Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will direct Jobcentre-plus districts to address the geographical variations in the distribution of jobseeker's allowance sanctions as set out in the report by Crisis entitled Benefit sanctions and homelessness: a scoping report, published March 2015.

We deploy a comprehensive monitoring regime to check that sanctions are applied appropriately across our network. Where any site is making significantly more or fewer referrals, an independent team reviews their activity to ensure sanctions are being applied appropriately.