Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent comparative assessment he has made of rates of unemployment in the north east and other UK regions.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The unemployment rate in the North East is 5.8%. The rate has fallen by 1.0 percentage point over the last year, the third largest fall of any region, and by 3.8 percentage points since 2010. The unemployment level has fallen by 46,000 (38%) since 2010.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the north east has the highest unemployment rate in the UK for June to August 2017; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The unemployment rate in the North East is 5.8%, back to pre-recession levels. The unemployment rate reflects a range of elements such as local labour market conditions, and demographic factors. However, the rate has fallen by 1.0 percentage point over the last year, the third largest fall of any region, and by 3.8 percentage points since 2010. The government is committed to maintaining and improving this performance through our welfare reforms and the support offered by Jobcentre Plus.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has to tackle youth unemployment in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) Gateshead and (d) the north east.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The number of young unemployed claimants is continuing to fall. The proportion of young people (aged 16-24) who are unemployed and not in full time education is at a new record low of 4.8% and the youth claimant count has fallen by around 57% in Jarrow, 53% in South Tyneside and 49% in Gateshead since 2010.
As planned, we have also introduced the Youth Obligation to provide intensive support for 18-21 year olds making a new claim to Universal Credit full service from April 2017. We are rolling out the Youth Obligation in line with the roll-out schedule for Universal Credit full service across the north-east. As such, a number of sites in the north-east are already able to provide claimants with more intensive support through the Youth Obligation, Gateshead included. Remaining sites in the north-east will continue to be rolled-on to the Youth Obligation aligned with the schedule of Universal Credit full service, including Jarrow, which is expected to deliver the Youth Obligation from February 2018.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time is after an application is submitted for universal credit before the first payment is received for claimants in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the Hon. Members to the answer I gave on 18 July 2017 to question 4898.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of universal credit applicants wait more than (a) six and (b) 10 weeks after making their claim before they receive any income in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) the North East and (iv) the UK.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We are intending to publish further data on payment timeliness in due course, but our latest internal data nationally, suggests around 80% of cases are paid in full at the end of the first assessment period.
For the remaining cases we estimate around a third have not signed up to their claimant commitment so cannot be paid until they have. The other two thirds have an outstanding verification issue, such as providing bank statements, evidence of childcare costs, or proof of rent. Many of these claimants receive a part-payment where elements of the claim have been verified.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of constituents in Jarrow constituency have had their personal independence payments overturned as a result of (a) mandatory reconsideration and (b) an appeal hearing in each year for which data is available.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances split by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html
Table 1 below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mandatory Reconsideration decisions where the award was changed by year since the introduction of PIP in the Parliamentary Constituencies of Torfaen, Delyn and Jarrow.
Table 1 - Number of Mandatory Reconsiderations decisions where the award changed by financial year of decision.
Year of Mandatory Reconsideration | 2013/14 | 2014/ 15 | 2015/ 16 | 2016/ 17 | 2017/18 (April 17 only) | Total |
Torfaen | Less than 5 | 80 | 70 | 110 | 20 | 280 |
Delyn | Less than 5 | 30 | 30 | 60 | 10 | 130 |
Jarrow | Less than 5 | 20 | 40 | 80 | 10 | 150 |
Tables 2-4 below show the Number of appeals found in favour of appellant by financial year, data from Ministry of Justice.
