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93732

registered interest
date	16/10/2014
answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Financial Services: Advisory Services
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the provision of money management, budgeting and debt advice by local authorities and social sector landlords is being monitored.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of St Albans
uin	HL2156
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions are currently undertaking a review into how local welfare provision has been used in 2013/14 and its anticipated use in 2014/15 which will be published in due course. In addition, as part of its work on Universal Credit, the Department is commissioning budgeting support for claimants who need help and is establishing local delivery partnerships with local government to help provide this.</p><p><br>The Government-funded Money Advice Survey offers advice on managing personal debt, money management and budgeting. Face to face debt advice is provided by Citizens Advice, under contract with the Money Advice Service.</p><p><br>Department for Business Innovation and Skills also provide funding for the Citizens Advice Bureau, which provides people with advice on debt and other issues.</p><p><br>More generally, the Department for Communities and Local Government issued guidance to councils last year on good practice in the collection of council tax arrears. The actions of local authorities (in relation to service failures, maladministration or injustice) can be investigated by the Local Government Ombudsman, whilst the Housing Ombudsman Service looks at complaints about social landlords.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 31/10/2014 13:19:26 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4308 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of St Albans

100502

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Organised Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase gang-related intelligence for prison officers prior to prisoner arrivals in order to prevent mixed gang wings.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Steve Rotheram
uin	211643
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p /> <p>On arrival in an establishment, the risk a prisoner presents to others and themselves, and their risk of harm from other prisoners will be assessed. Where appropriate, this will include a Cell Sharing Risk Assessment to assess a prisoner’s suitability to share accommodation. The risk assessment will consider information and intelligence from a number of sources, including known gang affiliations and conflicts if appropriate.</p><p> </p><p>In April 2014, NOMS completed the implementation of a nationally networked intelligence system - ‘Mercury’. Through the Mercury system staff are able to access intelligence linked to prisoners where a prisoner has previously been held in custody, on or in advance of a prisoner’s arrival (where a prisoner is being sent from another establishment). In addition where a prisoner has previously been held in custody, the National Offender Management Information System (NOMIS) will hold warnings to alert staff to particular risks and behaviours.</p><p> </p><p>A number of law enforcement agencies, including the police, regularly share information about prisoners to support the identification of risk. This includes prisoners with gang affiliations and conflicts.</p><p> </p><p>To ensure that prisoners are held in safe, decent and secure conditions, the risks to and from prisoners remain constantly under review. Where risks become known, establishments take appropriate steps to mitigate these risks, which may include relocating a prisoner to another wing or establishment.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 29/10/2014 17:52:58 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	4035 label Biography information for Steve Rotheram

100503

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Restraint Techniques
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many control and restraint techniques have been used in prisons in each year since 2004.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Steve Rotheram
uin	211642
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p /> <p>A specialised system of restraint known as control and restraint (C&amp;R) has been developed over many years to ensure that prisoners can be controlled with minimum risk of injury to staff or prisoners. C&amp;R is a system of techniques used by a team of three officers as a last resort to bring a violent or unmanageable prisoner under control. Wherever possible staff are instructed to avoid use of force and de-escalate the situation by persuasion or negotiation. If the techniques are applied they are used for as short a time as possible.</p><p> </p><p>All prisons submit a central monthly return providing the number of times force has been used in the prison, and specifically the number of uses of C&amp;R. While this has been collated centrally since late 2009, to provide details since 2004 could only be achieved at disproportionate cost, as it would require contacting every prison individually and tracing data from prisons that have closed since 2004.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 29/10/2014 17:50:21 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	4035 label Biography information for Steve Rotheram

100505

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Accommodation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve first night accommodation for prisoners in prisons.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Steve Rotheram
uin	211652
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p>There are no building projects planned or in delivery that are specifically intended to improve first night accommodation across the estate. Where individual first night accommodation has been identified as requiring improvement, this is taken forward locally by the Governor/Director.</p><p> </p><p>Prison Service Instruction 74/2011 Residential Services requires that prisoners have access to living accommodation, furnishings, fittings and equipment that are safe, decent and secure and which meet their individual needs, as far as practicable. Living accommodation and communal areas are also to be kept clean and maintained. Where a fault is reported residential prison staff are responsible for reporting the problem to the appropriate person for the issue to be resolved.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 29/10/2014 17:49:06 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	4035 label Biography information for Steve Rotheram

100775

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Disability Living Allowance: Appeals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appeals against disability living allowance there have been since 2010; and how many such appeals resulted in a reversal of the original decision.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	211764
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2014 answer text <p>The First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), administered by HM Courts &amp; Tribunals Service (HMCTS), an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Justice, hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions’ decisions on a range of benefits, including disability living allowance (DLA).</p><p> </p><p>Information on the number of DLA appeals received by the Tribunal and the number found in favour of the appellant is published by Ministry of Justice in Tribunal Statistics Quarterly. Reports for DLA appeals dating back to 2010 can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 30/10/2014 16:26:14 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

100520

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	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on short term benefit advances for claimants of universal credit in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15 to date.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	211598
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p>Short Term Benefit Advances (STBA) are only available against legacy benefits. Universal Credit has it's own system of benefit advances. The equivalent support to STBA is provided by either the Universal Credit (new claim) advance or the Universal Credit (change of circumstance) advance.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Currently these costs are not reported separately. UC benefit expenditure is published in the table in the attached link</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2014" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2014</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper question first answered 29/10/2014 17:40:28 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

100536

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	Universal Credit
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 claiming universal credit have accessed short term benefit advances to date.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	211597
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p>Short Term Benefit Advances (STBA) are only available against legacy benefits. Universal Credit has its own system of benefit advances. The equivalent support to STBA is provided by either the Universal Credit (new claim) advance or the Universal Credit (change of circumstance) advance.</p><p> </p><p>The information you have requested is not currently available. The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit in September 2013 which can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics</a></p><p> </p><p>These statistics however will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.</p><p>As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring data for Universal Credit, therefore it is not yet possible to give a definitive list of what statistics will be provided in the future.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper question first answered 29/10/2014 17:50:01 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

100918

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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2014 to Question 210464, what metrics are used to track and manage timeliness of payments within the benefits system.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	211860
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p>The Department uses a broad range of Management Information to monitor processing of benefit claims including, for example, the percentage of claims processed within defined timescales and the average time for claims to be processed, with different metrics being used for different benefits. Further information on activities to manage timeliness of payments, and some examples of the metrics used for specific benefits, is available via the Departmental Improvement Plan and the Annual Report and Accounts, both of which are publicly accessible via the gov.uk website.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>DIP <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-departmental-improvement-plan-2014" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-departmental-improvement-plan-2014</a></p><p> </p><p>Accounts <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/323953/dwp-annual-report-accounts-2013-2014.PDF" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/323953/dwp-annual-report-accounts-2013-2014.PDF</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 29/10/2014 16:22:00 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

100921

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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce delays in benefit payments; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	211859
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p /> <p> </p><p>DWP has made a number of operational improvements in benefit processes across each working age benefit, supporting both speed of clearance performance and overall customer experience. There are no delays in benefit payments, working age benefits are currently being paid on time.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Wirral West answering member printed Esther McVey question first answered 29/10/2014 16:26:55 answering member 4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

101123

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Sugar
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the prospects of the Government seeking a more advantageous arrangement for cane sugar refiners in its negotiations with the EU.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	212112
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2014 answer text <p>During negotiations of the reform of the Common Agriculture Policy last year, which led to the agreement to end sugar beet production quotas in 2017, the UK pushed for the full liberalisation of the sugar regime in order to allow the sugar cane refiners to compete with the beet producers on an equal footing.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Disappointingly, there was insufficient support from other Member States to secure the necessary changes as part of that exercise. However, we remain committed to working with the European Commission to address this issue through forthcoming EU trade agreements.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 30/10/2014 15:37:24 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms