Our broad estimate of extending entitlement to free school meals to all families in receipt of Universal Credit is that it would cost up to an extra £750 million per year. This is lower than previous estimates because of the implementation of the universal infant free school meals policy from September 2014.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1473", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr David Laws"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Yeovil"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr David Laws"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-03-31", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-03-31T12:00:00.00Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2014-03-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to free school meals to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/163", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "East Ham"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Stephen Timms"} ], "uin" : "193248"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/44501", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Energy and Climate Change"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/44501/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
There is a range of assistance with energy costs available to low income and vulnerable consumers.<\/p>
<\/p>
Some policies offer automatic payments. For example, Cold Weather Payments provide £25 for each 7 day period of very cold weather to eligible households. The cost of this scheme is not only dependent on who is eligible but also on the number of consecutive days of very cold weather in a given winter.<\/p>
<\/p>
Other types of assistance are set at a given level of annual support, irrespective of the number of eligible consumers. For example, Affordable Warmth is estimated to deliver energy efficiency and heating measures worth around £350 million. Whilst a consumer needs to be claiming certain types of benefits to be eligible for the scheme, support is capped at a certain target level and therefore extending the scheme's eligibility criteria would not necessarily affect the cost of the scheme.<\/p>
<\/p>
These examples highlight that the cost of assistance is dependent on a number of factors beyond simply whether a consumer is eligible for support. We estimate 8 million people will be receiving Universal Credit once it has been fully rolled out. However, the cost to the public purse of extending the eligibility of the assistance schemes will depend on which schemes are included (e.g. would Winter Fuel Payments be included?), the way eligibility is implemented (capped versus automatic) and external factors such as the weather.<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1389", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Barker of Battle"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Bexhill and Battle"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Gregory Barker"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-03-26", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-03-26T12:00:00.00Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "63"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Energy and Climate Change"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Energy and Climate Change"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2014-03-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to assistance with utility costs to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/163", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "East Ham"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Stephen Timms"} ], "uin" : "193247"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/44512", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Justice"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/44512/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
<\/p>
<\/p>
I will write to the Rt hon. Member for East Ham regarding the issues he has raised on legal aid and remission of court fees. On the assisted prison visits, we are liaising further with the Department for Work & Pensions.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1496", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Shailesh Vara"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "North West Cambridgeshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Shailesh Vara"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-04-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-04-09T12:00:00.00Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2014-03-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to (a) assistance with civil and criminal legal aid, (b) remission for court fees and (c) access to the assisted prison visits programme to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/163", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "East Ham"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Stephen Timms"} ], "uin" : "193245"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 3, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }