Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to collect official statistics on food bank usage in the UK following the national roll-out of universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We review research carried out by organisations including the Trussell Trust to add to our understanding of food bank use, and are considering requirements to add to our evidence base.
We have no current plans to develop official national statistics on food bank use. However, the Office for National Statistics is leading a project to improve statistics on household food insecurity by reviewing all existing official and non-official sources of data and looking at options to fill data gaps in partnership with government departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
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 effect of the national roll-out of universal credit on the incidence of food bank usage in the UK.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
People use food banks for many reasons, and it would be misleading to link them to any single cause. We are constantly reviewing research carried out by organisations including the Trussell Trust, to add to our understanding of food bank use, and will consider requirements to add to our evidence base. Work offers people the best opportunity to get out of poverty and Universal Credit gets people to work faster and staying in work longer than the outdated legacy benefits system.
As a safeguard for people needing more support, we have a well-established system of hardship payments, benefit advances and budgeting loans. We have introduced a further package of measures this year for Universal Credit claimants which were announced at Autumn Budget 2017. This comprehensive package worth £1.5 billion to help people in their first assessment period included, the abolition of waiting days, the introduction of advances up to 100% of a claimant’s indicative award (repayable over a period of up to 12 months), and a two week transitional payment for those previously claiming Housing Benefit.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential effects of the roll-out of Universal Credit on child poverty levels in Garston and Halewood constituency.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
National statistics on children in low income are set out in DWP’s annual "Households Below Average Income" publication. The latest figures available are for the year to 2016/17. The number and proportion of children in low income is not available at a constituency level in this publication because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography. Latest 3-year estimates for the North West region in 2014/15 - 2016/17 show the rate of children in absolute low income at 20% Before Housing Costs, this is a decrease of 4 percentage points from 24% in 2007/08-2009/10.
The best way to help people improve their lives is through employment, and people on Universal Credit move into work faster and stay in work longer. Work offers families the best opportunity to move out of poverty and Universal Credit strengthens incentives for parents to move into and progress in work. There are 300,000 fewer children in absolute low income compared with 2010 – a record low. The Government has made a statutory commitment to continue to publish data on individuals in low income, including on the number of children in low income. We will continue to monitor the number of children in low income for future Households Below Average Income publications as the roll-out of Universal Credit progresses.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how the amount given in budgetary advances to claimants awaiting their first universal credit payment is calculated.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The purpose of a Budgeting Advance is to help pay for emergency household costs, or for help getting a job or staying in work. It is not an advance of benefit; therefore no Budgeting Advances have been paid in the last 12 months to cover delays in the payment of benefits.
A Budgeting Advance is available to claimants where they have been in receipt of Universal Credit, or a combination of a legacy benefit and Universal Credit, for at least 6 months or for a lesser period of time if it relates to either them, or their partner, obtaining or retaining employment.
The calculation of the amount of a Budgeting Advance available to a claimant will vary depending upon whether they are single, part of a couple and/or responsible for a child or qualifying young person. It will also be reduced pound for pound by any savings they may have over £1000 and eligibility can be affected depending upon the amount of earnings received in the previous six month period. A Budgeting Advance is repayable over 12 months, which can be extended by up to 6 months in exceptional circumstances.
Exceptional circumstances would be an unforeseen expense that occurs after an advance is agreed, and continued recovery for the initial agreed repayment period would cause the claimant and their household genuine hardship.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how exceptional circumstances is defined when determining whether a universal credit claimant in receipt of a budgetary advance is eligible for the three month discretionary period after the first universal credit payment before repayments of the advance begin.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The purpose of a Budgeting Advance is to help pay for emergency household costs, or for help getting a job or staying in work. It is not an advance of benefit; therefore no Budgeting Advances have been paid in the last 12 months to cover delays in the payment of benefits.
A Budgeting Advance is available to claimants where they have been in receipt of Universal Credit, or a combination of a legacy benefit and Universal Credit, for at least 6 months or for a lesser period of time if it relates to either them, or their partner, obtaining or retaining employment.
The calculation of the amount of a Budgeting Advance available to a claimant will vary depending upon whether they are single, part of a couple and/or responsible for a child or qualifying young person. It will also be reduced pound for pound by any savings they may have over £1000 and eligibility can be affected depending upon the amount of earnings received in the previous six month period. A Budgeting Advance is repayable over 12 months, which can be extended by up to 6 months in exceptional circumstances.
Exceptional circumstances would be an unforeseen expense that occurs after an advance is agreed, and continued recovery for the initial agreed repayment period would cause the claimant and their household genuine hardship.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of (a) legacy benefits, (b) personal independence payments and (c) universal credit in the Garston and Halewood constituency have been given a budgetary advance to cover a delay in payment of their benefit in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The purpose of a Budgeting Advance is to help pay for emergency household costs, or for help getting a job or staying in work. It is not an advance of benefit; therefore no Budgeting Advances have been paid in the last 12 months to cover delays in the payment of benefits.
A Budgeting Advance is available to claimants where they have been in receipt of Universal Credit, or a combination of a legacy benefit and Universal Credit, for at least 6 months or for a lesser period of time if it relates to either them, or their partner, obtaining or retaining employment.
The calculation of the amount of a Budgeting Advance available to a claimant will vary depending upon whether they are single, part of a couple and/or responsible for a child or qualifying young person. It will also be reduced pound for pound by any savings they may have over £1000 and eligibility can be affected depending upon the amount of earnings received in the previous six month period. A Budgeting Advance is repayable over 12 months, which can be extended by up to 6 months in exceptional circumstances.
Exceptional circumstances would be an unforeseen expense that occurs after an advance is agreed, and continued recovery for the initial agreed repayment period would cause the claimant and their household genuine hardship.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July to Question 167889 on Disability Living Allowance: Appeals, what estimate she has made of the length of time it will take for claimants of disability living allowance to receive backdated payments as a result of decisions made by her Department being overturned on appeal.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Information about the length of time it takes for claimants of Disability Living Allowance to receive backdated payments as a result of decisions made by DWP being overturned on appeal is not available.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to respond to the letter of 5 September 2018 from the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood regarding an answer to Question 167153 answered on 4 September 2018.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 15 October.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants there are in the Garston and Halewood constituency.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The latest available information on the number of people on Universal Credit by parliamentary constituency and local authority 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/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will estimate the number of households in Garston and Halewood constituency that will be migrated from legacy benefits to universal credit after its introduction at the end of 2018.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The requested information is not available for publication by constituency