the (a) 12 months and (b) five years since 4 June 2014; what additional ICT systems or improvements to existing systems his Department has introduced or plans to introduce that would not have been feasible without the Q&A system; and what assessment he has made of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions from hon. Members on time.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	218795
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p /> <p>No estimate has been made of savings arising from the introduction of the Q&amp;A system. The introduction of the Q&amp;A system has had no impact on existing or planned ICT systems.</p><p> </p><p>One of the benefits of the new system is the possibility for the reporting of the timeliness of answers to Parliamentary Questions to be delivered with greater consistency and accuracy across all answering bodies. It will be for the Procedure Committee to evaluate the effectiveness of the new system in improving performance when it assesses the evidence following the end of the session.</p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 05/01/2015 14:07:04 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

170549

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many liability orders for oustanding child maintenance arrears have been issued to non-resident parents in each of the last four years for which figures are available in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) England, (e) Northern Ireland, (f) each local authority area and (g) each Parliamentary constituency.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Pamela Nash
uin	218761
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p /> <p>Figures on the number of liability orders granted in relation to cases administered by the Child Support Agency is published in table 17 (page 44) of the latest <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-statistics-september-2014" target="_blank">Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics</a>, which contains data up to September 2014. Information on liability orders broken down by country is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>We are not yet in a position to release full statistics on the 2012 Scheme, administered by the Child Maintenance Service, but when system data becomes available and fully assured they will be released as part of a managed process, which will be pre-announced and in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Steve Webb question first answered 18/12/2014 11:52:45 answering member 220 label Biography information for Steve Webb
tabling member	3909 label Biography information for Pamela Nash

170550

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many liability orders that have been issued for outstanding child maintenance arrears have led to (a) prosecutions, (b) disclosed information about the paying parent to credit reference agencies, (c) new enforcement charges being levied to non-residential parents in (i) the UK, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Wales, (iv) England, (v) Northern Ireland, (vi) each local authority area and (vii) each parliamentary constituency in each of the last four years for which records are available.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Pamela Nash
uin	218752
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>(a) Information on the number of liability orders that have led to a prosecution is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>Figures on the number of prosecutions is published in table 17 (page 44) of the latest <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-statistics-september-2014" target="_blank">Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics</a>, which contains data up to September 2014.</p><p> </p><p>(b) Regulations to enable these new powers are due to be laid in Parliament in March 2015 with the intention being that they come into force by the end of the same month.</p><p> </p><p>(c) Enforcement charges only relate to the 2012 Scheme, which opened to all applicants on 30 November 2013. We are not yet in a position to release full statistics on the 2012 Scheme, but when system data becomes available and fully assured they will be released as part of a managed process, which will be pre-announced and in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Steve Webb question first answered 18/12/2014 13:06:02 answering member 220 label Biography information for Steve Webb
tabling member	3909 label Biography information for Pamela Nash

170551

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much the Child Support Agency has collected in current maintenance and arrears in each of the last four years for which figures are available; and what the total maintenance liabilities were in each such year.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Pamela Nash
uin	218751
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p /> <p>The table below shows yearly figures for liability accrued and collections towards maintenance and arrears by the Child Support Agency.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Rolling 12 Months:</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Liability Accrued (£m)<sup>1</sup></strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Maintenance Collected (£m)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Of which, Contribution towards Arrears (£m)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>March 2011<sup>1</sup></strong></p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>£768.9</p></td><td><p>£125.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>March 2012<sup>1</sup></strong></p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>£790.8</p></td><td><p>£118.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>March 2013</strong></p></td><td><p>£915.7</p></td><td><p>£828.4</p></td><td><p>£167.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>March 2014</strong></p></td><td><p>£942.4</p></td><td><p>£849.0</p></td><td><p>£155.8</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p>1. Annual liability is only available from March 2013 due to new methodology only being available from January 2012. Maintenance Collected and Contribution towards Arrears are based on old methodology for March 2011 and March 2012.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Steve Webb question first answered 18/12/2014 12:58:56 answering member 220 label Biography information for Steve Webb
tabling member	3909 label Biography information for Pamela Nash

170553

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Public Health Funerals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of paupers' funerals in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) England and (e) Northern Ireland in each of the last four years for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Pamela Nash
uin	218762
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p /> <p>My department does not collect data on the number of Local Authority funerals.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Steve Webb question first answered 18/12/2014 11:57:14 answering member 220 label Biography information for Steve Webb
tabling member	3909 label Biography information for Pamela Nash

170554

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Funeral Payments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average time taken to process an application for funeral expenses from the Social Fund from application submission to decision in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) England, (e) Northern Ireland in each of the last four years for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Pamela Nash
uin	218763
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>The average number of working days taken to process applications for funeral payments in England, Scotland, Wales and Great Britain are set out for each of the last four financial years in Table 1 below.</p><p> </p><p>Information regarding funeral payments for Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland office.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Average working days taken to process applications for funeral payments in </strong><strong>England</strong><strong>, </strong><strong>Scotland</strong><strong>, </strong><strong>Wales</strong><strong> and Great Britain, 2010/11 to 2013/14</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"> </td><td colspan="4"><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2010/11</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2011/12</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012/13</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013/14</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>England</strong></p></td><td><p>14.8</p></td><td><p>13.7</p></td><td><p>14.6</p></td><td><p>18.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Scotland</strong></p></td><td><p>13.9</p></td><td><p>14.5</p></td><td><p>14.4</p></td><td><p>19</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Wales</strong></p></td><td><p>11.6</p></td><td><p>12.8</p></td><td><p>16.9</p></td><td><p>19.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Great Britain</strong></p></td><td><p>14.5</p></td><td><p>13.8</p></td><td><p>14.7</p></td><td><p>18.4</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>For additional context, the average monthly clearance times between April 2014 and November 2014 are given in Table 2. As these figures are based on a shorter time frame and Funeral Payment applications vary throughout the year; please note that these figures are not directly comparable to those in Table 1.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 2: Average number of working days taken to process applications for funeral payments in </strong><strong>England</strong><strong>, </strong><strong>Scotland</strong><strong>, </strong><strong>Wales</strong><strong> and </strong><strong>Great Britain</strong><strong>, by month, April 2014 to November 2014</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>England</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Wales</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Scotland</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Great Britain</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-14</p></td><td><p>21.4</p></td><td><p>22.9</p></td><td><p>20.9</p></td><td><p>21.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-14</p></td><td><p>22.7</p></td><td><p>23.7</p></td><td><p>20.5</p></td><td><p>22.6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-14</p></td><td><p>21.3</p></td><td><p>23.4</p></td><td><p>20.2</p></td><td><p>21.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-14</p></td><td><p>17.3</p></td><td><p>18.7</p></td><td><p>14.9</p></td><td><p>17.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-14</p></td><td><p>17.0</p></td><td><p>16.5</p></td><td><p>13.1</p></td><td><p>16.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-14</p></td><td><p>18.4</p></td><td><p>18.0</p></td><td><p>15.0</p></td><td><p>17.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Oct-14</p></td><td><p>19.7</p></td><td><p>25.2</p></td><td><p>13.2</p></td><td><p>19.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-14</p></td><td><p>13.2</p></td><td><p>14.1</p></td><td><p>17.1</p></td><td><p>13.7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Apr-14 to Nov-14</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>19.0</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>20.3</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>16.9</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>18.8</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p> </p><p>· These figures do not include applications which were processed clerically and have not been entered on to the Social Fund Computer System.</p><p>· The clearance time for funeral payment applications is measured in whole working days from the date the application is received until the date the decision is taken.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Steve Webb question first answered 18/12/2014 17:07:57 answering member 220 label Biography information for Steve Webb
tabling member	3909 label Biography information for Pamela Nash