Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of setting out a roadmap for ending the two-child limit in the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We published the framework ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy’ on 23 October and will explore all available levers to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change.
The Child Poverty Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, which includes considering social security reforms, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.
The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Strategy in Spring 2025.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to develop a long-term strategy and funding settlement for local welfare after the Household Support Fund ends in March 2026; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including provision for local welfare in the three-year funding settlements for local authorities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We want to fix the fundamentals of the social security system so that people are not reliant on crisis support for the cost of essentials. To support the upcoming Child Poverty Strategy, we will continue to provide substantial funding to Local Authorities to support those most in need.
That is why the Government is extending the Household Support Fund (HSF) by a further year, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026. This will ensure low-income households can continue to access support towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water.
We recognise that certainty helps Local Authorities to design and deliver sustainable plans for local welfare assistance. Committing to funding the Household Support Fund until 31 March 2026 will allow them to plan their approach with greater confidence.
As with all other government programmes, further funding will be considered in the round at Phase 2 of the Spending Review.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to publish its joint review with Her Majesty’s Treasury on survivor benefits in occupational pension schemes.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Review on survivor benefits provided a wealth of important information. Since then the Supreme Court judgement in Walker has changed the landscape of survivor benefits. The Government is assessing the detailed implications of the Review in the context of this important judgement and will respond in due course.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the Government's timescale is for (a) acknowledging the concluding observations from the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and (b) responding to that convention's recommendations.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Government is committed to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and to the progressive realisation of the rights for disabled people that it sets out.
We have provided our first report to the UN Committee as requested. We published this report on 6 September 2018. This report and accompanying ministerial letter setting out the UK's progress are available on GOV.UK website:
I tabled a Written Statement (HCWS938) on 6 September 2018, providing an update on the UK’s follow-up response to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-09-06/HCWS938
We will be responding to the recommendations in the Concluding Observations during our next periodic review, currently scheduled for 2023. In the meantime, we will be preparing in due course, as recommended by the UN Committee, a progress update on the 2016 inquiry recommendations.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
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 children who are living in families where the parent has indefinite leave to remain but has yet to receive a National Insurance number; and how many of those children are living in absolute poverty.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
National statistics on low income are set out in the annual "Households below Average Income" publication. The number of children in absolute low income is not available for families where the parent has indefinite leave to remain in this publication. Estimates for 2016/17 show that there were 300,000 fewer children in absolute low income than in 2010 - a record low.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who have indefinite leave to remain and have reached the end of their eligibility for asylum support are waiting to receive a national insurance number.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
DWP are unaware of the numbers of asylum seekers who have been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK however when, the Home Office grant the application for indefinite leave they forward the personal details to NINo operations and a NINo is allocated within 48 hours.
From 15 January 2018 this process is applicable to the principle family member and any adult dependants aged 16 or over in the refugees family. With the NINo being allocated within 48 hours this facilitates the smooth transition from asylum support to mainstream benefits.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the publication of a survey into the Traffic Regulations Orders specific to pavement parking which was committed to in the Accessibility Action Plan 2017.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has discussed the Department of Transport’s Accessibility Action Plan with the Secretary of State for Transport and has given her full support to the recommendations which will remove many barriers disabled people face. Pavement parking causes significant problems and can be a potential danger to disabled people. My colleagues in the Department of Transport are undertaking a broader piece of work to gather evidence on the issue of pavement parking including how it is addressed in current regulation. Conclusions will be shared with transport ministers later in the year.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which eligible benefits are (a) lost and (b) suspended when a young person aged between 16 and 24 becomes an apprentice.
Answered by Lord Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Apprenticeships (which incorporate paid work of at least 30 hours a week) are treated in the same way as other paid work for benefit purposes. When a person is in receipt of a benefit and they start employment as an apprentice, their entitlement to benefit may change in light of their new circumstances.
Regardless of their age and circumstances, claimants are not eligible for the main working age benefits, such as Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance if they work 16 hours a week or more, on average. Additionally, claimants are not eligible for Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance and or income-related Employment and Support Allowance if they have a partner who works 24 hours a week or more, on average.
Universal Credit is being rolled out across the country and is replacing the main means tested benefits listed above. Earnings from an apprenticeship are treated in the same way as any other form of employed earnings and would be taken into account when calculating entitlement to Universal Credit, which is both an in-work and out-of-work benefit.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many asylum seekers who have indefinite leave to remain are awaiting the allocation of a national insurance number.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The department does not hold the information, however for those granted leave to remain as a result of a successful asylum claim, a joint fast track NINo application process operates between DWP and the Home Office. From 15 January 2018 the process is applicable to the principal family member and any adult dependants aged 16 or over in the refugees family, with the NINo being allocated within 48 hours of receipt of the application.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
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 the potential merits of compelling self-employed people to contribute to a private pension.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department’s review of automatic enrolment (AE), Maintaining the Momentum, published in December 2017 sets out the Government’s position in regard to the self-employed and retirement saving. The review report can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/668971/automatic-enrolment-review-2017-maintaining-the-momentum.PDF
The self-employed represent a highly diverse group of around 15% of the workforce amongst whom pension coverage varies significantly. Our review recognised that a significant proportion of the 4.8m self-employed individuals in the UK have good levels of saving and preparation for later life – but many groups are under saving, or at risk of under saving for retirement
Compulsion would be an indiscriminate way of tackling this challenge. It would also fail to maximise behavioural learning from automatic enrolment, or recognise personal choice.
As the AE review sets out, our approach is based on applying learning from the principles and the successful roll-out of automatic enrolment to appropriately target interventions and understand what works. During this year, we have committed to test targeted interventions, following feasibility work – before setting out proposals to implement workable solutions at scale.