Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many screened interview rooms are being lost in jobcentres in South Yorkshire.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Two screened areas are being removed; one in Mexborough Jobcentre as part of building works to merge services from Goldthorpe Jobcentre, and one from the closure of Eastern Avenue. Claimants will be directed to other screened areas within the District if required.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assistance is being provided to staff of jobcentres selected for closure who are unable to relocate to alternative sites and maintain their current working hours due to family commitments.
Answered by Damian Hinds
For any staff who are outside of reasonable daily travel, we will be seeking to redeploy them into a new role within DWP wherever possible. We will also look to other government departments for wider opportunities. I would stress though, that our first priority is to minimise the risk of redundancies. Our track record on previous redeployments suggests that we will be able to relocate or offer alternative roles to the vast majority of those potentially affected. At this time staff continue to be supported through local discussions with their managers.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many screened interview rooms are being lost in jobcentres in Sheffield.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Sheffield Eastern Avenue Jobcentre currently houses one of three screened areas. Its closure will leave two screened areas, located at Bailey Court Jobcentre and Cavendish Court Jobcentre. At present twenty-one claimants from Eastern Avenue are seen in a screened environment, DWP are confident that Cavendish Court Jobcentre will be able to accommodate these claimants.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
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 potential risks to staff and other customers of the location of screened rooms in Cavendish Court Jobcentre.
Answered by Damian Hinds
All moves will have been appropriately risk assessed to comply with Health and Safety legislation to ensure the personal safety of staff and customers.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
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 Jobcentre closures on the planned roll-out of universal credit.
Answered by Damian Hinds
An assessment has been made of the closures and there is little effect on the rollout schedule of the Universal Credit Full Service.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the date for Eastern Avenue Jobcentre's closure will be confirmed.
Answered by Damian Hinds
An announcement around a proposed closure date was made on Wednesday 11 October at 2pm.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to announce a final decision on Eastern Avenue Jobcentre closure following the consultation.
Answered by Damian Hinds
A Written Ministerial Statement was laid in the House on 5 July 2017. This statement confirms our estate plans for the future, including Eastern Avenue Jobcentre.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claimants have been sanctioned for being late by jobcentres in Yorkshire and the Humber since 2015.
Answered by Damian Hinds
This information is not available.
Information on Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance sanction decisions, by referral reason and geography, is available here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance for users is available at: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employees at Eastern Avenue Jobcentre, Sheffield opted out of the Employee Deal.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Four employees at Eastern Avenue Jobcentre elected to opt out of the Employee Deal.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his departmental officials used google maps to calculate estimates of travel time between those jobcentres which his Department proposes to close and those jobcentres from where replacement services will be delivered.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Distances and journey times have been calculated using a variety of methods to improve accuracy, including Google Maps and AA route mapping, and information collected about local public transport routes with input from local DWP colleagues.