Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the number of young people not in education, employment or training.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Office for National Statistics estimate that nearly 1 in 8 young people are not in education, employment or training.
This is 872,000 young people, a number which has risen by 74,000 over the last year.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for a Work Capability Assessment in Aldershot constituency in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not available at a constituency level. Information on Employment Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessment (WCA) clearance times for initial claims is published at a national level on DWP Stat-Xplore. This can be accessed by selecting ‘Guest log in’ and choosing ‘Clearance Times for Initial Claims’ under the ESA WCA section.
We are currently unable to provide clearance times for Universal Credit (UC) WCA statistics, as these are being developed for future publication as explained in the UC Statistics release strategy.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of Local Housing Allowance for residents in (a) Aldershot constituency and (b) Hampshire.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) determines the maximum housing support for tenants in the private rented sector. It ensures that claimants in similar circumstances living in the same area are entitled to the same maximum rent allowance regardless of the contractual rent paid.
LHA rates are set within geographical areas referred to as Broad Rental Market Areas so that a household’s LHA rate reflects private rents where they live.
LHA rates were restored to the 30th percentile of local market rents from April 2024, at a cost of £1.2 billion for 2024/25.
There were 3,134 households receiving housing support via either Housing Benefit or the Housing Element of Universal Credit subject to the LHA in the Aldershot constituency in May-24. Of those, 34% have an eligible rent above their applicable LHA rate, with a mean monthly difference, or shortfall, of £208.24. Equivalent figures for Hampshire are not readily available and to provide them would incur disproportionate cost.
Any future decisions on LHA will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, housing priorities, and the fiscal context and will include the consideration of current rents.
For those who face a shortfall in meeting their rental costs and need further support, Discretionary Housing Payments are available from local authorities.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
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 for Personal Independence Payments were (a) initially turned down and (b) successful on appeal in Aldershot constituency in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In Aldershot in the Financial Year 2022/23, 450 people who had registered to claim PIP were disallowed after assessment, this is 51% of all initial decisions. Of these, 40 claims were subsequently awarded PIP following an appeal, this is 5% of all initial decisions in the Financial Year 2022/23.
Note:
o A lapsed appeal is where DWP changed the decision in the customer’s favour after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at a tribunal hearing.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of long-term youth unemployment in (a) Aldershot constituency and (b) Hampshire; and what (i) financial and (ii) other steps she is taking to tackle long-term youth unemployment in those areas.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are 100,000 people aged 16-24 who have been unemployed for over 12 months, 16.8% of all 16-24s who are unemployed.
The sample sizes from survey data for Aldershot and Hampshire are too small, so it is not possible to make a robust estimate of the level of long-term youth unemployment for these areas.
My department, working closely with the Department for Education, are developing the Youth Guarantee, to offer localised support to all young people aged 18-21 years old not in education, employment or training. We will ensure they have access to quality opportunities for training, an apprenticeship or help to find work that is sustainable.
In Aldershot, service delivery teams are working with a range of local partners and employers across the community to support to young people into work, including the care leaver charity Step by Step, Rushmoor Borough Council and other providers.
In Hampshire, a range of Flexible Support Funded local courses are in place to deliver place based employment support to young people with additional barriers, such as care leavers, neurodivergence and mental health. More widely, there are a number of Youth Hubs in Hampshire, ensuring a joined up approach with multiple partners to co-deliver employment, training and life skills support to bring them closer to employment.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to reduce the levels of child poverty in Aldershot constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
The Child Poverty Taskforce, co-chaired by the Work and Pensions and Education Secretaries, has started urgent work to publish the UK wide Child Poverty Strategy in Spring and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.
The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside the Government’s commitments to roll out free breakfast clubs at all primary schools, setting every child up at the start of the day ready to learn, expanding childcare to deliver work choices for parents and life chances for children, provide stronger protection for families who rent privately as well as deliver our plan to make work pay.
The Government is also extending the Household Support Fund for a further 6 months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025. An additional £500 million will be provided to enable the extension of the HSF, including funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive £421 million to support those in need locally.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support people with learning difficulties who are seeking paid employment in Aldershot constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We believe learning disabled and neurodiverse people should have an equal opportunity to work. In our plan to make work pay, we committed to raising awareness of neurodiversity in the workplace.
In Aldershot, we have a dedicated Disability Employment Adviser (DEA) who supports learning disabled and neurodiverse customers alongside partner organisations that we work closely with.
Other specialist initiatives which can provide support include the Work and Health Programme and joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.
We are also exploring how we will build upon the recommendations outlined in the Buckland Review of Autism Employment to be more inclusive to support all neurodiverse people to enter, remain in or return to employment.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people eligible for but not claiming Pension Credit in Aldershot constituency.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Information relating to Pension Credit eligibility is only available via take-up statistics. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2021 to 2022 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). However, these statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of inflation on living standards of pensioners in (a) Aldershot constituency and (b) Hampshire.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
No such assessment of inflation on living standards has been made.
The Government is committed to the Triple Lock, which means that in April 2025, the basic and new State pension will increase by the higher of the growth in average earnings, price increases or 2.5%.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are recipients of Universal Credit in (a) Aldershot constituency and (b) Hampshire.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Official statistics for the number of people on Universal Credit are published each month on Stat-Xplore, with breakdowns available by various geographies including Westminster Parliamentary Constituency and local authority. The latest statistics are to August 2024.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.