Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish details on the sixty-five scaled and transitioned automations created by the Intelligence Automation Garage.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since its inception in 2018, the Intelligent Automation Garage (IAG) has delivered 65 automations. This has enabled DWP to save money and operational hours as well as increasing accuracy through transforming DWP services, making processes easier for users to deliver better outcomes for our citizens. It has a culture of pioneering new and innovative technologies to reduce the reputational risk and citizen impact across our systems.
The IAG works predominantly in large scale processing supporting customer facing colleagues in quickly reducing backlogs with improved accuracy and compliance. It does this across a range of benefit lines including: Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseekers Allowance, Social fund, Carers Allowance and Pension credit.
Automations to date include: Bundle Builder, Letters of Entitlement, Think Secure Chatbot, Budgeting Loans, Employment and Support Allowance Fit Notes, Faster Payments and Department for Communities in Northern Ireland mail scanning. Other supported functionalities include: sending SMS text messages to citizens, generating letters to notify citizens about a change in benefit status and processing benefit payments.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of (a) the state pension and (b) pension credit on the number of pensioners whose home has been repossessed in each of the last five years.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government does not hold this information. The Government is committed to supporting our pensioners and the State Pension is the foundation of support for people in retirement. In 2021/22 there were 200 thousand fewer pensioners in absolute poverty (after housing costs) than in 2009/10.
In April, the State Pension saw its biggest ever cash increase - rising by 10.1%. The full yearly amount of the basic State Pension will be over £3,050 higher in cash terms than in 2010 That is £790 more than if it had been uprated by Prices, and £945 more than if it had been uprated by earnings since 2010.
The Standard Minimum Guarantee in Pension Credit has also increased by 10.1% from April 2023. It extends CPI protection to those who rely on the Standard Minimum Guarantee in Pension Credit at a cost of £700 million above the statutory minimum requirement. The same percentage increase will apply to the threshold for access to the Savings Credit for those who reached State Pension age before April 2016.
Pensioners with a low income may qualify for help with their rent and council tax, and if receiving Pension Credit, other housing costs such as ground rent and certain service charges.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the number and proportion of pensioners in receipt of Pension Credit who were mortgage holders in the most recent period for which data are available.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The information requested is not held on DWP’s administrative data.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department collects on training courses recommended by Work Coaches.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Jobcentre Plus work coaches recommend options to claimants that address skills barriers to securing and progressing in work. Those options range from our highly successful sector-based work academy programme (SWAPs) to more intensive interventions such as Department for Education funded Skills Bootcamps, Free Courses for Jobs, and through the apprenticeship programme.
DWP Train and Progress also means that UC claimants can apply to, and participate in, DfE Skills Bootcamps and access a significant range of Free Courses for Jobs (Level 3) skills provision, and equivalents funded by the Devolved Administrations, where work-related training could be up to 16 weeks in length.
In addition, the Returnerships package announced at Budget 2023 will promote accelerated apprenticeships, Sector-Based Work Academy Programme placements and Skills Bootcamps to the over 50s. This will support better access to re-training and allow workers of all ages to engage with the opportunities of a second career.
For the financial years 2021/22 and 2022/23, as of 12th March 2023, there were a total of 179,000 SWAP starts.
Work coach recommendations to training courses are recorded on the claimant’s individual work plan, DWP are unable to aggregate that information.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
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 average amount spent by his Department per person on claimants aged between 18 and 24 in the Universal Credit Intensive Work Search Regime on (a) Youth Hub services and (b) Jobcentre services.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not hold the total spend on Youth Hub Services on a historic basis. We do have Youth Hub Work Coach costs which are covered in a separate PQ190112. We do not hold average costs per claimant.
Jobcentre services spending varies per person depending on the level of support they need and how long they are on benefits, and we do not hold average costs per claimant.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claimants aged 18-24 who are in the Intensive Work Search regime accessed support from a Youth Hub in (a) May 2023 and (b) the most recent month for which data is available.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are in the Universal Credit Intensive Work Search group. This includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches and Youth Hubs across Great Britain. Young people are referred to the most appropriate part of the Youth Offer depending on their individual circumstances.
When a claimant enrols on the Youth Employment Programme or is referred to a Youth Hub or Youth Employability Coach they are classified as having started on the Youth Offer. We do not have a separate measure of engagement. The number of claimants referred to a Youth Hub in May 2023 was 1,100
Notes:
For wider information regarding the number of claimants who have been referred to a Youth Hub, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 190115.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of people aged 16 to 24 on Universal Credit with (a) Limited capability for work and (b) Limited capability for work and work-related activity who had a mental health condition as of March 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The initial release of Official Statistics for Universal Credit Work Capability Assessments (UC WCA) on 8 June 2023 covers key metrics on the number of people on the UC health journey, as well as WCA decisions and outcomes. As set out in the published release strategy we are taking a phased approach to development and publication of additional statistics accounting for the complexity of source data that is in discovery. Future releases are planned to include new/repeat claims, medical conditions, Mandatory Reconsiderations and Appeals, and clearance times.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on its expected spending on nationally contracted employment support programmes after the financial year 2024-25.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department’s estimated spend for nationally contracted employment after 2024-25 will be determined by the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseekers (a) were referred to and (b) engaged with Youth Hub services (i) in 2021-22, (ii) in 2022-23 and (iii) between 1 April 2023 and 19 June 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP Youth Offer provides individually tailored work coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are in the Universal Credit Intensive Work Search group. This includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches and Youth Hubs across Great Britain. Young people are referred to the most appropriate part of the Youth Offer depending on their individual circumstances.
| FY21/22 | FY22/23 | 01 April – 31 May 2023 |
Youth Offer | 278,100 | 284,800 | 44,100 |
Youth Employment Programme | 253,600 | 266,000 | 40,500 |
Youth Hub | 14,600 | 14,700 | 2,100 |
Youth Employability Coach | 21,500 | 18,100 | 2,300 |
Notes:
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative assessment he has made of the effectiveness of (a) Youth Hub and (b) Jobcentre support in helping young jobseekers into employment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are in the Universal Credit Intensive Work Search group. This includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.
The Youth Offer is subject to a Process Evaluation, with full findings expected to be shared internally by late 2023. This will inform any improvements or future changes to the Youth Offer policy. The evaluation plans involve hearing from young people from a range of backgrounds and circumstances, and those that work with them, on the services they receive via Youth Hubs and Jobcentres to understand their effectiveness and enable us to make improvements as appropriate. There are plans for an impact assessment of the effectiveness of the Youth Offer whose findings will be shared internally once available.