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 he has made of how many (a) parents and (b) lone parents with a youngest child aged three (i) nationally, (ii) by region, (iii) by local authority and (iv) by parliamentary constituency will be expected to look for work if they want to claim universal credit or tax credits from April 2017.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested is not available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
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 non-executive directors of his Department who were in post before May 2015 have since left the Department's board; what the names and length of tenure of such directors were; and how many and what non-executive director appointments he has made since May 2010.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
One non-executive director, Willy Roe, was in post before May 2015 and has since left the Department’s board. His tenure was from 01 July 2011 to 30 June 2015.
Details of non-executive appointments are included in the Department’s published annual reports and accounts. Since May 2010, 6 individuals have been appointed to the Department’s board. Their names and tenures are as follow:
John Clare: 01 November 2011 to 31 October 2012
Ian Cheshire: 01 February 2011 to 10 November 2014
Willy Roe: 01 July 2011 to 30 June 2015
Dame Clara Furse: 01 July 2011 to date
David Lister: 01 July 2011 to date
Andrew Graham: 12 March 2015 to date
Currently, we have 3 non-executive directors on the board.
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 recruitment and employment agencies his Department has used to source staff in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The number of recruitment and employment agencies used to source staff in each year since 2010-11 are as follows:
Year | Number of agencies |
2010-2011 | 15 |
2011-2012 | 12 |
2012-2013 | 3 |
2013-2014 | 3 |
2014- January 2015 | 9 |
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 his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.
Answered by Steve Webb
Expenditure should be viewed in the context of the size of the DWP workforce. The Department is a geographically-dispersed organisation employing around 90,000 staff across some 870 sites, delivering services directly to around 22 million customers. The table below shows the expenditure on taxis, 1st class rail and business class air travel for the years in question.
The average spend per head on a taxi for 2013-14 was in the region of £1.67. Expenditure on taxis includes journeys to enable disabled members of staff to travel to and from work and respresents contractual spend and it does not include taxis claimed through expenses, as this could only be provided at disproportionate costs to the Department.
The DWP introduced a restriction stopping staff travelling 1st class rail in 2011. Only DWP staff with disabilities are permitted to travel using 1st class rail, if there are no suitable standard class facilities available.
The current DWP air travel policy only permits staff to book business class air tickets for single journeys greater than 2.5 hours in duration.
Financial Years (£m) | Taxis (£m) | 1st Class Rail (£m) | Business Class Air (£m) |
2009/10 | * | 13.3 | 0.38 |
2010/11 | 0.26 | 2.2 | 0.12 |
2011/12 | 0.21 | 0.35 | 0.07 |
2012/13 | 0.20 | 0.29 | 0.13 |
2013/14 | 0.16 | 0.14 | 0.14 |
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*Data is not available for taxi travel before 2010.
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 he has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
(i) This information is available in the public domain. Please see the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system
(ii) and (iii) Non Departmental Public Bodies and Executive Agencies:
Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Independent Living Fund (ILF), National Employment Savings Trust (NEST), The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS), The Pensions Regulator (TPR), Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), Pensions Ombudsmen (PO), Pension Protection Fund Ombudsmen (PPFO), Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC):
Please note that Remploy Ltd, the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Pension Protection Fund are all Public Corporations and are therefore not included in this response.
| 2009- 2010 | 2010-2011 | 2011-2012 | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | |||||
EA / NDPB | Error £ | Fraud £ | Error £ | Fraud £ | Error £ | Fraud £ | Error £ | Fraud £ | Error £ | Fraud £ |
HSE | - | - | 352.50 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
ILF | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
NEST | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.4m | - | - |
TPAS | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
TPR | 4318 | - | 201 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
IIAC | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
PO | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
PPFO | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
SSAC | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
SMCPC | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | No estimate | No estimate | No estimate | No estimate |
Both HSE and TPR made full recovery in the years the debts were incurred. NEST recovered £0.3 million in May 2014.
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 his Department has spent on (a) consultants, (b) temporary staff and (c) contingent labour in each of the last five years; how many people have been so employed; what the length of contract of each such person was; and what equivalent civil service salary band each was on.
Answered by Steve Webb
Spend on consultants, temporary staff and contingent labour over the last 5 years:
| 2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
Consultants | £27,554,654 | £11,267,277 | £6,507,648 | £12,650,325 | £11,662,269 |
Temporary Staff* | £22,179,497 | £2,448,477 | £1,272,341 | £19,038,479 | £6,710,259 |
Contingent Labour | £63,155,793 | £30,277,388 | £10,913,144 | £14,459,590 | £12,995,091 |
*Temporary Staff includes Casuals and Fixed Term Appointments employed for less than 12 months only.
