Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the Universal Credit overpayment rate for the financial years (1) 2022–23, and (2) 2023–24; and how these figures compare to the forecasted rate used in the Spring Budget 2023 and Spring Budget 2024.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Universal Credit (UC) overpayment rate was 12.7% of expenditure in the financial year 2022-23, and 12.4% of expenditure in the financial year 2023-24.
At Spring Budget 2023, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that the UC overpayment rate would be 12.1% in 2022/23, an underestimate of 0.6ppts from actual 2022-23 outturn (12.7%).
At Spring Budget 2024, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that the UC overpayment rate would be 13.2% in 2023/24, an overestimate of 0.7ppts from actual 2023-24 outturn (12.4%).
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to page 138 of the Department of Work and Pensions Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24 (HC 62) published on 22 July 2024, what proportion of the total £9.4 billion debt stock held by Debt Management at the end of 2023–24 is deemed irrecoverable.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Impaired debt as a proportion of the £9.4bn debt stock reported in the 23/24 Annual Report and Accounts is: | ||
Impairment Value | £1.958bn |
|
Impairment as a % of Debt Stock | 21% |
|
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many contracts managed by the Cabinet Office under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 meet the financial thresholds for key performance indicator reporting set out in section 52 of the Procurement Act 2023 but are exempt from such reporting under the Act's transitional provisions; and what is the total value of those contracts.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The guidance on the transitional and saving arrangements, which determine how the changeover from the previous legislation to the Procurement Act 2023 (Act) is managed and effected by contracting authorities. The guidance states that contracting authorities are not required by the Act to set or publish KPIs for contracts that were awarded under the previous legislation, even where those contracts are above the threshold set out in section 52 of the Act.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many government contracts with a value above £20 million excluding VAT have been re-awarded to incumbent suppliers without a competitive tendering process by central government in each of the last five years; and what is the total value of those contracts in each of those years.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Details of all Government contracts, including the procurement procedure used, are published on the Contracts Finder and Find a Tender services above certain thresholds. Details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder(opens in a new tab).
In certain limited circumstances, it may be possible for a procuring body to make a direct award of a contract, without going through the competition stages set out in PCR 2015. The specific circumstances where this is permitted are set out in regulation 32 of PCR 2015 and the grounds for using the procedure are limited to those listed in the regulation. They include:
where an open or restricted procedure generates no suitable tenders or no suitable requests to participate
where the works can be supplied only by a particular operator
in an extreme urgency
More information is available at Procurement Policy Note 01/21: Procurement in an Emergency.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Get Britain Working White Paper (CP 1191), what assessment they made of the value of partnering with cultural and arts organisations, and in particular of the levels of pay and employment rights offered by such organisations.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government will work in partnership with organisations at the national and local level to join up, enhance and champion their efforts as part of our new Youth Guarantee. Our first partnerships will be developed with Channel 4, the Royal Shakespeare Company and leading sports organisations including the Premier League.
These sports, culture and arts organisations play a vital role in our economy, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and contributing to growth. This work has become even more important since the Covid-19 pandemic, which harmed the chances and choices of so many young people.
We have partnered with these organisations on the basis that they already have a track record of building trusted relationships with young people from all walks of life, including those in schools and those from areas of socio-economic disadvantage. As well as being heavily involved with young people in schools they all have a particular interest in young people who are not earning or learning.
We plan to expand into other sectors and organisations who also play a vital role in youth education, employment and training.
DWP does not hold data on pay by individual organisations.
The Good Work Review, published in February 2023 by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, was co-funded by DCMS and is the first sectoral deep dive of its kind into job quality and working practice in the creative industries.
DCMS is working closely with the sector as it responds to these recommendations. The review set out a number of priorities, including driving improvements in workplace and management practices in the Creative Industries.
Statistics on median annual gross pay in the Creative Industries and subsectors (vs. UK as a whole) in Economic Estimates: Earnings 2023 and Employment October 2022 to September 2023 for the DCMS Sectors and Digital Sector - GOV.UK
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether an annual Christmas bonus for benefit claimants will be paid this year; if so, how many claimants will receive that bonus; and what the total cost will be, including administrative costs, to public funds.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2024/25, it is estimated that there will be around 17.9 million recipients of the Christmas Bonus at a cost of £179 million. This information is available in Table 1c of the Outturn and Forecast tables for the Autumn Budget 2024, which can be found here: outturn-and-forecast-tables-autumn-budget-2024.xlsx
In most cases, the bonus is paid automatically with whichever qualifying benefit an individual receives, which ensures administration costs are kept to a minimum.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that information published about the total value of benefits paid to claimants, including available discount schemes and grants, can be readily compared with employee salaries, which are usually quoted before tax.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has no such plans. Independent, free and anonymous benefit calculators are available that can help individuals to see how their benefits are affected if they start work or increase their hours. Benefit calculators can be found on gov.uk.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial implications of the proposal to impose VAT on independent school fees on the parents of children supported by the Continuity of Education Allowance.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education, which is why we have made the tough decision to end tax breaks for private schools. This will raise revenue for essential public services, including investing in the education system.
Recognising the enormous sacrifices our military families make, the Ministry of Defence provide the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) to eligible Service Personnel. The government will monitor closely the impact of these policy changes on affected military families and the upcoming Spending Review is the right time to consider any changes to this scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of residents of Ceredigion in Wales are currently in receipt of disability benefits.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below shows the number of claimants in February 2024 who are on the different disability benefits, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance, including the Child element (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA).
PIP | DLA | AA | Total |
4,449 | 1,293 | 2,785 | 8,527 |
This information can be found on the published datasets on Stat-Xplore - Log in (dwp.gov.uk)
The latest available population estimates published by the Office of National Statistics on Population estimates - local authority based by single year of age - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (nomisweb.co.uk) show that the estimated population of Ceredigion in April 2023 is 73,050.
This means that 12% of the residents of Ceredigion in Wales were claiming disability benefits in February 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, when referencing benefits, they will gross up the value of each benefit to demonstrate a direct and fair comparison with salaries paid to people who are not claiming benefits.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.