Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report entitled Women’s State Pension age: our findings on the Department for Work and Pensions’ communication of changes, published on 20 July 2021.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It would not be appropriate to comment on the Ombudsman's report published on 20 July 2021. The Ombudsman’s investigation is ongoing and section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations “shall be conducted in private”.
The Department is cooperating fully with the Ombudsman’s investigation and will carefully consider any findings that arise from the final report.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the cost-of-living payment to employees in his Department who were on a career break during the qualifying period.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP’s Career Break Agreement, which employees sign before their career break commences, sets out that Career Breaks are unpaid and therefore individuals will not be entitled to any remuneration for the duration of their Career Break. This position was considered and reflected in DWP’s approach to implementing the additional payment to eligible employees, that was permitted by the Addendum to the Civil Service Remit Guidance for 2023/24, published by the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in receipt of Universal Credit and subject to deductions had (a) up to 5%, (b) between 5%-6% (c) between 6%-7%, (d) between 7%-8%, (e) between 8%-9%, (f) between 9%-10%, (g) between 10%-11%, (h) between 11%-12%, (i) between 12%- 13%, (j) between 13%- 14%, (k) between 14%-15%, (l) between 15%-16%, (m) between 16%-17%, (n) between 17%-18%, (o) between 18%-19%, (p) between 19%-20%, (q) between 20%-21%, (r) between 21%-22%, (s) between 22%-23%, (t) between 23%-24%, (u) between 24%-25% and (v) more than 25% of the Standard Allowance deducted in the most recent month for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information requested is provided in the table, subject to caveats set out below.
Notes
1. The number of households has been rounded to the nearest 100.
2. The definition of 'Deductions between x and y% of standard allowance' is deductions between exactly x% and up to y%. For example, 'Deductions between 5 and 6%' means deductions greater than or equal to 5% of standard allowance and less than 6% of standard allowance.
3. Some households will be repaying more than one deduction. The table presents the total of all deductions per household.
4. Claimants may request more than one new claim advance, up to 100% of their entitlement.
5. ‘Last resort deductions’ continue to be taken, even if it means that more than 25 per cent is deducted. This is to protect vulnerable claimants from being made homeless or having their fuel disconnected.
6. Data for February 2023 has been provided, in line with the latest available Universal Credit Household Statistics.
7. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.
Table 3: Level of Deduction for Universal Credit Households, February 2023 | ||
Deductions as a Percentage of Standard Allowance | Number of Households with a Deduction |
|
Deductions between 0 and 5% | 177,000 |
|
Deductions between 5 and 6% | 124,700 |
|
Deductions between 6 and 7% | 41,500 |
|
Deductions between 7 and 8% | 74,500 |
|
Deductions between 8 and 9% | 138,800 |
|
Deductions between 9 and 10% | 62,300 |
|
Deductions between 10 and 11% | 62,000 |
|
Deductions between 11 and 12% | 39,200 |
|
Deductions between 12 and 13% | 55,800 |
|
Deductions between 13 and 14% | 53,400 |
|
Deductions between 14 and 15% | 52,800 |
|
Deductions between 15 and 16% | 195,200 |
|
Deductions between 16 and 17% | 24,000 |
|
Deductions between 17 and 18% | 30,000 |
|
Deductions between 18 and 19% | 27,800 |
|
Deductions between 19 and 20% | 65,400 |
|
Deductions between 20 and 21% | 86,100 |
|
Deductions between 21 and 22% | 23,300 |
|
Deductions between 22 and 23% | 29,800 |
|
Deductions between 23 and 24% | 41,700 |
|
Deductions between 24 and 25% | 628,400 |
|
Deductions at 25% or above | 215,100 |
|
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households with deductions in Universal Credit and other social benefit payments for Budgeting Advances are on a repayment schedule for this loan of (a) 0-3 months, (b) 3-6 months, (c) 6-9 months, (d) 9-12 months and (e) more than 12 months in the most recent month for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Figures for households on other social benefits with a deduction for budgeting advances is not held. Figures relating to Universal Credit are provided in the table below.
Notes
1. The number of budgeting advances has been rounded to the nearest 100.
2. Data for February 2023 has been provided, in line with the latest available Universal Credit Household Statistics.
3. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.
4. Some households are repaying more than one budgeting advance. Each advance will be recorded so affected households will appear more than once in the table. This impacts about 1% of households.
