Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the (a) New Style Contributory Employment and Support Allowance, (b) Contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance and (c) Income-related Jobseeker's Allowance will be uprated by the inflation rate announced in his Autumn 2022 Statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Yes, they will.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to increase the Local Housing Allowance from April 2023 to reflect the rate of inflation.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In April 2020 Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates were raised to the 30th percentile, a significant investment of almost £1 billion, we have maintained the rates in cash terms since then ensuring claimants continue to benefit from the significant increase.
On the 17 November the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions confirmed in his Written Ministerial Statement that LHA rates will be maintained at those increased levels for 2023-24.
For those who need additional support with housing costs, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 we have provided almost £1.5 billion in DHPs.
To ensure stability and certainty for households, in the Autumn Statement the Government has announced £26bn in cost of living support for 2023/24. This includes Cost of Living Payments for the most vulnerable. In 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to a further £900 in Cost of Living Payments. A £300 payment will be made to pensioner households and individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will receive a £150 payment. Also included is the amended Energy Price Guarantee which will save the average UK household £500 in 2023-24 and raising the benefit cap by 10.1% in line with inflation.
For those who require extra support, the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. This is on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.
In addition, we are uprating benefits for working age households and disabled people, as well as the basic and new State Pensions, all by 10.1%.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the Health and Safety executive does not record instances of data-sharing with external agencies, including Home Office Immigration Enforcement.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Decisions on the sharing of the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) data with other government agencies are generally taken on a case by case basis, with the outcome and justification being documented at a local level.
HSE does not hold a central register of its data sharing activities as there is no statutory requirement for the organisation to do so.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 September 2022 to Question 49154, how many Universal Credit claimants who received a nil award also did not qualify for the cost of living payment.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Universal Credit households can receive a nil award for various reasons. The majority of nil awards are due to household earnings. Other reasons that can cause or contribute to a nil award include capital, other income, other benefits, sanctions and fraud penalties.
498,700 households containing 594,400 UC claimants had a nil Universal Credit award in the qualifying assessment period and therefore were not eligible for the cost-of-living payment.
Notes:
1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. Great Britain level figures have been provided.
3. Nil awards have been defined as households that received a £0 Universal Credit payment and had no deductions for advance repayments, third party debts or government debts and had no money paid directly to their landlord by Universal Credit.
4. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.
5. The methodology used is different to those used to derive the Official Statistics Household series and therefore, figures may not be comparable.
6. The methodology and data source may be slightly different to those used to derive entitlement to the Cost-of-Living Payment.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2022 to Question 46209 on Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which legislative provisions give effect to the rights of disabled people under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and whether her Department has taken recent steps to support disability rights that are not set out in legislation.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
This Government remains committed to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which we ratified in 2009, and the progressive realisation of rights for disabled people that it sets out. We continue to reform and modernise our public services and welfare system to ensure that disabled people are able to participate in every aspect of society.
Although the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is not incorporated into domestic law, the Equality Act 2010 provides in domestic legislation protections for people in Great Britain against discrimination, harassment or victimisation because of any of the nine protected characteristics set out in the Act – which include disability. It also includes the public sector equality duty to promote equality of opportunity for all. Equivalent provisions for Northern Ireland are set out in a range of devolved legislation.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2022 to Question 46209 on Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which provisions in domestic legislation reflect and give effect to the rights of disabled people under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
This Government remains committed to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which we ratified in 2009, and the progressive realisation of rights for disabled people that it sets out. We continue to reform and modernise our public services and welfare system to ensure that disabled people are able to participate in every aspect of society.
Although the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is not incorporated into domestic law, the Equality Act 2010 provides in domestic legislation protections for people in Great Britain against discrimination, harassment or victimisation because of any of the nine protected characteristics set out in the Act – which include disability. It also includes the public sector equality duty to promote equality of opportunity for all. Equivalent provisions for Northern Ireland are set out in a range of devolved legislation.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what financial savings her Department expects to make following the managed migration to Universal Credit in 2023-2024.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
In financial year 23/24 we estimate that Universal Credit will deliver net operational savings of around £300m, when compared to the cost of processing the same customers in the legacy systems it replaces.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she is taking steps to progress the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Government policy.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We are fully committed to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which we ratified in 2009.
The UK as a general principle does not incorporate international treaties into domestic law. However, the rights of disabled people under this Convention are largely reflected and given effect in existing domestic policies and legislation, including the Equality Act 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales, and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
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 merits of removing the requirement for people undergoing managed migration from Legacy Benefits to Universal Credit to make a new application.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Section 33 of the Welfare Reform Act prescribes for the abolition of legacy benefits for the move to UC and sets a requirement for a new claim to be made.
As a consequence, everyone who is required to move will receive a managed migration notice informing them that they need to make a claim for Universal Credit.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to cease transitory protections for people undergoing managed migration to Universal Credit in 2023-2024.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Transitional Protection ensures eligible claimants moved by the Department from legacy benefits to UC will not have a lower entitlement than they had via legacy benefits at the point of their move to UC.
This protection is not designed to provide indefinite financial protection. It will erode by increases in other elements of UC or where new elements (other than the Childcare Costs element) are awarded to a claimant’s UC award. It can also be terminated if a claimant experiences a significant change of circumstances such as where a claimant separates from their partner or forms a new couple, or where the UC award ceases.
Once stopped, a claimant’s transitional element will not generally be reapplied to their UC award, should they make another UC claim. The exception is where the original Universal Credit claim was stopped due to an increase in earnings and a new claim to Universal Credit is made within four months of the date for which Universal Credit was last awarded.