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Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Artificial Intelligence
Thursday 15th June 2023

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government's publication A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation, published on 29 March 2023, how much and what proportion of the budget of each regulator in their Department was spent on regulation of artificial intelligence in the latest period for which information is available; how many staff in each regulator worked (a) wholly and (b) partly on those issues in the latest period for which information is available; and whether those regulators plan to increase resources for their work on artificial intelligence.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The AI White Paper emphasised the importance of ensuring that UK regulators and public bodies have the capacity, expertise, and capabilities to implement government’s pro-innovation approach whilst recognising and understanding the risks. This is particularly true for those regulators for which AI falls squarely within their regulatory remit, but also applies to a much wider range of public and regulatory bodies considering the implications AI has across the economy.

The Department for Work and Pensions sponsors three regulators: The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and The Pensions Regulator. It is not possible to accurately confirm the numbers of staff who partly work on the implications of AI within their remit. This presents a challenge disaggregating ‘AI resource’ to provide figures on the proportion of budget spent. However, the department can confirm the following:

  • ONR is developing a framework for regulation of artificial intelligence (AI). Following two successful expert panels on AI in collaboration with industry and academia, ONR was awarded a £170,950 grant from the governments Regulators’ Pioneer Fund (RPF) to pilot a first of a kind regulatory sandbox process for AI in the nuclear sector, in partnership with the Environment Agency. In line with their commitment to embrace innovation ONR continues to grow capability for the regulation of novel technologies, including AI.

  • HSE does not allocate a specific budget for work in relation to AI, this is a cross-cutting topic which concerns many divisions within HSE. No HSE staff work wholly on AI and approximately ten staff have materially contributed to work on AI over the last 12 months. This is technology that is developing at pace, as an agile regulator HSE will reallocate resource to address new risks as necessary.

  • TPR does not allocate a specific budget for work in relation to AI and no staff work wholly on AI. This is technology that is developing at pace, as an agile regulator TPR will reallocate resource to address new risks as necessary.


Written Question
Housing Benefit: Service Charges
Monday 15th November 2021

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much and what proportion of housing benefit payments are spent on service charges.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The information requested is not available.


Written Question
Local Housing Allowance
Thursday 21st October 2021

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households are in receipt of local housing allowance (LHA) in payment; how many of those households have rents which exceed the local housing allowance rate; and of the latter households, what the median gap is between the rent and the LHA, by the number of children in the household in (a) England, (b) Scotland and (c) Wales, for the most recent period for which data is available.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

In May 2021 there were 1,896k households in receipt of LHA via Housing Benefit or Universal Credit in Great Britain. Of these, 982k had rents which exceeded the LHA and the median gap was £100/month. This breaks down as attached table.

In response to Covid-19 we increased LHA rates to the 30th percentile of local rents in April 2020. This significant investment of nearly £1billion has provided 1.5 million claimants with an average £600 more housing support last year than they would otherwise have received. We have also maintained Local Housing Allowance rates at the same cash level for 2021/22.

For those who require additional housing support Discretionary Housing Payments are available. Since 2011 we have provided over £1 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments funding. We have allocated a further £140 million for Discretionary Housing Payments for 2021/22 in England and Wales.


Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Iron and Steel
Friday 26th March 2021

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the level of UK-produced steel procured by his Department and associated departmental public bodies and agencies in (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2020-21.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department and its public bodies have not procured any steel in 2019-21, with the exception of the Health and Safety Executive which has procured a minor quantity of steel for specific projects and experiments. The quantity involved was small and not related to delivery of a major project so no records were kept regarding production location.


Written Question
Kickstart Scheme
Tuesday 15th September 2020

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many organisations in each region have applied to be representatives of the Kickstart scheme in the first week since that scheme was launched on 2 September 2020.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The department is now processing many applications from across the UK, this is currently a clerical process, so reliable management information, particularly on geographical areas, is not yet available.


Written Question
Kickstart Scheme
Tuesday 8th September 2020

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) chambers of commerce, (b) local authorities, (c) trade bodies and (d) groups of employers have signed up as representatives for the Kickstart scheme.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The opportunity for employers or other organisations to apply for Kickstart funding only opened on 2nd September so we have yet to approve any grants. But there is considerable interest from a wide range of organisations in becoming representatives including from chambers of commerce, local authorities, trade bodies as well as employers.

Engagement with stakeholders has been a vital part of developing the Kickstart Scheme. Throughout the rapid policy development phase, we have engaged with over 300 individual stakeholders and/or stakeholder organisations. This includes employers and business representative organisations, local and regional representatives, devolved administrations, and third sector organisations including the Trade Unions Congress. We will continue to engage with them post-launch to enable them to join Government in delivering the Scheme.


Written Question
Kickstart Scheme
Monday 7th September 2020

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on employer operations of the requirement for them to have a minimum of 30 placements on take-up of the Kickstart scheme.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Employers looking to take on less than 30 Kickstarters can apply through an intermediary or representative body such as Local Authorities, Mayoral Combined Authorities, trade bodies, Chambers of Commerce and charities. We know that smaller employers may need support through the bidding process and may not have access to the HR and other services to provide the level of support we are looking for employers to provide Kickstart participants.

As intermediaries are approved their details will be made available on Gov.uk and JCPs will be able to guide local employers to local intermediaries.

We’ve set an initial minimum limit of 30 placements per bid to help us to effectively manage the grant application process as we build confidence in our delivery mechanisms and we will keep this threshold under review.


Written Question
Kickstart Scheme
Monday 7th September 2020

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to sign-up employers to the Kickstart scheme.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are working with partner organisations in all sectors to ensure that the scheme is of maximum benefit to participants and employers.

We are working closely with local and national partners, to ensure Kickstart jobs are aligned to local labour market need, are additional and support the recovery.


Written Question
Kickstart Scheme
Monday 7th September 2020

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons public sector employers are not eligible for inclusion in the Kickstart scheme.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Kickstart Scheme is open to employers from across the private, public and charity sector.


Written Question
Children: Day Care
Wednesday 25th April 2018

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what resources her Department has allocated to support the knowledge development of work coaches to encourage people to work in the childcare sector.

Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)

DWP’s National Employer and Partnership Team have been working with the Department of Education to publicise working in the childcare sector. This information is available to all work coaches, who will share it with claimants where it is appropriate to their circumstances.