Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2019 to Question 375 on Thomas Cook: Insolvency, how many permanent staff are based at Peterborough Jobcentre; and how many staff from neighbouring offices are working from Peterborough Jobcentre on a temporary basis to meet any increased demand on services since the collapse of Thomas Cook.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are 91 permanent staff based at Peterborough Jobcentre. The office received the help of 6 additional staff from around the District and neighbouring offices to meet increased demand. All but one returned to their offices last week. There is one person remaining who will return to their home department this week. In addition, overtime was granted to provide extra capacity to meet the demand from and provide support to former Thomas Cook employees.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding from the public purse she is allocating to provide former employees of Thomas Cook with immediate financial assistance.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information is not available.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations she has received from Peterborough City Council for financial support for local welfare services following the collapse of Thomas Cook.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are working closely with Peterborough City Council through Opportunity Peterborough to deliver the support required. Our local team in Peterborough are monitoring all new claims to benefits to identify where the claimant is a former employee of Thomas Cook so that they quickly receive the right level of support.
The Department is offering a range of support to anyone affected by the closure of Thomas Cook, through our Rapid Response Service and wider DWP services. For example, a local provider is offering a series of workshops for former Thomas Cook employees to explain the support available to help them find a job. We are working with a wide range of employers to provide support to former employees of Thomas Cook.
Our team in Peterborough have provided staff to support with the organisation and delivery of two local jobs fairs, arranged by Thomas Cook and Opportunity Peterborough (part of Peterborough City Council). The Thomas Cook event was attended by around 850 former employees and over 100 former employees visited the DWP stand at the Opportunity Peterborough event.
As current resources are adequate for the need to be met there has been no request made by Peterborough City Council or by the Department for additional financial support.
We continue to work with Peterborough City Council to monitor the situation and consider further support as required.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employees of Thomas Cook have received assistance from JobCentre Plus in Peterborough following the collapse of that company; and what support her Department is providing for that JobCentre to deal with additional workload following the collapse of that company.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our local team in Peterborough are monitoring all new claims to benefits to identify where the claimant is a former employee of Thomas Cook so that they quickly receive the right level of support. We estimate that as of 15th October, 159 former Thomas Cook employees have visited Peterborough Jobcentre, of which 120 have made a claim to benefits and 39 have made a general enquiry about the support available. Additional staff from neighbouring offices are working from Peterborough Jobcentre on a temporary basis to meet any increased demand on our services.
We are working with a wide range of employers to provide support to former employees of Thomas Cook. As they are part of our national portfolio we do not readily hold details on those that are operating in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and to provide this information would incur disproportionate cost. The Department is offering a range of support to anyone affected by the closure of Thomas Cook, through our Rapid Response Service and wider DWP services. For example, a local provider is offering a series of workshops for former Thomas Cook employees to explain the range of support available to help them find a job.
Rather than providing direct financial support, our team in Peterborough have provided staff to support with the organisation and delivery of two local jobs fairs, arranged by Thomas Cook and Opportunity Peterborough. The Thomas Cook event was attended by around 850 former employees and over 100 former employees visited the DWP stand at the Opportunity Peterborough event.
Please note that the data supplied are derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 1 October to Question 290912, which of the 100 employers her Department is working with to find jobs for former Thomas Cook employees are operating in (a) Peterborough and (b) Cambridgeshire; what specific support the rapid response service is providing in Peterborough following the collapse of Thomas Cook; and what financial support her Department has provided for jobs fairs in Peterborough.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our local team in Peterborough are monitoring all new claims to benefits to identify where the claimant is a former employee of Thomas Cook so that they quickly receive the right level of support. We estimate that as of 15th October, 159 former Thomas Cook employees have visited Peterborough Jobcentre, of which 120 have made a claim to benefits and 39 have made a general enquiry about the support available. Additional staff from neighbouring offices are working from Peterborough Jobcentre on a temporary basis to meet any increased demand on our services.
We are working with a wide range of employers to provide support to former employees of Thomas Cook. As they are part of our national portfolio we do not readily hold details on those that are operating in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and to provide this information would incur disproportionate cost. The Department is offering a range of support to anyone affected by the closure of Thomas Cook, through our Rapid Response Service and wider DWP services. For example, a local provider is offering a series of workshops for former Thomas Cook employees to explain the range of support available to help them find a job.
Rather than providing direct financial support, our team in Peterborough have provided staff to support with the organisation and delivery of two local jobs fairs, arranged by Thomas Cook and Opportunity Peterborough. The Thomas Cook event was attended by around 850 former employees and over 100 former employees visited the DWP stand at the Opportunity Peterborough event.
Please note that the data supplied are derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
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 number of free television licences issued to residents in (a) Peterborough City Council and (b) Peterborough constituency in each of the last three years; and what the total annual value was of those licences.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.
The Government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.
This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament. On 10 June 2019, the BBC announced that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.
The table below provides estimates of the costs for providing free TV licences to people aged 75 years and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September.
| Caseloads (thousands) | ||
| 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 |
(a) Peterborough Local Authority | 11.0 | 11.3 | 11.2 |
(a) Peterborough constituency | 7.1 | 7.3 | 7.2 |
| Expenditure (£m) (Nominal) | ||
| 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 |
(a) Peterborough Local Authority | £1.56 | £1.57 | £1.62 |
(a) Peterborough constituency | £1.01 | £1.02 | £1.03 |