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100959

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	Food Banks
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the percentage of people using food banks who also receive benefits; and whether they have any plans to discuss the matter with the organisers of food banks or to adapt benefits to take account of the situation.
tabling member printed	Baroness Gould of Potternewton
uin	HL2415
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>DWP does not monitor or estimate the percentage of people using food banks.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise the extremely valuable work of civil society in supporting local communities. Government officials and Ministers routinely meet with a range of civil society organisations, some of which may be connected to foodbanks.</p><p> </p><p>DWP reforms are already making the benefits system simpler and helping claimants to move into work.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 04/11/2014 14:50:14 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	3573 label Biography information for Baroness Gould of Potternewton

100980

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	Jobseeker's Allowance Sanctions Independent Review
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government further to the remarks by Lord Freud on 21 October that they were "taking forward all recommendations" of the Oakley Report on Jobseeker's Allowance sanctions (HL Deb, col 547), whether they will provide an implementation date for each of the recommendations.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL2436
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>We have already published our response to the Oakley Report and a copy can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/332137/jsa-sanctions-independent-review-government-response.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/332137/jsa-sanctions-independent-review-government-response.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p>We are considering all recommendations made by the Oakley Report and we have already implemented a number of improvements. Our response sets out a number of target completion dates for recommendations made by the Oakley Report.</p><p> </p><p>We will look at the remaining recommendations and will keep the House informed on progress and implementation.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 04/11/2014 16:26:08 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

100930

registered interest
date	24/10/2014
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, in the light of the steps they are taking to reduce the cost of benefit fraud, what they propose to do, and how much they plan to spend, to reduce underpayments to claimants due to mistakes by officials or claimants.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL2398
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>The Department takes both under and overpayments seriously and has in place a number of initiatives to address the errors that cause them. These activities address fraud as well as error, and both under and overpayments. It is therefore not possible to separate out the cost of activities focused exclusively on underpayments as a result of error.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit will make the welfare system simpler by replacing six benefits and credits with a single monthly payment. This simplification is expected to lead to a reduction in fraud and error due to the fact that information about claimants will be held in one place and updated more frequently and easily.</p><p> </p><p>For claimants that have income taxed under PAYE, Universal Credit will be linked to HMRC’s Real Time Information system, which will provide an automatic monthly update of their income thus reducing the potential for both error and fraud.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has invested in compliance activity, so that case correctness is maintained and fraud and error entering the system are detected and resolved quickly. Across all delivery arms there is a focus on accuracy and quality, including a continuous quality checking regime to review claims and check processing accuracy.</p><p> </p><p>We constantly review claims by checking them against data coming into our systems, in order to highlight potential anomalies. We do this by using business rules which focus on potential error to identify both under and overpayments.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is taking steps to encourage claimants to ensure that the information provided to us is accurate and up-to-date. This includes a fraud and error communications campaign about driving behaviour change and emphasising that claimants must report any change of circumstances.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 07/11/2014 13:39:35 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

100946

registered interest
date	24/10/2014
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	Industrial Health and Safety: Agriculture
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the latest figures they have of the number of fatal and serious accidents occurring in the farming industry.
tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
uin	HL2414
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <p>These figures are published on the Health and Safety Executive’s website: <a href="http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/agriculture/index.htm" target="_blank">http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/agriculture/index.htm</a>. They can also be found in the published report attached, “Health and safety in agriculture in Great Britain, 2014” on pages 6 and 7.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 04/11/2014 15:42:22 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud attachment 1 file name HSE Agri Stats.pdf title Health and Safety in agriculture in Great Britain
tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

100645

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
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	Housing Benefit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government why housing benefit overpayments increased to £1.4 billion in 2013–14 and how they are addressing the issue.
tabling member printed	Baroness Manzoor
uin	HL2376
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>Housing Benefit is a complex benefit administered by 380 Local Authorities. It has a high proportion of in-work claimants and this caseload is more likely to undergo changes in circumstances than out-of-work claimants. If claimants fail to report changes in circumstances correctly and in a timely manner then overpayments will occur.</p><p>The rate of fraud in Housing Benefit has been stable for many years at 1.4% since 2008-09. Official error has also remained relatively stable over the last six years, currently standing at 0.6% which is the same level as in 2008-09. Claimant error has increased from 2.7% in 2008-09 to 3.8% in 2013-14.</p><p>The rise in HB claimant error is primarily earnings related and a consequence of failure to report these changes. DWP is taking action to deal with this issue through better data sharing with Local Authorities, such as the introduction of real time information (RTI) on earnings, so that local authorities are alerted to changes quickly and do not have to rely on the claimant informing them of changes.</p><p>Longer term, Housing Benefit for working age claimants will be replaced by the housing cost element of Universal Credit and will be paid as a single monthly payment with the other elements. This will reduce the opportunity for Fraud and Error and prevent overpayments from occurring.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 04/11/2014 15:11:36 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4289 label Biography information for Baroness Manzoor

100567

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
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	Welfare Assistance Schemes
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their decision not to contest the judicial review of the decision to cease funding for Local Welfare Assistance, whether they will reinstate that funding for 2015–16.
tabling member printed	Baroness King of Bow
uin	HL2304
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p>From April 2015 it was intended funding for local welfare provision would be funded from the general grant to Local Government. The general grant took this into account.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has agreed to look again at how funding is provided for in 2015/16. Any decisions will be taken after we have reviewed how the current funds have been used and the on-going consultation and equality analysis on 2015/16 funding being co-ordinated by the Department for Communities and Local Government.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 29/10/2014 15:16:01 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	143 label Biography information for Baroness King of Bow

100116

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
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, how many applications have been made to the Government Funeral Payment scheme since May 2010; and how many such applications have been rejected.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Steve Rotheram
uin	211293
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2014 answer text <p>From the latest data available, 280,780 applications have been made for Funeral Payments in Great Britain between May 2010 and September 2014. In the same period there have been 139,560 refusals.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p> </p><p>1. These figures do not include applications which were processed clerically and have not yet been entered on to the Social Fund Computer System.</p><p> </p><p>2. The figures given are the number of applications and initial refusals in the given time period and not the number of people who made applications or received awards. An individual may make more than one application in a year. Information on the number of people who made applications and received awards is not available.</p><p> </p><p>3. The refusal figures given are based on the initial decisions made on each case and may include cases where an award was later made on review.</p><p> </p><p>4. All figures are rounded to the nearest 10.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Steve Webb question first answered 24/10/2014 13:48:18 answering member 220 label Biography information for Steve Webb
tabling member	4035 label Biography information for Steve Rotheram

100009

registered interest
date	20/10/2014
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	Unemployed People: Travel
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial assistance is given to help young people on benefits with the travel costs associated with attending job interviews.
tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
uin	HL2224
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2014 answer text <p /> <p>All Jobcentre Plus District Managers have access to the Flexible Support Fund, that they can use to supplement mainstream services and to tailor support to the needs of individuals and the local area. A proportion of this fund will be spent by their Work Services Teams on discretionary awards to individual claimants, which could include helping with travel costs to attend job interviews.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 23/10/2014 15:06:09 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

99947

registered interest
date	20/10/2014
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	Blood: Contamination
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any savings an individual has accrued as a result of saving and investing lump-sum payments they have received from the Macfarlane and Eileen Trust, Macfarlane Trust, Eileen Trust or Skipton Fund are taken into account when deciding their eligibility for employment and support allowance and other welfare benefits; and whether the transfer of such savings to a dependant or partner, affects that dependant or partner's entitlement to benefits.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
uin	211082
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2014 answer text <p /> <p>Payments received from Government funded Trusts and Funds may be disregarded for benefit purposes. This includes payments from the following Trusts/Funds: Macfarlane, Eileen Trust and Skipton Fund.</p><p> </p><p>Any capital resource which derives from a payment from these Trusts/Funds, such as interest, is also disregarded indefinitely.</p><p> </p><p>Money which derives from the Trusts/Funds which is transferred to a partner is disregarded indefinitely in any benefit claim made by the couple. It is also disregarded indefinitely in any claim made by the partner after the sufferer’s death providing that the couple were not estranged or divorced at the time of the death. However, money derived from the Trusts/Funds which is transferred to a dependent child or young person is not disregarded in any subsequent claim made in later life by that person.</p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper question first answered 27/10/2014 17:55:45 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

99949

registered interest
date	20/10/2014
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	Discretionary Housing Payments: Scotland
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much discretionary housing payment award he plans to give to each local authority in Scotland in 2014-15.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Mr Frank Roy
uin	211061
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2014 answer text <p /> <p>The Government contribution towards Discretionary Housing Payments that has been made available to each local authority in Scotland for 2014/15 is shown in the table below. Local authorities will inform us as to how much of this they will claim at the end of the financial year.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Local Authority</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>Government contribution towards Discretionary Housing Payments for 2014/15</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aberdeen</p></td><td><p>£308,438</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aberdeenshire</p></td><td><p>£480,948</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Angus</p></td><td><p>£357,857</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Argyll and Bute</p></td><td><p>£409,580</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Clackmannanshire</p></td><td><p>£176,383</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Comhairle nan Eilean Siar</p></td><td><p>£109,743</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dumfries and Galloway</p></td><td><p>£732,662</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dundee</p></td><td><p>£484,174</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East Ayrshire</p></td><td><p>£322,608</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East Dunbartonshire</p></td><td><p>£102,435</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East Lothian</p></td><td><p>£122,558</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East Renfrewshire</p></td><td><p>£67,736</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Edinburgh</p></td><td><p>£1,533,120</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Falkirk</p></td><td><p>£258,058</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Fife</p></td><td><p>£693,077</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Glasgow</p></td><td><p>£2,724,843</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Highland</p></td><td><p>£1,178,903</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Inverclyde</p></td><td><p>£210,794</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Midlothian</p></td><td><p>£183,798</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Moray</p></td><td><p>£228,368</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>North Ayrshire</p></td><td><p>£408,703</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>North Lanarkshire</p></td><td><p>£692,677</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Orkney</p></td><td><p>£50,592</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Perth and Kinross</p></td><td><p>£380,620</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Renfrewshire</p></td><td><p>£369,000</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Scottish Borders</p></td><td><p>£464,841</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Shetland</p></td><td><p>£71,267</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South Ayrshire</p></td><td><p>£305,618</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South Lanarkshire</p></td><td><p>£638,098</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Stirling</p></td><td><p>£420,609</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>West Dunbartonshire</p></td><td><p>£339,751</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>West Lothian</p></td><td><p>£402,484</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Steve Webb question first answered 23/10/2014 13:12:51 answering member 220 label Biography information for Steve Webb
tabling member	626 label Biography information for Mr Frank Roy