Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many posts there are for (a) press, (b) media and (c) other communications staff in her Department; and what the salary band is for each post.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
In the central Department for Culture, Media & Sport communications team, there are a total of 43.54 Full Time Equivalent Government Communication Service professionals.
Of this total, 13 work in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities.
This is the latest available data from June 2024.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2025 to Question 36658 on Home Office: Training, how many technical specialists are employed by her Department to provide training on statelessness determination only.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The statelessness training is not restricted to a single technical specialist and may be delivered by any number of technical leads (who have a wider remit) across the Asylum and Human Rights Operational area.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many posts there are for (a) press, (b) media and (c) other communications staff in her Department; and what the salary band is for each post.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In the central MHCLG communications team, there are a total of 53 Full Time Equivalent Government Communication Service professionals.
Of this total, 19 work in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities.
This is the latest available data from June 2024.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will list the job titles of staff in her Department's statelessness determination unit.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The statelessness unit job titles include the following:
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Public Law Project report entitled From pillar to post: barriers to dealing with deductions from Universal Credit, published on 19 September 2024, what steps her Department is taking to improve the accessibility of (a) waivers, (b) suspensions, (c) reductions in the rate of recovery and (d) other forms of discretionary relief from overpayment recovery.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP strives to set affordable and sustainable repayment plans and encourages customers to make contact if they are unable to afford the proposed repayment rate. When a customer makes contact because they are experiencing financial hardship, the rate of repayment can be reduced or, depending on the customer’s financial circumstances, a temporary suspension of repayment can be agreed. In exceptional circumstances a waiver can be considered. Customers are never pressured to pay more than they can afford. DWP has strengthened customer notifications encouraging anyone who cannot afford the proposed rate of repayment to contact the Department to discuss an affordable repayment plan. All appropriate debt notifications also provide signposting to relevant external support.
DWP has also introduced the new Fair Repayment Rate (FRR) which has reduced the Universal Credit (UC) overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s UC standard allowance. This measure will help customers retain more of their UC award.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many posts there are for (a) press, (b) media and (c) other communications staff in his Department; and what the salary band is for each post.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the central Department for Business and Trade communications team, there are a total of 115 Full Time Equivalent Government Communication Service professionals.
Of this total, 22 work in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities. This is the latest available data from June 2024.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to update guidance for Government statistics on working age to reflect changes in the State Pension age.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2025 to Question 36658 on Home Office: Training, whether the training described is specific to statelessness determination.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
All training undertaken by Home Office staff is intended to be relevant for the work tasks they are assigned.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 13 December 2023 to Question 5974 on Universal Credit: Children, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of deductions from Universal Credit payments on trends in the level of (a) relative and (b) absolute child poverty.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimating the impact of deductions on trends in poverty is complex as stopping deductions would result in a build-up of arrears of the range of debts a customer has and stop vital obligations such as child maintenance being paid.
The government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to drive up opportunity and drive down poverty across the UK. As announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Budget, a new Fair Repayment Rate has now been introduced from 30 April 2025, reducing the Universal Credit (UC) overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s UC standard allowance. This measure will help approximately 1.2 million of the poorest households benefit by an average of £420 a year.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many (a) press, (b) media and (c) other communications posts there are in his Department; and what the salary band is for each post.
Answered by Ian Murray - Secretary of State for Scotland
In the Scotland Office communications team, there are a total of 16 Full Time Equivalent Government Communication Service professionals.
Of this total, 5 work in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities.