Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of individuals affected by the two-child benefit limit are in working households in (a) Wales and (b) the UK.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Department will shortly be providing updated figures to those we published in June 2018. This will show the number of claimants affected by the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children as at April 2019.
The full breakdown of the current statistics can be found here:
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children have been affected by the two-child benefit limit in each year for which data is available.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Department will shortly be providing updated figures to those we published in June 2018. This will show the number of claimants affected by the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children as at April 2019.
The full breakdown of the current statistics can be found here:
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the two-child benefit limit on levels of domestic violence; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
Domestic abuse is a huge problem in our society, with a number of contributing factors, as well as far-reaching and devastating impacts. It is an extremely complex crime which can affect anyone and this Government takes the issue very seriously. DWP is committed to doing all we can to support victims of domestic and economic abuse. All work coaches undergo mandatory training in how to support vulnerable claimants including recognising the signs of domestic abuse. By summer 2019, we will have domestic abuse specialists in every Jobcentre.
We have also been closely engaging with key domestic abuse stakeholders on a range of topics and we will continue to work closely with them on improving our services, policies and support for victims of abuse.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the proportion of claimants of employment support allowance that have a mental illness as their primary impairment.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
However, information on the number of Employment and Support Allowance claimants by high level medical conditions, including Mental and Behavioural disorders, is published here:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml
Guidance for users is available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people with long-term mental health conditions that have become unemployed in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
An estimate of the number of people with a long-term mental health condition who leave employment each year, regardless of whether they became unemployed, is available from the 2017 report Thriving at Work: a review of mental health and employers, an independent review of mental health and employers by Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer. This report estimated that there were around 300,000 such moves in the year 2016-17 in the UK
Notes:
Further details are available from the report at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thriving-at-work-a-review-of-mental-health-and-employers
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the IPPR report Measuring the benefits of integration: The value of tackling skills underutilisation published 18 June 2019, what assessment her Department has made of the number of migrants in the UK employed in positions for which they are overqualified.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The department has made no assessment of the number of migrants in the UK employed in positions for which they are overqualified.
We are working closely with the Department for Education, Mayoral Combined Authorities/Local Enterprise Partnerships, learning providers and employers to develop Local Industrial Strategies and implement Skills Advisory Panels within local areas which will help achieve a better balance between skills supply and labour market demand in local areas.
We are building evidence to develop an understanding of what works to support people on Universal Credit, who are working, to progress. One of the ways in which people can progress is to consider their skills and abilities. We wish to ensure that claimants make good decisions that are right for them, as well as understanding their barriers and support needs. Our programme of research and testing seeks to deliver this evidence to help us support people to reach their potential.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the proportion of people with long-term mental ill health who are in paid employment.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
An estimated 47% of people with a long-term mental health condition were in employment in 2018-19.
Notes:
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the amount of funding allocated to incapacity benefit as a proportion of (a) GDP and (b) the GDP average of OECD member states, excluding the UK.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
According to latest OECD data, the UK spent 1.85% of its GDP to support disabled people and those with health conditions. The OECD average is 1.93%.
| UK | OECD Average (including UK) |
Total (share of GDP) | 1.85% | 1.93% |
Source: https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=SOCX_AGG, OECD 2015 data (latest data point).
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions her Department has received representations from the UK Statistics Authority on her Department's presentation and use of statistics in each year since 2010.
Answered by Will Quince
Details on the UK Statistics Authority’s interventions are published in the correspondence, publications, and issues log sections of their website since 2010. https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/
The Authority’s Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) also carry out regular assessments and systemic reviews, details of which can also be found on the Authority’s website. https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/osr/
In September 2018, the Authority published the first annual summary of its interventions for the financial year 2017/18. The report for 2018/19 will be published in the autumn. https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/annual-casework-review-20172018/
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to monitor the roll out of a universal basic income pilot by Sheffield City Council; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are aware of experiments in universal basic income (UBI) around the world and we do not believe there is a case for UBI. We believe Universal Credit is the right approach for the UK because it simplifies the benefit system, promotes and incentivises work, including progression in work, and provides targeted support to those in most need in a way that is affordable.
In February 2018 the OECD concluded in its survey of the Finnish Economy that the complexity of the current benefits system in Finland was an obstacle to stepping into work and that the basic income experiment, whilst possibly enhancing work incentives, may increase poverty and would require increasing income taxation by nearly 30%. More recently, findings from the evaluation of the Finnish basic income experiment show some improvement in perceived wellbeing, but that it did not increase the employment level of the participants in the first year of the experiment. The OECD also developed a scenario for Finland inspired by the UK’s Universal Credit (UC). They found that this ‘would consistently improve work incentives and reduce complexity, with limited changes to the income distribution and limited fiscal cost.
This OECD blog post is particularly useful on the OECD’s work to compare UBI and UC.