Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to encourage the take up of Pension Credit, and (2) to simplify the application process.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is running a national uptake campaign to encourage the estimated up to 880,000 citizens who may be entitled to Pension Credit apply for it. The Department is in the process of modernising the Pension Credit delivery and has previously undertaken an assessment of the application process and introduced online claims in addition to telephone and paper claims. DWP Agents and third-party organisations are available to support customers with the application process.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the likely resilience of food banks during the upcoming winter.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
There is no consistent and accurate measure of foodbank usage at a constituency or national level, including any assessment on foodbank resilience.
The Department for Work and Pensions introduced a set of questions into the Family Resources Survey (FRS) to measure and track foodbank usage in April 2021. The first results of these questions are due to be published in March 2023 subject to usual quality assurance.
Our commitment to include questions in the Family Resources Survey show how seriously we take this issue; the data is vital to ensure we understand the full picture