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Written Question
National Insurance Contributions
Monday 27th March 2023

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that there are sufficient telephone lines and call handlers available to ensure that those people wanting to top up gaps in the National Insurance contributions between tax years April 2006 and April 2016 are able to do so before the deadline of the 31 July 2023.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

DWP have been proactively monitoring the increase in call demand since the 22nd of February, regularly adapting its telephony interactive voice response (IVR) approach and also updated Social Media messaging to assist our customers’ experience.

DWP are working together with HMRC on an ongoing basis and are flexing personnel resources where possible being mindful of other DWP service lines.


Written Question
Carer's Allowance
Monday 13th March 2023

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to increase the rate of the Carer's Allowance; and if he will make a statement.

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

The rate of Carer’s Allowance will increase from April by 10.1% to £76.75 a week. This means that, since 2010, it will have increased from £53.90 to £76.75 a week, providing just under an additional £1200 a year for carers through Carer’s Allowance.

The Secretary of State undertakes a statutory annual review of State Pension and benefit rates and the level of Carer’s Allowance is protected by up-rating it each year in line with the Consumer Prices Index.


Written Question
Cost of Living Payments: Pensioners
Monday 5th December 2022

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Cost of Living Payments have been issued to pensioners in East Yorkshire constituency.

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

In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, the number of Cost of Living Payments made to specific client groups is the subject of an upcoming statistical release, and cannot be released before that publication is ready, subject to usual quality assurance.

The Department for Work and Pensions has published management information on the total number of Cost of Living Payments made. The information which will be updated as new payments are made can be found here: Cost of Living Payment management information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).


Written Question
Pension Credit: East Yorkshire
Monday 6th June 2022

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the take up rate for Pension Credit in East Yorkshire; and what steps her Department is taking to increase take up of Pension Credit (a) locally and (b) nationally.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

There are currently some 3,040 recipients of Pension Credit in East Yorkshire.

We have already undertaken a range of actions to raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up. Initial internal management information suggests that new claims for Pension Credit in the 12 months to December 2021 were around 30% higher compared to the 12 months to December 2019.

Earlier this year, we directly targeted over 11 million pensioners with information about Pension Credit and the additional support it can provide in the leaflet accompanying their annual up-rating notification.

However, it is more important now than ever before that we ensure all eligible pensioners claim the vital financial help which Pension Credit provides. That’s why on 3 April we launched a new Pension Credit awareness campaign. We are promoting Pension Credit in a variety of ways, including on social media – with advertising targeted both at potential recipients as well as their friends and family and also in key locations for the elderly, such as post offices and GP waiting rooms.

I have written to the editors of regional newspapers across England, Scotland and Wales calling on readers to check if they could be eligible and make a claim. This was done on repeat occasions in 2021. I have also written to all MPs, urging them to lend the campaign their support. MPs are well placed to promote Pension Credit to their older constituents and many already do so.

On 6 June there will be a further roundtable meeting with some stakeholders, who have reach and expertise, to identify other practical initiatives to encourage eligible pensioners to claim.

On 15 June, there will be another Pension Credit awareness media day of action with broadcasters, newspapers and other partners encouraged to reach out to pensioners to promote Pension Credit through their channels. We will also extend the campaign to include advertising in regional and national newspapers.  This event was a success in 2021.

We know that one of the best ways to reach eligible customers is through trusted stakeholders working in the community. We will be producing and distributing leaflets and posters which can be used across local communities, and we will also be updating our digital toolkit with information and resources that any stakeholder can use to help promote Pension Credit.


Written Question
Pension Credit: East Yorkshire
Monday 21st March 2022

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what portion of state pension claimants in East Yorkshire constituency claim pension credit.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The latest figures are from August 2021 and show that of the 28,048 of people in receipt of State Pension in East Yorkshire constituency, 3,088 (11 %) are claiming Pension Credit.


Written Question
Veterans: Employment
Monday 5th July 2021

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

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 the range of support provided by her Department to members of the armed forces in the transition to civilian life; what proportion of veterans are employed within three months of discharge; and if she will make a statement.

Answered by Will Quince

The Department remains committed to the Armed Forces Covenant and will do what is necessary to help and support members of the Armed Forces Community to transition to civilian life.

We have recently introduced our new model for Armed Forces Champions which comprises 50 Armed Forces Champions working alongside 11 Group Leads at managerial level.

It means for the first time that there is at least one Armed Forces Champion in each Jobcentre Plus District and resources in the new network are targeted where there are particularly high levels of demand, for example in garrison towns, and here the Armed Forces work will form a significant part of that done in individual Jobcentres.

In addition to the Armed Forces Champions roles, all 27,000 DWP Work Coaches are trained to provide veterans and others with the help and support they need.

We have also recently introduced an Armed Forces “identifier” on to the Universal Credit system, giving customers the opportunity to tell us whether they are a veteran or currently serving. This will help us ensure that veterans and serving personnel receive any additional support they need.

We have a range of other support arrangements in place for members of the Armed Forces community. For example, veterans are given early voluntary entry to the Work and Health Programme.

We also work alongside the Career Transition Partnership, whose resettlement provision helps personnel leaving the Armed Forces prepare for entering the civilian job market and to make a successful transition to employment. The outcomes are good; 84% of veterans are employed within 6 months of discharge. These rates compare very favourably with the wider population, where 76% are in employment.

The Government’s preferred method is to look at employment outcomes from within 6 months of discharge as those collected earlier are likely to provide unfair reflections on “unplanned exits” who are only able to receive minimal employment support prior to leaving service.


Written Question
Biocidal Products
Monday 24th May 2021

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of regulations on the manufacture, marketing and sale of biocides; what testing is required in each case to determine the efficacy of those biocides against viruses and bacteria before being sold to the public; and if she will make a statement.

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

The Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR) was introduced as a stand-alone regime for Great Britain at the end of last year. Any review by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) would follow evidence based on experience of operating the stand-alone regime in Great Britain. Efficacy is a requirement for the approval of biocidal active substances and authorisation of biocidal products under the BPR.

While the approach to testing varies, all products require the same level of robust testing to demonstrate efficacy. Whether or not a product needs to be authorised by HSE, it is the responsibility of product manufacturers and suppliers to ensure that their products are suitably safe and effective, including meeting any necessary testing standards.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Monday 1st February 2021

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's target timescale for processing applications for Alternative Payment Arrangements; and what percentage of claims are processed within this target.

Answered by Will Quince

There is no target timescale for processing applications for Alternative Payment Arrangements (APAs). APAs are available at any point during Universal Credit claims where there is risk of financial harm to a claimant and/or their family.

APAs can help claimants who need additional support with:

  • paying housing costs of Universal Credit as a Managed Payment direct to the landlord;
  • more frequent than monthly payments; or;
  • split payment of an award between partners.

Universal Credit payment timeliness statistics are published in the Households on Universal Credit section on Stat-Xplore. These figures can be broken down by those with APAs and can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.

Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html


Written Question
Universal Credit: Rents
Monday 1st February 2021

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claims for managed payments to landlords were rejected in each of the last 12 months.

Answered by Will Quince

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment
Thursday 14th May 2020

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to ensure that personal independence payments made following a decision by an Appeals Tribunal are automatically extended in line with other personal independence payments that are currently being automatically extended in cases where the decision to make an award was made by her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

Since 24 March the Department has been extending awards of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) due to end from that date onwards, regardless of whether the final decision on the award was made by a Case Manager or a Tribunal.