Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether senior officials from his Department have travelled to China since January 2019.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information required is not retained by Grade. However, the total number of DWP staff that have travelled to China and/or Hong Kong from January 2019 to present is 151, with 2 of these being official business trips.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what provision his Department makes for Winter Fuel Payments in cases where Ukrainian refugees receiving Universal Credit payments are not paying bills in the homes of their host families.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Winter fuel payments are an age-related payment payable this winter to all people who have reached State Pension age on or before 24 September 2023 and who are ordinarily resident in the UK, including Ukrainian refugees. There is no need to be in receipt of a social security benefit in order to qualify.
Winter fuel payments are made on a household basis. If there is more than one eligible person in a household, the payment will be divided between them. The sharing of bills is a matter for the house owner and any guests they may be hosting.
The Government understands the cost-of-living pressures people are currently facing which is why we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals with their bills.
Pensioners who are entitled to a winter fuel payment this winter will receive a pensioner Cost of Living Payment of £300 per household paid with their normal payment, meaning over 8 million pensioner households across the UK will receive an increased winter fuel payment of £500/£600 depending on age.
Over 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits will receive additional Cost of Living Payments totalling up to £900 in the 2023/24 financial year and over 6 million individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will have received a £150 payment to help with the additional costs they face.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that data collected by his (a) Department and (b) Department’s associated arms-length bodies records biological sex as opposed to gender identity.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no current data standard for biological sex, gender or gender identity.
The Department for Work and Pensions has not made any independent assessment to ensure arms-length bodies record biological sex as opposed to gender identity.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to extend the criteria for the £650 cost of living payment to all people in receipt of Contributory Employment and Support Allowance.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is rightly targeting the £650 Cost of Living Payment support at low-income households in receipt of qualifying means tested benefits.
Contributory Employment and Support Allowance is not a means tested income replacement benefit. Many People in receipt of contributory Employment Support Allowance receive a means tested benefit, therefore they will be eligible for the £650 Cost of Living Payment. As of November 2021, around 400,000 claimants received both income and contributory Employment and Support Allowance, and around 100,000 claimants received Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit.
In addition, individuals may be able eligible for the £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment if they are in receipt of a qualifying disability benefits.
The guidance with the full list of support can be found at:
Overall government support for the cost of living: factsheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
People in receipt of Contributory Employment Support Allowance can also benefit from the support being provided for by the Government. This includes £400 of support for energy bills through the expansion of the Energy Bills Support Scheme and an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England, £421m will be used to further extend the Household Support Fund (October 2022 – March 2023). Guidance and individual local authority indicative allocations for this further extension to the Household Support Fund will be announced in due course.
Further measures to help people with the cost-of-living challenges including frozen fuel duty, raising the NICs threshold, the £150 council tax rebates and the further rise in the National Living Wage to £9.50 an hour from April 2022.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what funding her Department has allocated to Stonewall in each of the last five years; and for what projects.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DWP does not allocate set funding to Stonewall, however spending has occurred out of the sexual orientation and gender identity budget. We routinely pay an annual membership fee for the Diversity Champions scheme of £3000 (including VAT).
21/22 £3000 for membership, £750 for conference
20/21 £3000 for membership, £750 for conference
19/20 £3000 for membership, £480 for event
18/19 £3000 for membership, £234 for event
17/18 £3000 for membership
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Answer of 10 September 2021 to Question 44160 on Department for Work and Pensions: Listed Buildings, if he will publish a list of the (a) properties classified as heritage assets owned by his Department, (b) the most recent estimate of the value of those properties and (c) the annual income derived from those properties as opposed to the details of the body responsible for advising him on those properties' management.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DWP does not own any of the buildings, every building we occupy is leased.
DWP is advised on the management of designated heritage assets in its portfolio by Historic England’s Government Historic Estate Unit. Further details can be found here:
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the (a) properties classified as heritage assets by her Department, (b) most recent estimate of the value of those properties and (c) annual income derived from those properties.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DWP is advised on the management of designated heritage assets in its portfolio by Historic England’s Government Historic Estate Unit. Further details can be found here:
DWP does not collect or collate data on the value (property value) or income data for these assets.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women between 60 and 66 years old are in (a) full-time employment, (b) part-time employment, (c) receipt of in-work benefits and (d) receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For parts a) and b) the latest information is contained in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Women in employment
| Full-time | Part-time |
60-66 | 505,000 | 675,000 |
Source: Labour Force Survey, Jul-Sep 2019
For part c), table 2 shows the number of women aged 60-65 and over 65 who are claiming Universal Credit and are in employment (figures for the specific age group 60-66 are not available within Stat-Xplore).
Table 2: Women claiming Universal Credit and in employment, October 2019
| In employment |
60-65 | 16,676 |
Over 65 | 57 |
Source: DWP Stat-Xplore
For part d), table 3 shows the number of women aged 60-65 who are claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (figures for the specific age group 60-66 are not available within Stat-Xplore).
Table 3: Women claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, May 2019
|
|
60-65 | 10,703 |
Source: DWP Stat-Xplore
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what changes to benefit entitlement for partners in polygamous partnerships has resulted from the introduction of universal credit.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Universal Credit does not recognise polygamous marriages. In Universal Credit, a person who is not party to the earliest existing marriage has to claim as a single person on the basis of their own circumstances, as opposed to being treated as part of a couple. This is a simpler approach that is easier to administer and avoids complexity within the structure of the benefit.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations he has received on the application of universal credit criteria for those housed in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We have listened to concerns from Local Authorities and have announced that from April 2018 any new claims for Universal Credit for Claimants in Temporary Accommodation will have their housing costs met through Housing Benefit. This includes all temporary accommodation, not just Emergency Temporary Accommodation. Existing claimants in Temporary Accommodation on Universal Credit will also move to Housing Benefit.
This measure is expected to help Local Authorities, who currently see a significant funding shortage when they are placing people into Temporary and emergency accommodation in Universal Credit Full Service areas.