Spend on consultancy, contingent labour and temporary staff reduced in 2011/12 as the Cabinet Office Spend Controls introduced by the coalition government in May 2010 took effect. Whilst these controls are still being applied spend in these areas has since increased in response to the need for specialist external support to meet the demands of DWP major change programmes such as UC and PIP, and in response to business needs for temporary staff mainly in Operations.
All requests for the recruitment of temporary staff are subject to recruitment freeze dispensations and are subject to Ministerial approval.
Number of consultants, temporary staff and contingent labour employed, length of contract and equivalent civil service salary:
Consultants:
Consultants are not engaged on an individual basis. Consultancy services are delivered by a consultancy company which deploys resource according to the requirements of the engagement. Extracting data on the length of engagement of each consultant would be at disproportionate cost. Consultants do not have an equivalent civil service salary band.
Temporary Staff:
| As at 31 March 2010 | As at 31 March 2011 | As at 31 March 2012 | As at 31 March 2013 | As at 31 March 2014 |
Band A/AA | 169 | 4 | 3 |
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Band B/AO | 2,333 | 57 | 360 | 993 | 247 |
Band C/EO | 922 | 16 | 1 | 61 | 2 |
Band D/HEO | 16 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 2 |
Band E/SEO | 7 |
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Band F/G7 | 6 | 4 |
| 2 |
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Band G/G6 |
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| 1 | 1 |
SCS |
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| 2 | 1 | 2 |
Other/Not Known | 1 |
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Total | 3,454 | 83 | 371 | 1,071 | 254 |
The above figures are for temporary staff engaged for less than 12 months only. No further breakdown of the length of engagement is available.
| As at 31 March 2010 | As at 31 March 2011 | As at 31 March 2012 | As at 31 March 2013 | As at 31 March 2014 |
Contingent Labour | 760 | 138 | 81 | 121 | 85 |
We are unable to extract data on the length of engagement of each contingent labour worker or the equivalent civil service salary band as this would be at disproportionate cost.
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 Prime Minister's speech of 15 August 2011 calling for a family test applied to all domestic policy, which policies of his Department have been so assessed to date.
Answered by Steve Webb
On 18 August 2014 the Prime Minister announced that the family test was being formalised as part of the impact assessment for all domestic policies. From October 2014, every new domestic policy will be examined for its impact on the family.
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 people whose main disability is cystic fibrosis are in receipt of the mobility award for personal independence payment at the (a) standard and (b) enhanced rate.
Answered by Mike Penning
The information requested to the level of detail asked for is not currently available. We intend to publish more detailed data on medical conditions in the future.
Information on the numbers of successful new claimants is available against a range of conditions, including respiratory conditions which will include those who have cystic fibrosis. The information is published and can be found at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk. Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm.
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 people whose main disability is cystic fibrosis are in receipt of the daily living award for personal independence payment at the (a) standard and (b) enhanced rate.
Answered by Mike Penning
The information requested to the level of detail asked for is not currently available. We intend to publish more detailed data on medical conditions in the future.
Information on the numbers of successful new claimants is available against a range of conditions, including respiratory conditions which will include those who have cystic fibrosis. The information is published and can be found at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk. Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2014, Official Report, column 26W, on nurseries, for what reasons his Department is reviewing provision of workplace nurseries; when that review will be complete; how many families access his Department's workplace nursery provision; how much workplace nursery provision by his Department costs each year; and whether his Department claims tax relief on workplace nurseries.
Answered by Mike Penning
There are currently seven workplace nurseries in operation, by third parties, on DWP premises.
The Department's current contracts with its nursery providers are soon expiring. Therefore, it is appropriate to review future nursery provision in general and consider whether it is appropriate and cost effective to continue to contract for on site services.
In addition, as part of its remuneration package, the Department supports employees through a salary sacrifice scheme where employees can give up part of their salary in return for childcare vouchers, which allows for significant savings through tax relief. This gives parents support in order to make their own choices for childcare. Consequently, as suitable alternatives exist, it is no longer appropriate to continue to contract for workplace nursery provision.
There are currently 361 families who access DWP's workplace nurseries.
The cost of nursery provision:
2013/14 YTD (Feb): £29,112
2012/13: £50,693
2011/12: £80,811
2010/11: £88,494
The Department doesn't claim tax relief on workplace nurseries
No information is held on Executive agencies and non-departmental bodies. There would be a disproportionate cost to source that information.