Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has been made of the effect of the roll out of universal credit on the number of people in employment in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber.

The Department successfully completed the rollout of Universal Credit in December 2018 and it is available in every Jobcentre across the country including those across the Haltemprice and Howden constituency and Yorkshire and the Humber. It is a modern, flexible, personalised system which has scrapped the ‘cliff edges’ featured across legacy benefits, where money was lost when working more than 16, 24 and 30 hours.

Universal Credit provides claimants with the support they need to better prepare for work, move into work, or to increase earnings. The Universal Credit Work Allowance has been increased by £1,000 and means that 2.4m households will keep an extra £630 of income each year.

The Department’s latest data for the Yorkshire and Humber region (to October 2019) shows there are over 200,000 more people in employment in the region compared with 2010.

The employment rate for the Haltemprice and Howden constituency for the year 2019 was 82.6% compared with 73.8% for the region of Yorkshire and the Humber overall. This can be compared to 2010 when the employment rate for the Haltemprice and Howden constituency was 79.2% compared with 68.9% for the region of Yorkshire and the Humber overall.