Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Programme Business Case for the Workplace Transformation Programme, published in March 2022, included the cost of the temporary job centre estate when assessing the value for money of that programme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department’s Workplace Transformation programme business case published in March 2022, did not include the cost of the temporary Jobcentre estate. The costs associated with the temporary Jobcentre estate were considered under its own additional Face to Face Capacity Programme. The funding secured from HMT was time limited for the current Spending Review period only.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 131311 and the Answer of 3 February 2023 to Question 136734 on Department for Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information, if he will make an assessment of the compatibility of his Department's freedom of information process with (a) his Department's Publication Scheme and (b) the Cabinet Office Freedom of Information Code of Practice; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has an established programme of publication and publishes a large amount of data per year. The department currently releases around 40 Official and National statistics series each year, as well as collaborating to support a number of cross-government publications.
The Department complies with the overall intent of FOI Act and the Cabinet Office Code of Practice and keeps under consideration its approach to process and publication of information.
As mentioned in response to Question 131311, many Freedom of Information responses are automatically put in the public domain by the WhatDoTheyKnow website making them freely available to everyone.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and proportion of claimants who were placed in the Intensive Work Search group as a direct result of the changes made in the Universal Credit (Administrative Earnings Threshold) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 were then moved from this group because of an increase in earnings which took them over the Administrative Earnings Threshold between 26 September 2022 and 29 January 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Data for the period stated is not available.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claimants who were placed in the Intensive Work Search group between 26 September 2022 and 29 January 2023 as a direct result of the changes made in the Universal Credit (Administrative Earnings Threshold) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 experienced a reduction in average earnings.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Data for the period stated is not available.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what feedback his Department sought between 26 September 2022 and 29 January 2023 from Work Coaches on the practical impact of the Universal Credit (Administrative Earnings Threshold) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 on claimants.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is always working with Work Coaches and JCP local area managers on any change. It is too early for us to evaluate the impact on claimants at this stage.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's transparency data entitled Complaints about DWP: financial year 2021 to 2022, published on 17 May 2022, and Complaints about DWP: financial year 2022 to 2023, published on 31 January 2023, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the trend in the number of complaints received by his Department.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP has made significant improvements to the complaints services since 2021 moving to a single tier model, with the aim of simplifying the process and prioritising vulnerable customers. We continually monitor complaints including the volumes and, where needed we have introduced further improvement including developing a consistent approach to complaints through new quality standards. We are committed to learning from complaints, using insight to support further improvements.
Complaint volumes were slightly lower in 2021-22, and whilst the data published on 31 January 2023 represents the first three quarters of 2022/23, volumes remain much lower than pre-pandemic levels. Overall volumes continue to represent less than 1% of the customer caseload.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January to Question 126631 on Universal Credit: Young People, what proportion of Universal Credit claimants under the age of 25 lived independently in the most recent period in which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The latest available statistics show, in August 2022, there were around 170,000 single under 25 year olds on Universal Credit in payment and entitled to the housing element indicating they pay their own rent and do not live with family members or as a couple.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish a list of the triggers used by officials in his Department which would encourage claimants to migrate to Universal Credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On 10 January, the department published Completing the move to Universal Credit: Learning from the Discovery Phase - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) which details our approach in contacting claimants during the Earliest Testable Service (ETS). We will continue to test and learn what claimants need to enable them to move to UC, as we go forward.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 131311 on Department for Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information, on what day the decision to cease publishing Freedom of Information responses was made.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No explicit decision has ever been made. This was simply a change in process that occurred naturally over time.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the impact of the Universal Credit (Administrative Earnings Threshold) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 on affected Universal Credit claimants since coming into effect.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are closely monitoring the implementation of the September change. The majority of claimants impacted by the change of regulations now have a tailored Claimant Commitment agreed with their work coach.