Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 7 August (HL344), whether any of the civil servants claiming diversity network time are also claiming trade union facility time, and at what hourly amounts; and what is their policy on the double dipping of network time and facility time.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are fewer than 5 individuals in DWP in September 2024 who are claiming Trade Union (TU) Facility time and Diversity Network time.
In line with standard departmental practice in statistics, we do not publish details of numbers below 5, or where individuals might otherwise be identified in the data, as this would breach our data protection obligations.
DWP does not have a policy on colleagues claiming both Diversity Network Time and Facility Time at the same time.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Department for Work and Pensions (1) currently has, or (2) has previously had, a National Diversity Ambassador on Trans Issues; and if so, (a) who they were, and (b) during what time period(s) they served.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP does not have a National Diversity Ambassador on Trans Issues.
Since 2018, under the current Permanent Secretary, there has been no formally recognised role of this description. Before this, the term Ambassador may have been used colloquially within the Department to raise awareness of Trans and wider Equity, Diversity and Inclusion matters. However, this role was not confirmed in any official capacity.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what characteristics of the National Insurance number system prevent them being aware how many National Insurance numbers are valid.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The National Insurance Number application process is robust, however there are instances where errors do occur. If it is identified that a National Insurance Number has been allocated and a record created in error, there are processes in place between the Department of Work and Pensions and HMRC to take action to prevent the National Insurance Number being used, for example in cases where a fraudulent application has been identified or a duplicate record has been created in error.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why their systems use National Insurance numbers as personal identifiers if, at any given instant, they do not know whether such numbers are valid.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
National Insurance Number are used as Identifiers for National Insurance Number Records; held for each individual who has been allocated a National Insurance Number.
Robust identity checks are undertaken when an application for a National Insurance Number is received. At the point of creation of a National Insurance Record the validity of the record has been confirmed.
Whilst a National Insurance Number is the identifier for a National Insurance account within the Department of Work and Pensions and HMRC, to enable Tax and Contributions to be posted to the citizen’s record and/or the administration of Department Benefits and Pensions, there are robust processes in place to validate a citizen’s/customer’s identity before a benefit/pension will be paid.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many National Insurance numbers were valid on the latest date for which this figure is available.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
As of 11:50am on 16th July 2021, the Department Customer Information System (CIS) holds National Insurance Number records for 72, 096, 863 Adults; where a Date of Death is not held on their record. As processes are in place to remediate invalid National Insurance Number records, the volume of Live Adult records are deemed to be valid.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many National Insurance numbers were valid on 21 March.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Information for 21 March is not available.