Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, when referencing benefits, they will gross up the value of each benefit to demonstrate a direct and fair comparison with salaries paid to people who are not claiming benefits.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that carers are not pushed into benefit debt through lack of awareness about the earnings rules.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the longest wait for a case to be heard at tribunal once referred.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of taper rates for (a) housing benefit and (b) Universal Credit housing elements on people in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The taper rates in Universal Credit (UC) and Housing Benefit (HB) are different and the Department acknowledges the challenge that this creates for those moving into work whilst living in Temporary Accommodation - when transitioning between receiving UC and HB to receiving HB only as their earnings increase.
Officials continue to develop policy and delivery options to improve the customer experience for those reliant on Housing Benefit. Any options involving further investment to strengthen work incentives would require fiscal approval in the normal way.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of how much monies his Department expects to recover via the powers in Clause 128 of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill for fraud related to (a) the Attendance Allowance, (b) Universal Credit, (c) the State Pension, (d) the Personal Independence Payment, (e) the Disability Living Allowance, (f) carers allowance, (g) housing benefit, (h) child benefit and (i) pension credit as (i) an annual sum and (ii) as a proportion of overall estimated fraud for each of those.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Whilst the power covers all benefits to ensure we are empowered to address fraud and error wherever it arises, the Impact Assessment makes clear that we initially intend to use the power for Universal Credit, Employment Support Allowance, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit (passported from Pension Credit). DWP can also only exercise this power in relation to benefits for which DWP is responsible.
The Third-Party Data Measure is estimated to save up to £600m by 2028/29. This was certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) during the Autumn Statement 2023 and updated for the Spring Budget 2024. This is based on the initial use of the power which includes savings from the four benefits outlined above and the pilot period. Further information about the methodology can be found in the published impact assessment (DWP_third_party_data_impact_assessment_november_2023.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)).
The table below shows savings are split by each of benefit and that we are testing the measure. Estimates of these savings as a proportion of overall estimated fraud for each of these benefits is not available as the AME savings modelled are not directly comparable to the Monetary Value of Fraud and Error.
£m | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 | Total |
ESA | £5 | £18 | £52 | £41 | £116 |
HB (passported from PC) |
| £4 | £11 | £14 | £29 |
PC | £7 | £26 | £78 | £103 | £214 |
UC | £5 | £23 | £79 | £126 | £233 |
Note: figures may not sum due to rounding
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's statistics entitled Fraud and error in the benefit system, Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2024, published on 16 May 2024, how much of the £7.4 billion overpayment due to fraud is due to serious and organised crime.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department uses the definition as set out by the Home Office - ‘’ We define serious and organised crime as individuals planning, co-ordinating and committing serious offences, whether individually, in groups and/or as part of transnational networks’’.
The Department has a strong counter-fraud function, which includes specifically targeting serious and organised crime including cyber-crime, which identifies and stops illegal activity and saves money for the taxpayer.
Current estimates are that serious and organised crime directly accounts for no more than 6% of the £7.4 billion of benefit fraud reported in the 2023/24 statistics, as it is most likely captured in the Abroad and Conditions of Entitlement (Identity) categories of fraud reported there.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who were (a) not in work and (b) in receipt of (i) Jobseeker’s Allowance and (ii) Employment and Support Allowance in the (A) work-related activity and (B) support group were moved into work the following month, in each month for which data is available since April 2013.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of (a) Jobseeker’s Allowance and (b) Employment and Support Allowance in the (i) work-related activity and (ii) support groups were (A) in and (B) not in work in each month for which data is available since April 2013.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Government's proposed welfare bank surveillance powers on the right to privacy.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP has no plans to create welfare bank surveillance powers.
If referring to DWP’s data gathering powers in the Data Protection Digital Information Bill the power has been assessed and is deemed to be compatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The power has been carefully assessed during the drafting process for compliance with Article 8 (respect for private life) and any exercise of the power would also be carefully assessed for compliance with the law.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has considered the potential merits of allowing claimants' limited capability for work status to be reinstated without further assessment when (a) they have had their Universal Credit claim closed through no fault of their own, (b) they are in receipt of Personal Independence Payment and (c) their condition has not changed.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Depending on the circumstances, if the department accepts that a Universal Credit claim should not have been closed, the claim would be reopened. If there has been no change in the claimant’s circumstances, and no changes to any health conditions they have declared, the claim would be reinstated at the same rate of payment as before it was closed, including any additional allowances due to the claimants’ limited capability for work. There would be no need for a further Work Capability Assessment in this scenario. Being in receipt of Personal Independence Payment would have no bearing on this decision.