Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what contingency plans are in place to address the potential increase in demand for services such as food banks in the event of the discontinuation of the Household Support Fund after March 2024.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
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.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there have been any consultations with local authorities, charities, and community organisations regarding the impact of terminating the Household Support Fund; and if so, whether they intend to publish the responses.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024. The government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.
We engage regularly with local authorities during their ongoing delivery of the current Household Support Fund. Ministers and officials also frequently engage with a range of stakeholders on areas relevant to the work of the Department.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have carried out an analysis of the geographic distribution of Household Support Fund recipients.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Household Support Fund is allocated to all 153 upper tier Local Authorities in England. The distribution of the funding is targeted at the areas of the country with the most vulnerable households, on the basis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) local population estimates and Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) scores. Allocation amounts for upper tier Local Authorities in England are therefore reflective of population size and relative deprivation.
Management Information (MI) was published for HSF1-3 following the completion of each scheme. The latest MI covering HSF3 was published in August 2023. This MI shows the amount allocated to Local Authorities and how it was spent. We will similarly look to publish MI for the entirety of HSF4 following scheme completion and subject to quality assurance processes.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the steps taken to deliver the commitment contained in the National Disability Strategy, published on 28 July 2021, to see "more disabled people becoming elected representatives".
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In January 2022, the High Court declared that the National Disability Strategy was unlawful because the UK Disability Survey, which informed it, was held to be a voluntary consultation that failed to comply with the legal requirements on public consultations.
We are disappointed by, and strongly disagree with, the High Court’s finding, and the Secretary of State has been granted permission to appeal the Court's declaration. In order to ensure compliance with the Court’s declaration, we are obliged to pause a limited number of policies which are referred to in the Strategy or are directly connected with it.
The policy ‘Cabinet Office will consider how we can best support those standing for public office and those who hold public office’ was one of the policies we were obliged to pause.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the Department for Work and Pensions classifies ME/CFS as a musculoskeletal disease for the purposes of statistics and for the guidance and training of their health professionals, rather than as a neurological disease.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Assessment of entitlement to benefit does not depend on the condition itself, the underlying cause or how the condition is classified, but on the disabling effects of the condition(s) present.
The condition insight reports for Personal Independence Payment Health Professionals state that ME/CFS is classified as a neurological disorder; the guidance for CHDA Health Professionals who conduct Work Capability Assessments make no reference to the classification of ME/CFS.
The issue of classification for coding and statistical purposes has recently been brought to our attention. In light of this we are currently exploring moving ME/CFS from the musculoskeletal to neurological section for coding purposes.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications have been received for the Kickstart Scheme; how many have been approved; and how many individual participants this includes.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
As of 18th March 2021 there have been over 15,000 applications received for Kickstart Scheme, we have approved over 150,000 jobs and over 6,000 young people have started their placements.
As of the 12th March 2021, there had been over 900 unique gateway applications approved and over 1,200 unique employer bids accepted on the Kickstart Scheme.
Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system which has been developed quickly. The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made on reaching a decision over proposals to increase rent arrear deductions from 5 per cent to 40 per cent under Universal Credit.
Answered by Lord Freud
We recently consulted on the proposal to increase the rate of rent arrears deductions in Universal Credit. We are currently considering the consultation responses.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what analysis has been made of the ability of Universal Credit recipients to meet other essential needs after rent arrears have been deducted at the proposed level of 40 per cent.
Answered by Lord Freud
Deductions from Universal Credit are made after considering the claimant's individual circumstances and ability to afford the deductions. The maximum that can be deducted for all deductions, including rent arrears, is an amount equivalent to 40 per cent of the claimant's Universal Credit Standard Allowance. The only exceptions to this rule are deductions for normal consumption of utilities and in cases where a sanction or penalty is being applied or a (Universal Credit) advance is being recovered. Where appropriate the rate of deduction can be reduced.