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 Universal Credit who were (a) in the intensive work-search labour market regime, (b) assessed to have limited capability for work and (c) assessed to have limited capability for work and work-related activity were (i) in and (b) not in work in each month for which data is available since April 2013.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics for people on Universal Credit at the second Thursday of each month are published monthly on Stat-Xplore. The latest statistics are available in the People on UC dataset for the conditionality regime category of ‘searching for work’, by employment status monthly from April 2015 to March 2024.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
The monthly statistics from April 2019 to December 2023 are provided in the attached spreadsheet. Monthly caseload statistics for the same time period are available in the UC Health caseload dataset on Stat-Xplore.
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 jobs have been filled as a result of the Work and Health Programme since its inception.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We publish Work and Health Programme (WHP) statistics quarterly on GOV.UK and they include the number of people who enter employment and gain job outcomes within two years since starting on the WHP. The next release of published statistics is planned for 30 May 2024.
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, what is the annual spend on the Work and Health Programme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The contract costs for Work and Health Programme over the last 7 financial years are shown in the table below.
Area | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-2024 |
Total WHP | £6,747,110 | £45,984,768 | £62,887,008 | £75,175,020 | £84,045,213 | £88,961,719 | £98,138,908 |
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, what the end date is for referrals to the Work and Health Programme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Under current contracts the Work and Health Programme will take last referrals on 30 September, with support continuing to July 2026.
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 places were (a) available and (b) taken up for the Youth Offer in (i) 2021, (ii) 2022, (iii) 2023 and (iv) 2024 as of 21 May.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Youth Offer launched on the 20 September 2020 and provides support for 16–24-year-olds who are on Universal Credit to help them move into employment. It includes three elements:
The Youth Offer is a demand led programme and is available to eligible young claimants on Universal Credit.
The most recent data available is up to end of April for Starts on the Youth Offer.
Starts between dates | Youth Employment Programme | Youth Hub | Youth Employability Coach | Youth Offer |
21/09/2020 – 31/03/2021 | 206,700 |
|
| 206,700 |
01/04/2021 – 31/03/2022 | 259,300 | 14,800 | 21,700 | 295,800 |
01/04/2022 – 31/03/2023 | 272,700 | 15,100 | 18,300 | 306,200 |
01/04/2023 – 31/03/2024 | 308,900 | 14,200 | 20,800 | 344,000 |
01/04/2024 – 30/04/2024 | 24,300 | 1,200 | 2,100 | 27,600 |
Total Starts | 1,072,000 | 45,300 | 63,000 | 1,180,300 |
Notes:
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, what the average waiting time was for an initial assessment for people on the Access to Work Scheme in the last five years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The average waiting time for an initial assessment for people on the Access to Work Scheme in the last five years is not available.
However, the Access to Work statistics includes how many applications result in provision being approved from 2007/08 to 2022/23. Please see Table 3 of the Access to Work statistics.
The latest Access to Work statistics can be on the Access to Work statistics on GOV.UK
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, what definition his Department uses for 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 Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to update the definition of serious and organised crime.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We recently published a definition of serious and organised crime as part of the Serious and Organised Crime Strategy, published in December 2023.
We have no current plans to publish an updated definition.
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.