Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of the new Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches will be located in (a) Wakefield and (b) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of 26th May, there has been 551 Work Coaches recruited in the West Yorkshire District, 51 of these were recruited for Wakefield Jobcentre.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department has disbursed in cold weather payments to the residents of (a) Wakefield constituency and (b) West Yorkshire in the most recent period for which that information is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Cold Weather Payment scheme is administered at weather station level rather than at a constituency or regional level. The coverage area for each weather station is determined by the Met Office, which assesses the most appropriate weather station for each postcode area. Cold weather payments are triggered when the average temperature recorded at the weather station has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0oC or below over seven consecutive days, during the Cold Weather season (November to March).
The constituency of Wakefield covers all or part of the following postcode areas: S75, WF1, WF12, WF2, WF3, WF4 and WF5. These postcode areas are covered by the weather station Sheffield. Sheffield weather station covers the postcode areas, in Table 1, which include constituencies other than Wakefield.
There are twenty-two constituencies in West Yorkshire. Postcodes within these constituencies are linked to one of four weather stations: Sheffield, Bramham, Bingley and Rochdale. Table 1 shows the weather stations linked to West Yorkshire postcodes, and also includes postcodes in constituencies other than West Yorkshire.
Table 1 Postcode sectors mapped to Weather Stations | |
Weather station | Postcode Sectors Covered |
Sheffield | DN1-8, DN11-12, HD1-2, HD4-6, S1-14, S17-18, S20-21, S25-26, S35, S40-45, S60-66, S70-75, S80-81, WF1-17. |
Bramham | HG1-5, LS1-20, LS22-28, YO1, YO8, YO10, YO19, YO23-24, YO26, YO30-32, YO41-43, YO51, YO60-61. |
Bingley | BB4, BB8-12, BB18, BD1-22, HD3, HD7-9, HX1-7, LS21, LS29, OL13-14, S36. |
Rochdale | BL0-9, M24, M26, OL1-12, OL15-16, SK15. |
Table 2 Estimated number of Cold Weather recipients | ||
Weather station | 2020/21 | Number of triggers |
Sheffield | 156,000 | 1 |
Bramham | 60,000 | 1 |
Bingley | 73,000 | 2 |
Rochdale | 69,000 | 1 |
Qualifying individuals living in this area will have received a £25 payment in respect of a seven-day period of Cold Weather. Expenditure can be estimated by multiplying the number of payments by £25.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to reduce the time taken for child maintenance payment assessments.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has introduced the Apply Online Service for customers which has reduced the average application time from 45 minutes to 15 minutes. This service also has a webchat function to support customers applying online.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many businesses based have applied for the Kickstart scheme with less than 30 job placements on offer since the 30-placement minimum rule was removed in (a) Wakefield, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) England.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are not able to publish this information at this time. For the latest statistics on the Kickstart Scheme, I refer my honourable member to oral question 912997.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of pregnant women have been entitled to maternity allowance in the last 12 months.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The proportion of pregnant women who have been entitled to Maternity Allowance in the last 12 months has not been assessed.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Wakefield constituency were (a) eligible for and (b) received Cold Weather Payments from 1 November 2020 to 4 December 2020.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Cold weather payments are triggered when the average temperature recorded at the weather station has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0oC or below over seven consecutive days, during the Cold Weather season (November to March).
There have been no cold weather triggers in the period 1 November 2020 to 4 December 2020, resulting in 0 payments to eligible claimants in the Wakefield Constituency.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average processing time is for applications to the Kickstart Scheme in (a) Wakefield, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) England.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Weare unable to provide location specific processing times as many applications cover multiple areas or even nations within Great Britain. Our aim to process applications within four weeks, although they may take longer if we have to seek additional information from the bidder.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons applications to the Government’s Kickstart scheme are restricted to (a) limited companies and (b) registered charities.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Kickstart Scheme is open to a wide range of public, private and charitable sector employers. To apply for funding via the DWP’s Kickstart Scheme, we require a Companies House registration number or a Charity Commission number. Public Sector organisations and exempt charities can still apply and there is guidance that outlines the process. This requirement enables our due diligence checks to ensure the proper spending of public money.
Businesses without a Companies House registration number may still apply through a Kickstart Gateway.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the rate of unemployment was in the Wakefield constituency (a) on 12 December 2019, (b) in March 2020 and (c) on 10 November 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
All estimates of unemployment are publicly available on the NOMIS website (https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/).
All estimates of Alternative Claimant Count are publicly available on the StatXplore website (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/alternative-claimant-count-statistics-january-2013-to-may-2020
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claims from Wakefield constituency have been rejected in the (a) 2019-20 financial year and (b) 2020-21 financial year to date.
Answered by Will Quince
There are a number of reasons a Universal Credit (UC) claim may be unsuccessful. These can include ineligibility, nil entitlement, insufficient evidence, claim withdrawal and non-compliance with the UC process.
In the 2019-20 financial year, in the Wakefield constituency, 1,380 UC claims were unsuccessful before reaching payment.
In the 2020-21 financial year (up to 31st August 2020), 500 UC claims, in the Wakefield constituency, were unsuccessful before reaching payment.
Notes: