Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in Telford consistency claimed pension credit in November (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
In November 2022, 2,541 households in the Telford constituency received Pension Credit.
In November 2023, 2,509 households in the Telford constituency received Pension Credit.
Data is not yet available for November 2024. The latest available data is for May 2024, in which 2,450 households in the Telford constituency received Pension Credit.
This data is available on Stat-Xplore at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk in the ‘Pension Credit - Data from May 2018’ dataset. More information on the data included in the ‘Pension Credit’ dataset can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistical-summaries. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
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 potential merits of establishing a permanent Access to Elected Office fund for disabled election candidates.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is the Government’s ambition to see more disabled people in public office.
The Government has been clear that it will champion disabled people's rights, and work closely with them so that disabled people's voices and views are at the heart of all we do.
We know that some disabled people still face additional financial barriers when standing for elected office. We are looking at how we might work with political parties and others to help tackle this.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in her Department was in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This data has been taken from a live system. Staff have 52 weeks to take paternity leave following the birth of the child, so figures for 2024 may rise.
The average working days taken (AWDT) is shown in the table below:
Year | AWDT |
2021 | 6 |
2022 | 9 |
2023 | 7 |
2024 (1-Jan - 30-Sep) | 7 |
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioner households claimed (a) pension credit and (b) housing benefit in Telford in each year since 2010.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Quarterly statistics on pensioners who receive a) pension credit and b) housing benefit from quarter ending February 2010 to quarter ending February 2024 are published on Stat-Xplore.
Housing benefit can be broken down by age group prior to April 2018 and from April 2018 onwards, it can be broken down by working age or pension age.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with (a) Metro Mayors and (b) local authorities on tackling youth unemployment.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our plan to get Britain Working includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or employment support. This will sit alongside; a new national jobs and careers service to help get more people into work, work health and skills plans for the economically inactive, and the launch of Skills England to open new opportunities for young people. Further detail will be shared in the up-coming White Paper.
Such ambitious plans require input and expertise from a wide range of stakeholders - from community groups and employers through to local authorities and providers of employment support and careers advice. We have convened a small advisory group with the Mayoral Combined Authorities, Local councils and the Central London Forward to gather expertise and support the development of the White Paper, and we are working closely with the Devolved Governments to share insights on what is currently working across Britain.
We look forward to working closely with stakeholders post-publication on the design and implementation of the measures in the White Paper.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an estimate of the potential savings generated by selling Jobcentre buildings and co-locating with other public bodies.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP continually review One Public Estate opportunities, and at any time, a number of these are individually being evaluated. The department’s estate is leased rather than owned, so there are no opportunities to sell buildings. However, there can be divestment running cost savings, although these need to be balanced by the material investment costs of re-location to new premises, which are typically substantial.
In each case, a value for money assessment is undertaken, alongside customer and operational considerations.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to share data for free with local councils on (a) Universal Credit, (b) unemployment benefits, (c) young people who are out of work and (d) benefit fraud.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP share personal data with local authorities. That includes three shares of Universal Credit data, with improvements to two of these due in the next 6 months, and an additional Universal Credit data share currently being explored. Similarly, DWP share information about citizens on unemployment benefits, and young people out of work in multiple different data shares. On benefit fraud, we work closely with local authorities on HB fraud, and are not aware of any specific requests for any data in relation to this topic. But we are always open to considering local authority requests, so long as there is a legal gateway and business justification to do so.