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Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Non-fungible Tokens
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)

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 potential merits of using Non-Fungible Tokens in the administration of benefits.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP has not made any assessment into the potential merits of using Non-Fungible Tokens in the administration of benefits.


Written Question
Farms: Safety
Monday 11th July 2022

Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to review legislation on farm safety.

Answered by Chloe Smith

The health and safety of people working in or affected by work in agriculture is covered primarily by The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). HSE publishes guidance to assist the industry to comply with their legal obligations and on how to reduce injuries and ill health by identifying causes, eliminating hazards and controlling risks.

Whilst there are currently no plans to review the main legislation, HSE is working together with the industry to promote the benefits of farming safety by active engagement with the Farm Safety Partnerships in England, Wales and Scotland.


Written Question
Car Allowances: Universal Credit
Monday 13th June 2022

Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether reimbursed fuel expenses from visiting clients in their home during the course of employment is counted as income in Universal Credit claims.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

To keep Universal Credit as simple and clear as possible, the definition of earnings aligns very closely to the rules in tax legislation, namely the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA). This is so that rules across tax and benefits are aligned where possible. Under ITEPA payments classed as ‘allowable expenses’ would not be counted as employed earnings and would be excluded from the calculation of the Universal Credit award.

Reimbursed fuel expenses which would come under the general rule of allowable expenses are those where the employee is obliged to incur and pay these as a holder of that employment and the amount is incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of the duties of their employment. Reimbursed expenses which would not come under the general rule of allowable expenses are those that are in the employee’s own interest or benefit, such as the cost of travel to a single place of work.


Written Question
Child Maintenance Service: Operating Costs
Monday 14th September 2020

Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost of running the Child Maintenance Service was in (a) 2017 and (b) 2019.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The cost of running the Child Maintenance Service is reported in financial years rather than calendar years, the costs for the four financial years that include calendar years 2017 and 2019 are as follows:

2016/17 - £275.11m (excluding income) or £260.52m net of income

2017/18 - £221.73m (excluding income) or £199.67m net of income

2018/19 - £189.00m (excluding income) or £153.88m net of income

2019/20 - £189.77m (excluding income) or £146.17m net of income

Increasing income over time is due to both increasing caseloads on the CMS 2012 scheme and improvements to case compliance.


Written Question
Child Maintenance Service: Internet
Monday 14th September 2020

Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints were received about the website of the Child Maintenance Service in (a) 2017 and (b) 2019.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We have assumed that the website referred to is the Child Maintenance Self-Service system. This information is not produced within our published data, nor collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Bereavement Support Payment
Wednesday 24th June 2020

Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will extend the Bereavement Support Payment scheme to cover the deaths of parents who were living together or had children together in order to provide support for the remaining partner and their children.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

It is a key principle that all rights to inheritable benefits derived from another person’s contributions, such as Bereavement Support Payment, should be based on the concept of a legal marriage or civil partnership. However, on 7 February the High Court ruled that the higher rate of Bereavement Support Payment (which is paid to those with children) to be incompatible with the ECHR in that it is only payable where the survivor was married to, or in a civil partnership with the deceased. Whilst this ruling does not change the current legislation, we are carefully considering what to do in response to this judgement.


Written Question
Child Maintenance Service: Telephone Services
Thursday 27th February 2020

Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of time was that callers to the Child Maintenance Service were on hold waiting to be put through to an adviser in (a) 2018 and (b) 2019.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

For the 2018 calendar year the average wait time was 55 seconds.

For the 2019 calendar year the average wait time was 6 minutes 12 seconds.

Whilst figures for 2018 look significantly lower than the 2019 wait time, this is because the methodology in place prior to July 2019 was not accurate in terms of meeting the standard ASA measurement. It did not measure the end-to-end customer experience, instead only measuring the final stage. The BT reporting methodology was amended to ensure that the report did reflect the end to end customer experience,

There has also been a general increase in wait time due to the revised approach the Child Maintenance Group has adopted to customer service. Previously calls routed to the next available agent. We now only route calls to the individual caseworker or individuals with the appropriate skill sets. Whilst this can mean a potentially longer wait time, it does, however, mean the customer speaks to a person able to resolve their query at first point of contact, therefore improving the overall customer service experience.


Written Question
Children: Maintenance
Tuesday 10th July 2018

Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department is considering writing off arrears and debts to the claimant and to the public purse when transferring cases from the Child Support Agency to the Child Maintenance Service; and if she will make a statement.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

The Department recently consulted on a new Compliance and Arrears Strategy for the Child Maintenance Service. This contained proposals for new enforcement powers, alongside proposals for addressing the historic arrears that built up under the Child Support Agency. The consultation document can be found here. Our response to this consultation will be published in the near future.


Written Question
Social Security Benefits: British Nationals Abroad
Monday 11th June 2018

Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people receive who live abroad receive monthly benefits from the public purse; and what steps are being taken to ensure that people who live abroad for more than nine months in each year receive only those benefits to which they are entitled.

Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)

Information on benefit caseload and expenditure for claimants living abroad by each DWP administered benefit can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2018

The Department for Work and Pensions exchanges data with other countries to help ensure that payments made to people who live abroad are those to which they are entitled. DWP staff are trained to spot fraudulent documents and refer any suspicions to relevant parties.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Rural Areas
Thursday 23rd November 2017

Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to assist (a) farmers and (b) people that pay themselves less than the minimum wage as universal credit is rolled out in rural areas.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Universal Credit provides the same financial and work coach assistance to farmers as to any other sector. And all claimants have the same rights and obligations.

Claimants who are established in self-employment when they move to Universal Credit that are achieving low levels of earnings are able to get mentoring support through the New Enterprise scheme. This mentoring is designed to help participants further develop their business and grow their earnings to a level of sustainable self-sufficiency.