Table 1: Repayment Schedule for Budgeting Advances in February 2023 | |
Repayment Schedule (in months) | Number of Budgeting Advances being Repaid |
0 to 3 months | 1,500 |
4 to 6 months | 22,600 |
7 to 9 months | 21,800 |
10 to 12 months | 873,700 |
More than 12 months | - |
|
|
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households with deductions in (a) Universal Credit and (b) other social benefit payments for benefit overpayments are on a repayment schedule of (i) zero to six, (ii) six to 12, (iii) 12 to 18 months, (iv) 18 to 24 months and (v) more than 24 months in the most recent month for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information requested is not available.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households with deductions in Universal Credit payments for New Claim Loans are on a repayment schedule for this loan of (a) 0-6 months, (b) 6-12 months, (c) 12-18 months, (d) 18-24 months and (e) more than 24 months in the most recent month for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information requested is provided in the table below, subject to the caveats set out below
Notes
1. The number of new claim & benefit transfer advances has been rounded to the nearest 100.
2. Some households are repaying more than one new claim or benefit transfer advance. This impacts about 19% of households. For example, a household may take a further New Claim advance within the same assessment if they are within the maximum New Claim Advance amount available. This will appear as two different advances on the system.
3. "New Claim Loan" has been interpreted as new claim advance and figures presented also include benefit transfer advances.
4. Data for February 2023 has been provided, in line with the latest available Universal Credit Household Statistics.
5. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available
Table 2: Repayment Schedule for New Claim & Benefit Transfer Advances in February 2023 | |||
Repayment Schedule (in months) | Number of New Claim & Benefit Transfer Advances being Repaid |
|
|
0 to 6 months | 17,300 |
|
|
7 to 12 months | 111,800 |
|
|
13 to 18 months | 69,600 |
|
|
19 to 24 months | 714,300 |
|
|
More than 24 months | - |
|
|
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints were (a) made and (b) upheld about the Child Maintenance Service in each year since 2018.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP publish complaints received data on a quarterly basis on Gov.uk.
The data is currently published up to March 2023 and is available here.
The Child Maintenance complaints received data is published on a quarterly basis on Gov.uk, this information can be found within Table 12 here.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Personal Independence Payment assessments were carried out (a) face-to-face, (b) remotely and (c) on paper in each month since 1 September 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The number and proportion of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments carried out (a) face to face (b) remotely (this includes telephone and video) and (c) paper based can be found in the tables below.
For the months from September 2022 to May 2023 (the latest month figures are available) the number of assessments per channel are:
Month | Face-to-Face | Remote | Paper-Based |
Sep-22 | 6,440 | 62,530 | 15,540 |
Oct-22 | 7,080 | 65,380 | 15,990 |
Nov-22 | 7,540 | 71,150 | 18,340 |
Dec-22 | 5,260 | 52,530 | 13,810 |
Jan-23 | 6,150 | 72,800 | 17,750 |
Feb-23 | 6,880 | 65,810 | 17,420 |
Mar-23 | 7,210 | 78,130 | 20,200 |
Apr-23 | 6,610 | 59,680 | 16,260 |
May-23 | 7,290 | 68,460 | 18,600 |
The channel proportion is:
Month | Face-to-Face | Remote | Paper-Based |
Sep-22 | 7.6% | 74.0% | 18.4% |
Oct-22 | 8.0% | 73.9% | 18.1% |
Nov-22 | 7.8% | 73.3% | 18.9% |
Dec-22 | 7.3% | 73.4% | 19.3% |
Jan-23 | 6.4% | 75.3% | 18.4% |
Feb-23 | 7.6% | 73.0% | 19.3% |
Mar-23 | 6.8% | 74.0% | 19.1% |
Apr-23 | 8.0% | 72.3% | 19.7% |
May-23 | 7.7% | 72.6% | 19.7% |
Please note:
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of the suspension period was for benefit claimants who had their benefits suspended and then reinstated by the Risk Review team.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Individual data is not captured on average suspension periods and would be disproportionate in cost to identify this information.
The Risk Review Team (RRT) complete a review of eligibility and entitlement ; we engage with customers to request evidence to determine entitlement. The length of time it takes to review the case to allow the claim to be reinstated will depend on the cooperation from the claimant engaging with RRT and providing accurate documentation.
We have a process in place, where we make three attempts via telephone to engage with the customer, giving 48 hours’ notice between calls, these calls are booked in advance via the customers Universal Credit account . If there is no engagement from the customer, a claim can be closed after 30 plus 1 day from RRT starting their review.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 on basic safety training requirements for (a) self-employed and (b) directly employed staff working in the offshore (i) oil and gas and (ii) wind sectors.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Both the Oil & Gas and Wind Sectors require mandatory training for directly and self-employed personnel working in these sectors. This training comprises of BOSIET (Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training) and GWO (Global Wind Organisation) courses where completion information is recorded in a national industry database which provides a record of an individual’s training status.
HSE retain oversight of non-mandatory training associated with an individual’s competence to undertake their role via inspection activities across both sectors.