Table 2
Jarrow1 |
| Number Found in Favour of Appellant | Percentage Found in Favour of Appellant (at hearing)2 |
2013-143 | PIP4 | 0 | 0% |
2014-153 | PIP4 | 15 | 58%5 |
2015-163 | PIP4 | 76 | 49% |
2016-173 | PIP4 | 123 | 51% |
Table 3
Torfaen constituency1 |
| Number Found in Favour of Appellant | Percentage Found in Favour of Appellant (at hearing)2 |
2013-143 | PIP4 | Less than 5 | Less than 5 |
2014-153 | PIP4 | 80 | 69% |
2015-163 | PIP4 | 488 | 74% |
2016-173 | PIP4 | 516 | 70% |
Table 4
Delyn constituency1 |
| Number Found in Favour of Appellant | Percentage Found in Favour of Appellant (at hearing)2 |
2013-143 | PIP4 | 0 | 0% |
2014-153 | PIP4 | 22 | 42% |
2015-163 | PIP4 | 194 | 52% |
2016-173 | PIP4 | 479 | 67% |
1 Social Security and Child Support data are attributed to the hearing venue nearest to the appellants’ home address. For appellants living in Jarrow appeals are attributed to the South Shields venue. For appellants identified as living in Torfaen Constituency this would be Langstone Tribunal venue. For appellants identified as living in Delyn Constituency this would be this would be either Prestatyn or Wrexham Tribunal Venues.
2. Percentage Found in favour of Appellant this is based on the number found in favour as a percentage of the appeals cleared at hearing. In line with the published stats, data are not available at a level more-detailed than hearing venue.
3 By financial year - from April to March.
4 PIP replaced Disability Living Allowance for people aged 16 to 64 and rolled out from 8 April 2013. As such, appeal volumes in HM Courts & Tribunals Service in the Year 2013-2014 are low.
5 Indicates the population where the decision was in favour with 30 appeals or less
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are in receipt of universal credit in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
This information is published and available at: 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: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of women in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK who will be affected by changes to the state pension age for women born in the 1950s.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Women born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1953 were affected by State Pension age equalisation under the Pensions Act 1995. The Pensions Act 2011 accelerated the equalisation of State Pension age, and included transitional arrangements limiting State Pension age delays, affecting women born between 6 April 1953 and 5 December 1953. It also brought forward the increase in State Pension age from 65 to 66 which affected women born between 6 December 1953 and 5 April 1960.
The Department for Work and Pensions only holds estimates at a Great Britain level. The latest estimates are that the changes affect 3.58 million women in Great Britain born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1960, of which 3.48 million were born in the 1950s. These figures are rounded to the nearest 10,000 and are based on DWP calculations using the 2014-based ONS principal population projections.
Information on the numbers affected by constituent country, parliamentary constituency or local authority is not held by the Department for Work and Pensions. However, the most recent population breakdowns for England and its parliamentary constituencies by age can be found here:
Population breakdowns by local authority, region and country can be found here:
The House of Commons library have produced a paper estimating the number of women affected by the Pensions Act 2011 (those born between 6 April 1953 and 5 April 1960 by constituency, which can be found here:
http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7405/CBP-07405constituencyestimates.xlsx
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to housing benefit eligibility in respect of under-occupancy in the social rented sector on low-income families.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This measure puts social sector tenants on a par with their counterparts in the private rented sector who receive Housing Benefit based on household need rather than the full rental costs. Affected claimants can mitigate the impact by entering work, increasing their working hours or downsizing to a smaller property.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken was between a fatal accident in construction and a conviction on the latest date for which data is available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
For fatalities in construction (Standard Industrial Classification, section F) reported to HSE between 2006/07 and 2014/15, the average time between the date of the incident and the date of the first hearing where a conviction is recorded is 1208 days. The time between the incident and conviction dates by yearly time bands is as follows:
Date of Conviction | Average number of days between incident date and conviction date |
2006/2007 | 985 |
2007/2008 | 1234 |
2008/2009 | 1153 |
2009/2010 | 1214 |
2010/2011 | 1251 |
2011/2012 | 1251 |
2012/2013 | 1336 |
2013/2014 | 1185 |
2014/2015 | 1267 |
Within the overall time frame from fatal incident to conviction a number of discrete stages may be involved and these are performed by different agencies largely out of HSE’s control:
Recognising the importance to victims of ensuring all stages of the process are concluded as quickly as possible, the WRDP National Liaison Committee recently agreed that any decision to prosecute should be made within 3 years of the date of death other than in exceptional circumstances – currently approximately 85% of investigations are completed within this timescale.
For its part HSE has an internal target of completing 95% of fatal accident investigations within 12 months of assuming primacy – attainment is now at 70% and the trend is improving.