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Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: Women
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide (1) an apology, and (2) compensation, to women born in the 1950s, as recommended by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in its report, Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March.

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

We are considering the Ombudsman’s report and will respond in due course.


Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: Women
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March.

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

We are considering the Ombudsman’s report and will respond in due course.


Written Question
Quad Bikes: Safety
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the timetable for their review into operator protection devices on quad bikes.

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

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the regulator for health and safety in Great Britain. The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) is the equivalent regulator in Northern Ireland.

Sit astride all-terrain vehicles (commonly referred to as quad bikes) supplied into the UK market must meet the Essential Health and Safety Requirements of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 and relevant Standards. Quad bikes are used in a range of workplace and leisure settings.

Both UK regulators continue to monitor available technology and the regulatory approaches employed in other countries, including where operator protection devices (OPDs) have been made mandatory. HSE is reviewing available evidence against typical UK workplace settings to see if additional measures can provide improvements in safety. This work is ongoing and HSE will provide this information to the working group that will assess if changes should be made to the specific Designated Standard.


Written Question
Household Support Fund
Tuesday 20th February 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Barnardo's report No crib for a bed: a closer look at bed poverty and the Household Support Fund crisis, published on 5 February.

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

The report looks at a broad range of policy areas and, while we have made no specific assessment of the report itself, my Department continues to monitor the impact of its policies.

The Government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children.

Our approach to tackling poverty is based on clear evidence that parental employment, particularly where its full time, reduces the risk of poverty. In the financial year 2021 to 2022, children living in households where all adults work were around 5 times less likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those living in workless households.

The Government is putting significant additional support in place for those on the lowest incomes from April. Subject to Parliamentary approval, working age benefits will rise by 6.7% while the Basic and New State Pensions will be uprated by 8.5% in line with earnings, as part of the ‘triple lock”.

To further support low-income households with increasing rent costs, the government will raise Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefitting 1.6m low-income households by on average £800 a year in 24/25. Additionally, the Government will increase the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44 representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage.

The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, and the Government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Wednesday 31st January 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claims were subject to (1) deductions (advance repayments), third party reductions and all other deductions, (2) reductions (sanctions and fraud penalties), and (3) suspension (stop in payment due to doubt over entitlement), in the 2022–23 financial year; and what was the (a) average, and (b) total, amount (i) deducted, (ii) reduced, and (iii) suspended; and what proportion does this represent.

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

Information on 1) deductions and 2) fraud penalties for Universal Credit are provided in the tables below.

Table 1: Number of households with a Universal Credit Claim subject to at least one deduction, broken down by deduction type; the number of households with a deduction as a proportion of all universal credit households; what the total sum of deductions was; how much on average was deducted, in the 2022-23 financial year.

2022/23

Number of distinct UC claims

Proportion of Universal Credit Claims subject to Deduction

Total Amount Deducted

Average Deduction Amount

Claims with deduction for an advance

2,400,000

38%

£690,000,000

£40

Claims with deduction for third party

950,000

15%

£227,000,000

£33

Claims with other deductions

2,200,000

34%

£684,000,000

£49

All UC claims with at least one deduction

3,500,000

55%

£1,601,000,000

£62

All UC claims

6,400,000

Table 2: Number of households with a Universal Credit Claim subject to at least fraud penalty; the number of households with a fraud penalty as a proportion of all universal credit households; what the total sum of fraud penalties was; the average fraud penalty, in the 2022-23 financial year.

Table 2

Number of distinct UC claims in the 2022-23 Financial Year

Number of households with at least one fraud penalty in the 2022-23 Financial Year

Households with at least one fraud penalty as a proportion of all UC households

Total amount of Fraud Penalties across the 22/23 financial year

Average Fraud Penalty Amount for those households with a fraud penalty

6,400,000

330

0.01%

£65,000

£200

Notes:

1. Average deduction amounts have been rounded to the nearest £1 and proportions have been rounded to the nearest percentage point. Fraud penalty reduction amounts are rounded to nearest £10 and proportions to the nearest 0.01 percentage point.

2. Deductions include advance repayments, third party deductions and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties which are reductions of benefit rather than deductions.

3. "Advances" include all four UC advance types: New Claim, Benefit Transfer, Budgeting and Change of Circumstances.

4. The table includes the number of distinct Universal Credit households subject to a deduction in the period 2022-2023. Any household with deductions in more than one assessment period within the period requested will only be counted once. Where a household has multiple deductions in the same assessment period, these figures provide the total of all deductions taken.

5. The table includes the number of distinct Universal Credit households subject to a fraud penalty in the period 2022-2023. Any household with fraud penalty in more than one assessment period within the period requested will only be counted once. Where a household has multiple fraud penalties in the same assessment period, these figures provide the total of all fraud penalties taken.

6. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.

7. This method for calculating the proportion is different to the usual reported figure which looks at a given month and historically has been around 45% for all UC households. See PQ UIN: 203044.

8. Households could have more than one deduction type so adding claims by deduction type may not sum to the total of all deductions.

Information on 2) reductions due to sanctions is provided below

Monthly statistics for April 2022 to March 2023, on the number of Universal Credit full service claimants with a payment that has been reduced due to a sanction, are published on Stat-Xplore, and are shown in the following table.

UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied by month and sanction indicator from April 2022 to March 2023

Sanction indicator

Yes

No

Total

April 2022

106,172

5,439,955

5,546,129

May 2022

108,969

5,432,866

5,541,837

June 2022

110,438

5,450,340

5,560,774

July 2022

117,527

5,502,514

5,620,041

August 2022

114,874

5,546,078

5,660,952

September 2022

117,671

5,566,557

5,684,229

October 2022

122,293

5,608,895

5,731,191

November 2022

117,397

5,639,386

5,756,783

December 2022

119,744

5,660,360

5,780,103

January 2023

118,395

5,681,209

5,799,601

February 2023

113,352

5,722,976

5,836,324

March 2023

120,086

5,733,100

5,853,189

Source: Stat-Xplore, Department for Work and Pensions

Notes:

  1. The sanction indicator for claimants can take the following values: Yes - Claimants payment is being reduced due to a sanction; No - Claimants payment is not being reduced due to a sanction.
  2. Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data. Totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied.
  3. Statistics for Universal Credit Sanctions relate to the second Thursday of each month.
  4. These statistics include those sanctions which subsequently go on to be overturned. Claimants whose sanction is overturned will be repaid any deduction.

The information requested for average and total amount of benefit reduced due to sanction is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Information for part 3) suspensions is not readily available and to provide these would be at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Deductions
Tuesday 19th September 2023

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what prior warning individuals moving from legacy benefits to Universal Credit are given about deductions from their first Universal Credit payment about tax credit debt.

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

HMRC notifies the customer of the amount of debt being transferred and explains that DWP will recover by deduction from Universal Credit. Once transferred to DWP for recovery, any Tax Credit debt is recovered in the same way as overpaid DWP benefits. Where the customer is in receipt of Universal Credit, deductions are taken from the next available assessment period. Customers are advised of the rate of deduction through a notification posted in their journal.

DWP has a well-established process for working with individuals to support them to manage their debt. We remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and encourage anyone who cannot afford the proposed rate of repayment to contact us.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Deductions
Tuesday 19th September 2023

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what information individuals moving from legacy benefits to Universal Credit are given about their right to request write-off and waivers of outstanding debt.

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

Whilst customers are not automatically informed of their option to seek a waiver, we remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and encourage anyone who cannot afford the proposed rate of repayment, or that does not consider recovery appropriate given their particular circumstances, to contact the Department.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Deductions
Tuesday 19th September 2023

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether individuals moving from legacy benefits to Universal Credit with tax credit debt will have deductions taken from their Universal Credit award commencing on the first Assessment Period.

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

Once transferred to DWP for recovery, Tax Credit debt is recovered in the same way as overpaid DWP benefits. Where the customer is in receipt of Universal Credit, deductions are taken from the next available assessment period. Customers are advised of the rate of deduction through a notification posted in their journal.

DWP has a well-established process for working with individuals to support them to manage their debt. We remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and encourage anyone who cannot afford the proposed rate of repayment to contact us.


Written Question
Employment: Special Educational Needs
Wednesday 10th May 2023

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities do not face stigma when applying for employment.

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

On the 2nd April, DWP launched a new review, led by Rt Hon Sir Robert Buckland KC MP, that will explore ways to increase the number of autistic people in employment. One area of focus in the review is understanding the working practices or initiatives that can reduce stigma and improve the productivity of autistic employees. Whilst the review focuses specifically on autistic people, many of the issues and solutions are likely to be similar for other young people with SEND, and they will also benefit from the recommendations the review will bring forward.

The Disability Confident scheme supports employers to make the most of the talents disabled people of all ages can bring to the workplace. It provides employers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop, disabled people in the workplace. It aims to challenge the stigmas of what it means to employ a disabled person and encourages employers to think differently about disability and to take positive action to address the issues disabled employees face in the workplace. This is in addition to DWP providing employment support to employers and young people with SEND to overcome barriers to employment. This support includes:

  • The Access to Work (AtW) scheme: which supports disabled people who have the most significant barriers to employment. DWP are delivering a series of AtW Adjustments Passport pilots in a variety of settings that will enable us to gain an understanding on whether a passport can support a more coherent journey of adjustment support. This includes testing an Adjustments Passport for people transitioning from education to employment.
  • Access to Work Plus (AtW+): which asks employers to think differently about their vacancies and consider if they can adapt, shape or flex job roles to enable a disabled person to retain, return, or move into, employment. The AtW+ pilot will help us to understand whether the introduction of new support beyond the existing Access to Work scheme, would enable disabled people with high in-work support needs, take up employment.
  • Youth Employability Coaches (YECs), part of the DWP Youth Offer: help young people overcome barriers to employment such as homelessness, addiction, and other complex needs, as well as offering 6 weeks of in-work support once they move into work. YECs work closely alongside Disability Employment Advisors to support those with disabilities and health conditions. They also link with partner organisations who can provide specialist advice.

The Department for Education are investing c£18 million until 2025 to build capacity and level up quality in the Supported Internships Programme and double the number of internships to support more young people with SEND into employment. This includes grant funding to all local authorities and support and training to strengthen the quality of their supported internship offers, alongside activities to engage employers and support them to host interns.

To ensure that employers are supported to create new apprenticeship opportunities, the Department for Education provide targeted financial support directly to training providers to help remove barriers and stigmas for people with a learning difficulty or disability. Employers could receive £1,000 towards the costs of workplace support when they take on an apprentice aged 16-18 or 19-25 with an Education, Health, and Care Plan, as well as help to cover the extra costs working individuals may have because of their disability through the DWP’s Access to Work scheme. Improvements have also been made to the Find an Apprenticeship service to allow people to identify Disability Confident employers offering opportunities.


Written Question
Financial Services: Climate Change
Wednesday 21st December 2022

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 25 November (HL3377), what evidence they have collected regarding the voting record of UK authorised fund managers in relation to climate-related resolutions at AGMs.

Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott

I refer the Noble Lady to the answer I gave on 25 November 2022 to HL3377. The Department does not collect this information.