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Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Pay
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the impact that changes in the national (a) living and (b) minimum wage commencing on 1 April 2024 will have on staffing costs in his Department; and how many staff in his Department will receive a pay uplift as a result of those changes.

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

On 1 April 2024 the statutory National Living Wage (NLW) will be uplifted from £10.42 to £11.44 per hour, a rise of 9.8%. DWP pay NLW regardless of age.

Based on January headcount data 22,267 DWP employees will be impacted by the 2024 increase to the NLW and will require a pay uplift to meet the new NLW rate. This is estimated to cost the department £22.59m including Employer National Insurance and Pension contributions this year.


Written Question
Food Banks
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of his Department's policy on the use of foodbank signposting slips at Jobcentres on vulnerable households.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

On 19 February we introduced a new food charity signposting slip to replace the one previously used.

This does not change DWP signposting policy but improves the signposting slip to comply with our obligations under GDPR.

Our Jobcentres continue to provide customers with guidance to find additional support, including signposting to emergency food support when appropriate.

The new slip does not include any personal data. It also now provides claimants with information on where they might access emergency food locally, and wider sources of support.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2024 to Question 12040 on Universal Credit, if she will extend data sharing to include the details of (a) addresses receiving housing allowance and (b) people receiving that allowance living in private rented accommodation to local authorities with selective licencing schemes.

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

DWP already shares UC data with Local Authorities for various reasons where we have legal powers and a legal basis to do so and where the sharing can be done in compliance with all other UK GDPR requirements.

DWP is committed to maximising the use of its data, where it is appropriate and legal to do so to meet the primary objectives of:

- reducing fraud and error

- creating the right incentives to get more people into work

- protecting the most vulnerable in our society and

- delivering fairness to those claiming benefit and to the taxpayer

DWP works closely with DLUHC on housing quality, whilst in principle we are willing to consider whether UC data could be shared with Local Authorities for selective licensing purposes or other Private Rented Sector enforcement measures, we would need to see a detailed proposal and would make decisions on a case-by-case basis.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Friday 2nd February 2024

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to permit universal credit data to be shared with local authorities operating a selective licensing housing scheme.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP is committed to maximising the use of its data, where it is appropriate and legal to do so to meet the primary objectives of:

- reducing fraud and error

- creating the right incentives to get more people into work

- protecting the most vulnerable in our society and

- delivering fairness to those claiming benefit and to the taxpayer

DWP already shares data with Local Authorities where we have legal powers and a legal basis to do so and where the sharing can be done in compliance with all other UK GDPR requirements.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Durham
Friday 2nd February 2024

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of universal credit (UC) claimants are in receipt of UC housing allowance in (a) Easington constituency and (b) County Durham as of 30 January 2024.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Statistics for the number of households on Universal Credit with a housing entitlement in payment, by parliamentary constituency and by local authority, are published every three months on Stat-Xplore, and are currently available to August 2023, with statistics to November 2023 due to be published on Tuesday 13th February 2024 at 09:30am.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.


Written Question
Health and Safety Executive: Inspections
Monday 17th July 2023

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to increase the number of inspections carried out by the Health and Safety Executive.

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

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not measure its impact by counting the number of inspections. HSE uses a variety of methods to influence change and help people manage risks at work including providing advice, information and guidance, working with stakeholders, carrying out investigations and taking enforcement action to prevent harm and hold those who break the law to account

HSE’s published business plan for 2023/2024 outlines the targeted interventions it plans to deliver in areas of greatest risk to assess dutyholder compliance with the law, this can be found here. In carrying out this work HSE is planning to deliver a minimum of 14,000 inspections.


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment
Monday 17th April 2023

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many PIP claimants who receive the highest rate of support are subject to the arrangement whereby they receive an ongoing award of PIP with a light touch review every 10 years.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims receiving an ongoing award on the highest level of payment (Enhanced awards for both Mobility and Daily Living) can be found on Stat-Xplore. In particular, the requested data can be found by applying the following filters to the ‘PIP Clearances’ dataset:

  • Clearance Type Detail: “Awarded”
  • Award Type: “Ongoing Award”
  • Daily Living Award Level: “Daily Living – Enhanced”
  • Mobility Award Status: “Mobility Award – Enhanced”

You may also wish to filter for “DWP policy ownership” under Geography due to the devolution of some disability benefits to Scotland.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 08 Nov 2022
State Pension Triple Lock

Speech Link

View all Grahame Morris (Lab - Easington) contributions to the debate on: State Pension Triple Lock

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 06 Jun 2022
Oral Answers to Questions

Speech Link

View all Grahame Morris (Lab - Easington) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 06 Jun 2022
Oral Answers to Questions

Speech Link

View all Grahame Morris (Lab - Easington) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions