Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 104 of the report, UK Poverty: Causes and Solutions, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on 6 September 2016, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the recommendation to review changes to Universal Credit to ensure that lone-parent family incomes continue to move them out of poverty.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Prime Minister is clear that we need to build a country where no one and no community is left behind.
We know that work is the best route out of poverty, and Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives for parents to move into and progress in work.
The Government now provides more support than ever before to help parents with the costs of childcare, including providing 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3 and 4 year olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds, doubling free childcare available for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week and enabling parents to reclaim up to 85% of their childcare costs which is expected to help 500,000 additional families at a cost of around £350m/year.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 104 of the report, UK Poverty: Causes and Solutions, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on 6 September 2016; if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the recommendation to reverse cuts to universal credit for young parents so that children receive the same level of support regardless of the age of their parents.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Prime Minister is clear that we need to build a country where no one and no community is left behind.
We know that work is the best route out of poverty, and Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives for parents to move into and progress in work.
The Government now provides more support than ever before to help parents with the costs of childcare, including providing 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3 and 4 year olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds, doubling free childcare available for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week and enabling parents to reclaim up to 85% of their childcare costs which is expected to help 500,000 additional families at a cost of around £350m/year.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 15 of the report, UK Poverty: Causes and Solutions, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on 6 September 2016, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the recommendation to extend the measurement of poverty indicators to working-age adults without children, and to pensioners.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Estimates of the number and proportion of working-age adults without children and pensioners in relative and absolute low income in the UK are published in the National Statistics Households Below Average Income series.
In 2015/16 on a Before Housing Cost basis (BHC) 14% of working-age adults without children in the UK were in relative low income, and 12% in absolute low income.
In 2015/16 on a After Housing Cost basis (AHC) the proportion of pensioners in relative low income was 16%, with 14% in absolute low income.
In 2015/16, 8% of UK pensioners aged 65 and over were estimated to be in material deprivation.
We will continue to publish data on low income through the annual Households Below Average Income statistics.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 82 of the report, UK Poverty: Causes and Solutions, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on 6 September 2016, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the recommendation to uprate local housing allowance in line with local market rents.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Currently, Local Housing Allowance rates are frozen for 4 years from April 2016. In practice, this means that they either remain at the April 2015 rate or are set at the 30th percentile of local rents if this is lower. There is however, Targeted Affordability Funding available and we have used this in 2017/18 to increase 48 LHA rates by 3 per cent in areas with high rental costs. Further funding will be available for this purpose in 2018/19 and 2019/20.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 82 of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, entitled UK Poverty: Causes and Solutions, if he will make it his policy to scrap the housing benefit cap in favour of more fundamental reform of the housing market.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The benefit cap sets a limit on the total amount of welfare benefits that non-working households can receive.
The Government believes that it is not fair for someone on benefits to be receiving more than many people in similar circumstances who are in work and we intend to continue this approach. Since the benefit cap was introduced in 2013, people in tens of thousands of households have moved into work. The new lower cap continues to build on that success by incentivising work.
We believe that work greatly benefits people and families. Children can have their life chances and opportunities damaged as a result of living in households where no-one has worked for years and where no-one considers work is an option.
We continue to work to target services on the issues that prevent parents moving into work and cause instability in family life, to help workless families and their children overcome their problems and improve their lives.
The recent White Paper from the Department for Communities and Local Government, “Fixing Our Broken Housing Market”, offers a comprehensive approach which tackles failure at every point in the system. Its starting point is to build more homes, which will slow the rise in housing costs, so that housing is more affordable, and which will bring the cost of renting down.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 106 of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, entitled UK Poverty: Causes and Solutions, what assessment he has made of whether paying benefits and tax credits intended to support children for all children in a family will move 350,000 children out of poverty by 2020; and if he will make it his policy to implement the recommendation to take such steps.
Answered by Damian Hinds
This Government is committed to delivering a country that works for all. Worklessness is one of the most important drivers of child poverty: children in workless families are three times more likely to be in relative low income. The policy to limit child elements in Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit to a maximum of two strikes the right balance between protecting the vulnerable and encouraging families who receive benefits to make the same financial decisions as those families who support themselves solely through work.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the closure of Plaistow Jobcentre Plus on increased journey times and travel costs for people currently using that job centre.
Answered by Damian Hinds
We have sought to minimise the impact on claimants travel as far as possible. The new sites at Canning Town and Stratford are 1.4 miles and 1.6 miles respectively from the existing site and Jobcentre Plus is able to reimburse travel costs for those claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance or the equivalent claimants in Universal Credit for any attendance above their fortnightly signing appointment. In addition, those claiming Employment and Support Allowance and Income Support are not generally required to attend their local jobcentre regularly.
Throughout our planning we calculated distances and journey times to Canning Town and Stratford using a variety of methods to ensure accuracy, including online tools and timetables, information collected on local public transport routes, and input and scrutiny from local DWP staff and management. Rather than assess the travel time from customers’ homes to their current and proposed new jobcentre, we have focused instead on the distances between existing and proposed jobcentre locations to help customers better understand any differences in distance. This is to reflect the fact that people who travel to the jobcentre will use whichever type of transport suits their personal circumstances, they may not be starting their journey from their home, and not all those who use our services are claimants.
In addition, throughout the development of these proposals, the department has been mindful of the impact on staff and customers as part of its duties under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. Statistical analysis of the potential impact of the proposals on people with the protected characteristics has informed high-level decision-making so far. As we obtain further local, site-specific information we will ensure any issues identified are also taken fully into consideration when the final decisions are made.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
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 effect of the closure of Plaistow Jobcentre Plus on people with (a) learning disabilities, (b) autism, (c) sensory impairment and (d) others who find it difficult to travel independently.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Throughout the development of the proposals for Plaistow Jobcentre the department has been mindful of the impact on staff and customers as part of its duties under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. Statistical analysis of the potential impact of the proposals on people with the protected characteristics has informed high-level decision-making so far. As we obtain further local, site-specific information we will ensure any issues identified are also taken fully into consideration when the final decisions are made.
Existing DWP processes make provision for those unable to travel independently to their designated Jobcentre.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what further measures the Government plans to introduce to assist employers in supporting employees' return to work after a heath-related absence.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17th January 2017 to Question 59500.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has for further measures to assist employers in supporting employees to return to work after a health-related absence.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health have published ‘Improving Lives – the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper’. The Green Paper sets out the Government’s proposals for improving work and health outcomes for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions.
Many employers are already creating healthy, inclusive workplaces, but more needs to be done so that employers provide the support needed for employees with disabilities and long-term health conditions, to help them get into and stay in work
Through the Green Paper we are asking about the barriers preventing employers from recruiting and retaining disabled people and people with health conditions, and what measures would help them in doing so. Specifically: