Asked by: Lord Green of Deddington (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 11 February (HL5761), what is (1) the underlying data issue affecting the calculation of the scale of National Insurance numbers issued to adult overseas arrivals from June 2021 onwards, (2) the scale of the uncertainty about the numbers involved, (3) the degree and manner in which this has affected and is likely to affect the future development of the Administrative-Based Migration Estimates, and (4) the period over which net migration estimates are likely to be affected.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The decision was made to delay the November 2021 release of the National Statistics publication of National Insurance numbers allocated to adult overseas nationals following an investigation involving HMRC where a technical issue was identified which work is now underway to rectify. Once the work is complete and the data has been validated, we will notify users of our plans to publish the statistical back series in line with the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for migration estimates and they announced in November 2021 their plan to include data from the DWP Registration And Population Interactions Dataset (RAPID) in their Administrative-Based Migration Estimates. The current RAPID data is not affected by this issue as it only covers the period to end March 2021.
Asked by: Lord Green of Deddington (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the statistics on National Insurance numbers issued to overseas nationals were delayed two days before the due publication date of 25 November 2021; why they have now been suspended; and when they expect them to be published.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
All statistics produced by the Department for Work and Pensions are subject to routine quality assurance procedures before publication. During one of these procedures an underlying data issue was discovered in the quarterly National Statistics for ‘National Insurance number allocations to adult overseas nationals entering the UK’, which was due to be published on 25 November 2021. An assessment was made to understand the cause and identify if a solution could be swiftly implemented before the publication date. However, as it was not possible to do this, a decision was made to notify users both of the delay to the November release and that an update would be provided in January 2022.
The investigation is taking longer than first anticipated and will therefore impact the production of the next quarterly release of the statistics, so the update provided on 26 January 2022 informed users of the decision to suspend the release of the statistics. The statistical series will be reinstated as soon as possible after a solution is implemented, in line with the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics and a further progress update will be provided in early April 2022.
Asked by: Lord Green of Deddington (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 2 November (HL9276), what estimate they have made of the number of young people aged 16 to 24 who will benefit from the Kickstart Scheme.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Department for Work and Pensions Kickstart Scheme is making £2 billion available to eligible employers and Kickstart gateways. This Government has not set a limit to the number of Kickstart jobs that can be funded.
Asked by: Lord Green of Deddington (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many young people in the UK are expected to benefit from the Kickstart Scheme in 2021.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Kickstart Scheme is a £2 billion programme, planning to create thousands of new jobs for young people aged 16-24 at risk of long term unemployment. Whilst we will not limit our ambitions, our first priority is to ensure the quality of experiences created for young people.
Asked by: Lord Green of Deddington (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Faulks on 2 March (HL Deb, col 928), how many of those families of EU migrants in the UK that are supported by the benefits system, and which include at least one member who has arrived in the last four years, include (1) an adult member recorded for these purposes as of UK nationality, and (2) an adult member recorded for these purposes as a non-UK national who has not arrived in the last four years, where "recorded for these purposes" relates to nationality at the time the person was first issued with a National Insurance Number.
Answered by Lord Freud
The information requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Green of Deddington (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the proposed restrictions on access to in-work benefits mentioned in paragraph 2(b) of Section D of the draft Decision of the European Council published on 2 February will apply to Universal Credit, and if so, to which elements of Universal Credit those restrictions will apply.
Answered by Lord Freud
Universal Credit is a single, indivisible benefit. Universal Credit claimants receive a single monthly amount based on various criteria, including family size and the level of any housing or childcare costs and taking into account earnings and other household income. The final award is therefore a single amount and elements cannot be separated.
The final agreed Decision of the Heads of State and Government adopted at the European Council on 20 February 2016 makes clear that the emergency welfare brake will apply to non-contributory in-work benefits. All EU workers arriving in the UK while the brake is in operation will have to wait for four years before getting full access to these benefits.