Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many landlords received housing benefit payments in (a) 2011, (b) 2012, (c) 2013, (d) 2014, (e) 2015, (f) 2016 and (g) 2017.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Information on the number of individual landlords receiving housing benefit (HB) payments is not available as our administrative data does not hold a unique identification number for each landlord. However, the number of HB claims where payment was made direct to the landlord is available via the Payment Destination breakdown of HB claimants on DWP Stat-Xplore.
Guidance for users is available at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the safety, health and productivity of workplaces in the UK are maintained after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Government has given a very clear commitment to protect workers’ rights as the United Kingdom leaves the European Union. This includes health and safety in the workplace. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 has led to the United Kingdom having one of the best records on health and safety at work in the world. We see no reason why this should change as the country leaves the EU.
The Government’s ambitious and modern Industrial Strategy sets out a long-term plan that will enable the UK to work more productively and boost the earning power of people, businesses, places and the nation as a whole.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
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 means-testing the winter fuel allowance.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There will be no change to the universal nature of the Winter Fuel Payment for the length of this Parliament.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners received a £10 Christmas bonus in (a) 2014-15, (b) 2015-16 and (c) 2016-17.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The number of people who receive the Christmas Bonus is published in DWP’s Benefit Expenditure and Caseload tables (Table_2c):
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-tables
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received maternity allowance in (a) 2014-15, (b) 2015-16 and (c) 2016-17.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
In response to these questions:
(a) The number of women who commenced their Maternity Allowance claim in 2014-15 was 82,500.
(b) The number of women who commenced their Maternity Allowance claim in 2015-16 was 86,300.
(c) The total number of commencements for 2016-17 is not yet available.
Data are published quarterly on the number of commencements to Maternity Allowance on a rolling basis up to November 2016 at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/maternity-allowance-quarterly-statistics
These quarterly data do not sum to the annual totals above as the data is subject to substantial retrospection from late notifications to the computer system, as noted in the publication. The annual estimates above are the best estimate for the financial years requested.
(1) Data is based on 5% sample data and retrospection may continue to affect the actual numbers.
(2) These figures exclude a small proportion of clerical cases.
(3) Data are rounded to the nearest 100.