Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether claimants in the support group of Employment Support Allowance will be required to undergo a new Work Capability Assessment in the event that they make a claim for Universal Credit later than the deadline provided in their migration notice.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
For claimants in the support group receiving Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), at the point they make a claim to UC, there is no requirement for a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) reassessment. The claimant will not be required to have another assessment in order to be awarded the health-related addition in UC.
Where an individual’s entitlement to ESA has stopped as a result of not making a claim to UC by the deadline date, any future claim to UC, after the last date legacy benefits were paid to the claimant, would be treated as a new claim. The claimant in these circumstances, as with any new claim to UC, would need a referral for a WCA to assess whether they have limited capability for work or limited capability for work- and work-related activity.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2022 to Question 28376, which relevant cabinet sub-committees approved the revisions to the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) (Managed Migration) Regulations 2018; and on what date did each of those sub-committees make their decision.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Parliamentary Business and Legislation (PBL) Committee approved the revisions to the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) (Managed Migration) Regulations 2018. Approval was given in the three-month period prior to the regulations being laid in January 2019.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2022 to Question 6683 and of 13 June 2022 to Question 16823 on Local Housing Allowance, if she will place a copy of the data tracking average shortfalls between Local Housing Allowance rates and tenant’s actual rents by (a) Government Office Region, (b) Broad Rental Market Area and (c) number of bedrooms in the Library.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
A copy of the data requested has been placed in the House of Commons’ Library. This data includes average monthly shortfalls for households in receipt of Housing Benefit or the Universal Credit Housing Element for the latest month where data is available, which for both is February 2022.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the discussion at the Universal Credit Programme Board on 22 October 2019 and agreement that a report would be brought back in February 2020 to update on the progress of implementing the recommendations of the Prime Minister’s Implementation Unit’s report on the experiences of vulnerable claimants on Universal Credit, which (a) official and (b) team held responsibility for that work following the decision to close the Complex Needs Steering Group.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Universal Credit Complex Needs Steering group was stood down in 2019 and replaced by a new governance structure which was led by the newly formed Customer Experience Directorate to ensure greater coherence, support and more efficient decision making within the Programme and the Department.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2022 to Question 16820 on Universal Credit, if she will place a copy of the Social Security Advisory Committee’s formal reference report on a framework of oversight, reporting and scrutiny for implementation of the draft Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Regulations 2022 in the Library.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Social Security Advisory Committee’s report dated 26 May 2022 on the Draft Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Regulations 2022, is available in the House of Commons Library and was published online on Welcome to GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) alongside the Secretary of State’s response.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has responded to the letter of 8 April 2022 from the Deputy Director of Regulation setting out the Office for Statistics Regulation’s concerns about the failure to publish statistics on the number of Universal Credit claimants undergoing a Work Capability Assessment and the outcomes; and if she will place a copy of the response in the Library.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I can confirm that the letter from the Deputy Director of Regulation, of the Office for Statistics Regulation has been received, and a response will be issued in due course. Once received, the Office for Statistics Regulation will publish the response on their website here: https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence-list/
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which cross-departmental committee gave final Government approval to the amendments to the Draft Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) (Managed Migration) Amendments regulations 2018 which introduced a 10,000 cap on the number of claimants going through the Managed Migration pilot and requirement to report back to Parliament.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Secretary of State gave approval to make these regulations on 11th January 2019. As with all government statutory instruments, final approval to lay regulations were approved by the relevant cabinet sub-committees.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what date changes to the Draft Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) (Managed Migration) Amendments Regulations 2018 to introduce a (a) 10,000 cap on the number of claimants who could go through the Managed Migration pilot and (b) requirement to report back to Parliament were authorised.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Secretary of State gave approval to make these regulations on 11th January 2019. As with all government statutory instruments, final approval to lay regulations were approved by the relevant cabinet sub-committees.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March 2022 to Question 139255 on Discretionary Housing Payments, if she will commission research on the potential impact of the reduction in funding for Discretionary Housing Payments from £140 million in 2021-22 to £100 million in 2022-23 on the number of tenants who will be able to receive support when experiencing a shortfall between the rent they owe and the Housing Benefit or Local Housing Allowance they receive.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
There are no plans to commission research on funding for Discretionary Housing Payments.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2019 to Question 243314 on Local Housing Allowance: Greater London, if she will place a copy in the Library of any ranking exercise of Broad Rental Market Areas to determine their divergence from actual rent levels in any of the last three years carried out by (a) her Department and (b) the Valuation Agency Office.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department has not undertaken a ranking exercise of Broad Rental Market Areas in the last three years. The Local Housing Allowance was raised to the 30th percentile of market rents in April 2020 and that level has been maintained in April 2021 and April 2022
While the Valuation Office Agency is not part of the Department, we are not aware of any ranking exercise that it has carried out.