Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) planned spending is for and (b) expected number of beneficiaries are of the Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme in each of the next five years.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Intensive Personalised Employment Support (IPES) programme is due to end on 21 September 2025. The forecasted spending for the 2024/2025 tax year and the beginning of the 2025/2026 tax year until the programme ends is shown in the table below.

We do not produce a formal forecast of the number of participants for the IPES programme per year. The last intake of participants to the programme was December 2023. As of 29 February 2024, the total number of participants was 3,820. This number will decline as participants complete the programme, until September 2025 when the programme is due to end.

Please Note

• The figures in the table have been rounded to the nearest million.
• The data recorded in the IPES dataset does not meet the standards required to be included in the Official Statistics. Please treat the total number of participant value as a guide figure rather than an actual figure.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the letter they received from the government of Brazil in 2011 that sought a reciprocal social security agreement with the UK, and a copy of their response to that letter.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Work and Pensions received diplomatic correspondence from the Brazilian government in 2011 and DWP officials met with officials at the Brazilian Embassy in London to discuss the request. There was no further action.

We do not publish another country’s diplomatic correspondence or the content of negotiations without their consent.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential (a) fiscal and (b) economic impact of the reduction in the permitted period during which (i) Universal Credit and (ii) Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants can limit their work search to their preferred sector or pay level.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the (a) fiscal cost to the public purse and (c) savings associated with the rollout of Additional Jobcentre Support.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

A 12-month extension was announced in Spring Budget 2024, which will enable us to better understand the impact of Additional Jobcentre Support.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of the total number of work coaches required to implement the roll-out of Additional Jobcentre Support.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

A 12-month extension was announced in Spring Budget 2024, which will enable us to better understand the impact of Additional Jobcentre Support.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to strengthening local welfare services.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

A total of £3 billion including Barnett impact has been announced since October 2021 to enable the delivery of Household Support Fund in England. This includes over £2.5 billion allocated to Local Authorities in England. It is for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.

Councils continue to have the flexibility to use funding from the Local Government Finance Settlement to provide local welfare assistance.

The Government has delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the child poverty statistics published on 21 March, what plans they have to initiate a cross-government strategy to address child poverty.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Work and Pensions already works consistently across Government to support the most vulnerable households. This includes a cross-government senior officials’ group on poverty.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the release of data showing that the number of children living in absolute poverty has risen by the highest rate in 30 years, what steps they are taking to address the increase in child poverty rates.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

These statistics cover 2022/23, a year when war in Ukraine and global supply chain challenges led to unexpected and high rates on inflation, averaging 10% over the year. These factors are reflected in the statistics. In response to these pressures, the Government provided an unprecedented cost of living support package which helped to shield households from the impact of inflation. Analysis shows that the Government’s cost of living support prevented 1.3 million people from falling into absolute poverty after housing costs in 2022/23. That includes 300,000 children, 600,000 working-age adults and 400,000 pensioners.

Since the period covered by these statistics, the Government has taken firm action to support families on the lowest incomes. The Government has spent around £276bn through the welfare system in 2023/24, including around £125bn on people of working age and children. We took action to support those on the lowest incomes by uprating benefits and State Pensions by 10.1% from April 2023. We are continuing to support people in 2024/25 by uprating working age benefits by 6.7% and raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30^th percentile of local market rents, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.

With over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting parents to move into and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty. The latest statistics show that in 2022/23, children living in workless households were over 6 times more likely to be in absolute poverty (after housing costs) than those where all adults work.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget Statement on 6 March that the Household Support Fund has been extended until September, what assessment they have made of the position of local authorities who had already reduced their local crisis support services and disbanded delivery teams.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

As announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget on 6 March, the government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.

The funding will be available to Local Authorities in England from 1 April 2024 and will run until 30 September 2024.

The Household Support Fund is not the only way we are supporting people on lower incomes. April’s benefit uprating of 6.7% will see an average increase in Universal Credit of £470, raising the National Living Wage will deliver an increase of over £1800 to the gross annual earnings of someone working full-time on that wage, and uplifting Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents will benefit 1.6 million private renters by, on average, £800 a year.

The Government has also delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.

As announced by the Chancellor in this year’s Spring Budget, we are also doubling the repayment period for new Universal Credit Budgeting Advances.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to work with (1) Barnado’s, and (2) other charities who have developed recommendations for the future of local crisis support, prior to the ending of the Household Support Fund in September.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

As announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget on 6 March, the government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.

The funding will be available to Local Authorities in England from 1 April 2024 and will run until 30 September 2024.

The Household Support Fund is not the only way we are supporting people on lower incomes. April’s benefit uprating of 6.7% will see an average increase in Universal Credit of £470, raising the National Living Wage will deliver an increase of over £1800 to the gross annual earnings of someone working full-time on that wage, and uplifting Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents will benefit 1.6 million private renters by, on average, £800 a year.

The Government has also delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.

As announced by the Chancellor in this year’s Spring Budget, we are also doubling the repayment period for new Universal Credit Budgeting Advances.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget Statement on 6 March that the Household Support Fund has been extended until September, what support they will provide to local authorities when the fund ends.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

As announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget on 6 March, the government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.

The funding will be available to Local Authorities in England from 1 April 2024 and will run until 30 September 2024.

The Household Support Fund is not the only way we are supporting people on lower incomes. April’s benefit uprating of 6.7% will see an average increase in Universal Credit of £470, raising the National Living Wage will deliver an increase of over £1800 to the gross annual earnings of someone working full-time on that wage, and uplifting Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents will benefit 1.6 million private renters by, on average, £800 a year.

The Government has also delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.

As announced by the Chancellor in this year’s Spring Budget, we are also doubling the repayment period for new Universal Credit Budgeting Advances.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies that around 3.5 million private sector employees do not pay anything into their pensions in a given year, and what they will do to address this.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Automatic Enrolment has already seen more than 11 million people enrolled into pension saving to date, with around an additional £29 billion in real terms saved into workplace pensions in 2021 compared to 2012.

Automatic Enrolment (AE) is and will continue to be based on the principle of extending saving to as many people as possible for whom it makes sense to save. We remain committed to increasing the number of employees who are saving, through implementing the AE 2017 Review measures to lower the age for being automatically enrolled to 18 and abolishing the lower earnings band for workplace pension contributions, which will disproportionately benefit lower earners, giving them access to an employer pension contribution for the first time. This will see 3 million people saving £2 billion extra a year.

The Government supported the Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023 which gives us the legislative powers to implement the expansion of AE subject to consultation. We remain committed to doing this in the mid-2020s.

Stop the benefit people getting a retirement pension

We think the Government should provide free sanitary products for homeless people.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill does not liberate leaseholders currently living in flats from what we see as a feudal type of ownership.

We believe the Equality Act 2010 must be reviewed to assess its impact on the workplace. We believe that the Act is preventing people from doing their jobs and making them spend all their time and energy in what we see as moralistic progressivism.

We want a ban on individuals who have donated to the party of government benefiting from government contracts for the life of that government, and a ban on political parties receiving donations from individuals or companies that have benefitted from government contracts.

I would like the Government to require all private pension providers to allow people earlier access to their pensions if they can no longer work due to ill health, and the pension should be based on their original hours (not reduced hours they worked because of their health).

I think that Universal Credit should not have a lower rate for under 25s. I think this puts under 25s at a disadvantage and is discrimination based on age.

We want the UK government to:

Extend VAT exemption to all registered mental health service providers, including counsellors and psychotherapists.

Conduct a comprehensive review of the impact of VAT on access to mental health services.

We think the Government should require recruiters to display the salary (or salary range) when advertising job listings, digitally or otherwise.

Found: the recently added provision in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill which permits DWP

Found: are costs which should fall on the Ministry of Justice (access to legal advice) and either the DWP

Found: Submitted a disrepair counter-claim, appealed his benefit overpayments with the DWP.

Found: The DWP revised their original decision in the claimant’s favour within 1 month of the appeal

Found: When you were in the Department for Work and Pensions, you also used to ask many very pertinent

Found: officials across different government departments, whether it is Justice, the Foreign Office, the DWP

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government what support is available for military veterans transitioning back into civilian life.

Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Veterans Welfare Service (VWS) supports serving personnel, veterans, the military bereaved, and their families, who have an enduring welfare need or need help to access DWP benefits or injury, bereavement and compensation schemes.

Defence Transition Services (DTS) helps Service leavers and their families, who face challenges as they leave the military and adjust to civilian life.

The support from these two services is available from two years before discharge, through into civilian life and regardless of time served or reason for discharge.

Integrated Personal Commissioning for Veterans (IPC4V) supports Armed Forces personnel who are leaving the services and are suffering from complex and enduring physical, neurological and mental health issues resulting from an injury that is attributable to Service.

Found: (e) To evidence a pension: (i) Official documentation from: (1) The Department for Work and Pensions

Found: (e) To evidence a pension: (i) Official documentation from: (1) The Department for Work and Pensions

Found: For example, the Birmingham pilot explored options for data sharing with the DWP insights team and the

Found: Understanding the spatial variation of DWP’s spend DWP spends three times more in its largest spend area

Found: £314k DWP, DEFRA, DfE, DfT Durham Horden Together programme The pilot aimed to i mprove

Found: 2.1% 20192020202120222023 FCDO OGDs Other£2,955m £546m£466m £440m £352m£257m HO DHSC DLUHC DESNZ CSSF DWP

Found: 313.727498953944 0.02453740313907381 352.370100492872 0.022919170664714758 38.64260153892798 0.12317250374217534 Department

Found: annual canvass model adds a data matching step, where the registers are compared with data held by the Department

Found: government is legislating to require the transfer of data from third parties, such as banks, to the Department

Found: Zero; Mims Davies MP to be a Minister of State (Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work) in the Department

Found: Science, Inn ovation, and Technology and previously Secretary of State and Minister of State for the Department

Found: Scienc e, Innovation, and Technology and previously Secretary of State and Minister of State for the Department

Found: Science, Innovation, and Technology and previously Secretary of State and Minister of State for the Department

Found: provide medical evidence for employers or to support a claim to health-related benefits through the Department

Found: Details The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) use Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates to calculate

Found: In Spring 2023, the Scottish Government worked with the Department for Work and Pensions to provide

Found: This survey is managed by the Department for Work and Pensions, who also published a report, available