Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has undertaken any (a) research and (b) planning for a potential compensation scheme following the publication of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's provisional views on injustice and remedy experienced due to maladministration in communication about the 1995 Pensions Act in November 2023.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Ombudsman did not publish his provisional views in November 2023 or at any other time. The Ombudsman published his final views on 21st March 2024.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help ensure that job centres work with Further Education colleges to support adult learners to gain skills and qualifications.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For customers in England, we have ongoing collaboration at a national and local level with the Department for Education who fund adult education via the Adult Education Budget (AEB). Learning providers, many of which are Further Education colleges, deliver training to address customer skills needs in line with labour market demand. As skills is a devolved matter, similar discussions take place with stakeholders in the Scottish and Welsh Governments.
Local Jobcentre Plus partnership teams work directly with colleges and training providers in their area to ensure claimants have access to the right skills support. In England, this partnership is facilitated in part by the Department for Education’s employer representative body led Local Skills improvement Partnerships.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of levels of in-work poverty in Poplar and Limehouse constituency.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics are not available at the constituency level.
National Statistics on the number and percentage of people in “in-work poverty”, including regional-level data, is published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. This can be found here.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many veterans received Carer’s Allowance in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not collected and could only be obtained at 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 much his Department plans to spend on the Restart Scheme in the next three financial years; and if he will make an estimate of the number of people who will be supported through that scheme in the same period.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Referrals to the current Restart Scheme will be made up to June 2024, offering participants up to a year of support. As of the end of February 2024, around 150,000 people were receiving support and the majority will continue participating into 2024/25; in addition, around a further 50,000 are expected to start before June 2024. Spend over the next three financial years relating to supporting these people is expected to be around £400m, with the scheme operating on Payment by Result contracts.
In the Autumn Statement 2023, funding was approved to extend the Restart Scheme, taking referrals between July 2024 and June 2026. It is estimated that the extension will support around a further 500,000 people from two years of referrals. Funding of around £1bn has been agreed for the extension, with some of this expenditure expected to fall beyond the 2026/27 financial year due to the fact the scheme operates Payment by Results.
Please note
Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to strengthening local welfare services.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
A total of £3 billion including Barnett impact has been announced since October 2021 to enable the delivery of Household Support Fund in England. This includes over £2.5 billion allocated to Local Authorities in England. It is for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.
Councils continue to have the flexibility to use funding from the Local Government Finance Settlement to provide local welfare assistance.
The Government has delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.
Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the child poverty statistics published on 21 March, what plans they have to initiate a cross-government strategy to address child poverty.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions already works consistently across Government to support the most vulnerable households. This includes a cross-government senior officials’ group on poverty.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the release of data showing that the number of children living in absolute poverty has risen by the highest rate in 30 years, what steps they are taking to address the increase in child poverty rates.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
These statistics cover 2022/23, a year when war in Ukraine and global supply chain challenges led to unexpected and high rates on inflation, averaging 10% over the year. These factors are reflected in the statistics. In response to these pressures, the Government provided an unprecedented cost of living support package which helped to shield households from the impact of inflation. Analysis shows that the Government’s cost of living support prevented 1.3 million people from falling into absolute poverty after housing costs in 2022/23. That includes 300,000 children, 600,000 working-age adults and 400,000 pensioners.
Since the period covered by these statistics, the Government has taken firm action to support families on the lowest incomes. The Government has spent around £276bn through the welfare system in 2023/24, including around £125bn on people of working age and children. We took action to support those on the lowest incomes by uprating benefits and State Pensions by 10.1% from April 2023. We are continuing to support people in 2024/25 by uprating working age benefits by 6.7% and raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.
With over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting parents to move into and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty. The latest statistics show that in 2022/23, children living in workless households were over 6 times more likely to be in absolute poverty (after housing costs) than those where all adults work.
Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget Statement on 6 March that the Household Support Fund has been extended until September, what assessment they have made of the position of local authorities who had already reduced their local crisis support services and disbanded delivery teams.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget on 6 March, the government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.
The funding will be available to Local Authorities in England from 1 April 2024 and will run until 30 September 2024.
The Household Support Fund is not the only way we are supporting people on lower incomes. April’s benefit uprating of 6.7% will see an average increase in Universal Credit of £470, raising the National Living Wage will deliver an increase of over £1800 to the gross annual earnings of someone working full-time on that wage, and uplifting Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents will benefit 1.6 million private renters by, on average, £800 a year.
The Government has also delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.
As announced by the Chancellor in this year’s Spring Budget, we are also doubling the repayment period for new Universal Credit Budgeting Advances.
Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to work with (1) Barnado’s, and (2) other charities who have developed recommendations for the future of local crisis support, prior to the ending of the Household Support Fund in September.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget on 6 March, the government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.
The funding will be available to Local Authorities in England from 1 April 2024 and will run until 30 September 2024.
The Household Support Fund is not the only way we are supporting people on lower incomes. April’s benefit uprating of 6.7% will see an average increase in Universal Credit of £470, raising the National Living Wage will deliver an increase of over £1800 to the gross annual earnings of someone working full-time on that wage, and uplifting Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents will benefit 1.6 million private renters by, on average, £800 a year.
The Government has also delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.
As announced by the Chancellor in this year’s Spring Budget, we are also doubling the repayment period for new Universal Credit Budgeting Advances.