Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the number of employment coaches of the Work and Health Programme.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Significant Progress has been made in tackling unemployment, with dramatic falls in the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits, and in long-term unemployment.
Contracted provision will continue to play a crucial role in offering support at the right time to those who have difficulty accessing the labour market. The Spending Review in October 2015 announced funding rising to at least £130 million a year by 2019/20 for the new Work and Health programme, including funding to be devolved to Scotland. Support will focus on people with a disability, early access for priority groups and the long term unemployed. We expect the majority of people who start the programme to have a disability.
The number of employment coaches and other support required to deliver contracted employment support is a matter for providers. The process to select providers to deliver the Work and Health Programme is at an early stage and we expect potential providers to consider this as part of their service bids
The Work and Health Programme will have no impact on the number of work coaches in
DWP.
Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he expects to announce what changes are required to comply with the terms of the Supreme Court ruling of November 2016 on the under-occupancy penalty.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Department is taking action to make changes to the regulations in order to comply with the terms of the judgment. The Social Security Advisory Committee and Local Authority Associations are being consulted about the changes in the usual way. The Department will also be issuing guidance to Local Authorities ready for when the changes are in place.
Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent meetings he has held as part of his Department's review into the Government's policy on compensation for war widows who re-married between 1973 and 2005.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 12 December 2016 to Questions 56546, 56547 and 56548.
Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many war widows who remarried between 1973 and 2005 have been denied compensation.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Between 2003 and 2005 a total of 55 War Widows remarried and relinquished their War Widow's pensions. Records between 1996 and 2003 are incomplete but where there are records these show that 97 War Widow's pensions were relinquished during that period. The Department holds no relevant records prior to 1996.
I remain sympathetic to the circumstances of this group of widows and officials continue to consider potential options and expect that the financial and legal position will be clarified in the new year. The potential options are being dealt with by the policy team that has responsibility for compensation schemes.
Recent meetings on the subject of reinstatement of War Widow's pensions have included my meeting with Mrs Wills BEM, Chairman of the War Widow's Association of Great Britain, and with the hon. Member for Leeds North West (Mr Mulholland). Officials, on my behalf, met with the South East Fermanagh Foundation and Ulster Defence Regiment widows to discuss this issue.
Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many officials of his Department are working on potential options for compensation for war widows who remarried between 1973 and 2005.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Between 2003 and 2005 a total of 55 War Widows remarried and relinquished their War Widow's pensions. Records between 1996 and 2003 are incomplete but where there are records these show that 97 War Widow's pensions were relinquished during that period. The Department holds no relevant records prior to 1996.
I remain sympathetic to the circumstances of this group of widows and officials continue to consider potential options and expect that the financial and legal position will be clarified in the new year. The potential options are being dealt with by the policy team that has responsibility for compensation schemes.
Recent meetings on the subject of reinstatement of War Widow's pensions have included my meeting with Mrs Wills BEM, Chairman of the War Widow's Association of Great Britain, and with the hon. Member for Leeds North West (Mr Mulholland). Officials, on my behalf, met with the South East Fermanagh Foundation and Ulster Defence Regiment widows to discuss this issue.
Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the timescale is for the review of the Government's policy on compensation for war widows who remarried between 1973 and 2005.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Between 2003 and 2005 a total of 55 War Widows remarried and relinquished their War Widow's pensions. Records between 1996 and 2003 are incomplete but where there are records these show that 97 War Widow's pensions were relinquished during that period. The Department holds no relevant records prior to 1996.
I remain sympathetic to the circumstances of this group of widows and officials continue to consider potential options and expect that the financial and legal position will be clarified in the new year. The potential options are being dealt with by the policy team that has responsibility for compensation schemes.
Recent meetings on the subject of reinstatement of War Widow's pensions have included my meeting with Mrs Wills BEM, Chairman of the War Widow's Association of Great Britain, and with the hon. Member for Leeds North West (Mr Mulholland). Officials, on my behalf, met with the South East Fermanagh Foundation and Ulster Defence Regiment widows to discuss this issue.
Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on halving the disability employment gap.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the last two years, the number of disabled people in work has increased by 365,000. But we recognise that the gap between the employment rates of disabled people and non-disabled people remains too large. That is why we are committed to halving it.
Progress against the disability employment gap is a key factor in progress towards full employment. This is consistent with the Government’s manifesto commitment which said ‘as part of our objective to achieve full employment, we will aim to halve the disability employment gap’. The annual report on progress towards full employment will include an update on the Government’s progress towards halving the disability employment gap.
We plan to produce a Green Paper later this year that starts to reframe the discussion with disabled people and their representative organisations and points towards long-term reform.
Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress the Government has made on steps to introduce a pensions dashboard by 2019.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
As people work longer and change jobs more often, pension savings can become confusing. The average person will move employers 11 times over their working life, meaning they could end up with 11 or more private pensions by the time they retire. Research shows that over a third of people approaching retirement find it difficult to keep track of their pension pots.
That is why the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced as part of the Budget 2016, that the government will ensure the industry designs, funds and launches a pensions dashboard by 2019. This will help people to clearly view all their pension savings in one place.
There are a number of exciting dashboard initiatives already going on and the government is keen to ensure that it does what it can to support the progress made by the industry so far. That is why I am acting as a ministerial champion to support the industry in designing and delivering the dashboard to consumers by 2019.
This work will be industry-led. The Treasury is starting the work on catalysing and challenging the industry to deliver and I will set out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 4 May 2016 to Question 35354, for what reasons the correspondence does not inform claimants of the availability of the Flexible Support Fund.
Answered by Priti Patel
The purpose of the correspondence was to notify the claimants who may be affected of the changes to the work allowances and to highlight the work coach as the primary source of additional support.
As the Flexible Support Fund is accessed at the discretion of the work coach and is based on individual claimant need, it was not explicitly referred to in the letter.
Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many referrals to debt advice services have been made by jobcentre staff in each of the last five years.
Answered by Priti Patel
The information requested is not held.