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Written Question
Companies: Corruption
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

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 implications for his policies of the right of companies to investigate allegations of breaches of their corruption policies; and what steps he is taking to help (a) ensure accountability and (b) prevent potential abuse of such investigations.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

This is not a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions and therefore no assessment has been made by this Department.


Written Question
Council Housing: Romford
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to work with local authorities to ensure that residents in council accommodation are supported during periods of cold weather in Romford constituency.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills.

For people who require additional support in England, the current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024. This allows local authorities to continue to provide discretionary support to those struggling to afford the cost of essentials including energy bills and wider related essentials.

The Household Support Fund is an intentionally flexible scheme designed to enable Local Authorities to respond to local need within the overall framework set by Department for Work and Pensions, since they can use their ties and knowledge to best determine how this support should be provided to local communities. The current scheme is the largest ever, worth £842 million across the current financial year. Of this, the allocation for Havering from April 2023 to March 2024 is £3,296,302, bringing their total allocation since October 2021 to £8,240,755.

Cold Weather Payments are also available to help vulnerable people in receipt of certain income-related benefits in England and Wales to meet additional heating costs, during periods of unseasonably cold weather between 1 November and 31 March. Those eligible will automatically receive £25 when the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0°C or below over seven consecutive days.

8.9 million pensioner households received a £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment as a top up to their Winter Fuel Payment from November 2023.  Increasing payments to £500 for households with someone aged 66-79 and £600 for households with someone aged 80 and over.


Written Question
Local Housing Allowance
Friday 20th October 2023

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

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 adequacy of local housing allowance rates.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The department works closely with stakeholders, jobcentres and local authorities to understand the impact of its policies. The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) policy is kept under regular review and rates are reviewed annually by the Secretary of State.

LHA determines the maximum housing support for tenants claiming the housing element of Universal Credit in the private rented sector. It ensures that claimants in similar circumstances living in the same area are entitled to the same maximum rent allowance regardless of the contractual rent paid. LHA rates are not intended to cover all rents in all areas.

In 2020 we spent almost £1 billion increasing LHA rates to the 30th percentile of market rents. This significant investment has been maintained ensuring that everyone who benefited continues to do so. Over 2022/23 and 2023/24 the Government is providing support in excess of £94 billion to help households with the rising cost of living.

The 30th percentile levels of local market weekly rents for the Tyneside Broad Rental Market Area for each year from 2020 can be found here. The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) publish 30th percentile rental data alongside weekly LHA rates. This is not available as a monthly equivalent for Universal Credit.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Havering
Friday 20th October 2023

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) Romford constituency and (b) the London Borough of Havering receive Universal Credit as of 19 September 2023.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The latest statistics are available on Stat-Xplore.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.


Written Question
Long Term Unemployed People
Monday 18th September 2023

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help ensure support for people who have experienced long-term unemployment and experiencing difficulty with reintroduction to the workforce.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Restart supports long-term unemployed people who have been out of work for nine months or more. Restart providers support participants to break down their employment barriers by developing a bespoke action plan built on understanding their employment history, skills and needs to help them to move into sustained work.

Additional support for 50+ long term unemployed (LTU) customers was announced in September 2022 as part of the Growth Plan Since SR21 and the Growth Plan in September 2022. This will provide access to additional intensive support for long-term unemployed jobseekers in jobcentres across Great Britain.


Written Question
Assistance Animals: Business
Thursday 7th September 2023

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to require businesses to admit guide dogs as part of the Disability Action Plan.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Guide dog access is protected as a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010. All businesses should be mindful of their duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people are able to access goods and services.

The Disability Action Plan consultation has specific questions on guide dog access refusals. People who are reliant on guide dogs to access goods and services are encouraged to make their views known via the fully accessible consultation which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/disability-action-plan-2023-to-2024.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Greater London
Monday 17th July 2023

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are recipients of Universal Credit in (a) Romford constituency and (b) the London Borough of Havering.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The latest available statistics on the number of people who are on Universal Credit, by Westminster parliamentary constituency and by local authority, are published monthly on Stat-Xplore.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.


Written Question
Social Security Benefits
Wednesday 17th May 2023

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that welfare support is available to the most vulnerable people.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The government is committed to supporting vulnerable customers. This year we will spend around £79bn on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions around 3% of GDP. We are also committed to ensuring those who are entitled to benefit take it up. For this reason an extra £22 million investment was announced in March to extend free and impartial support through Help to Claim, delivered by Citizens Advice, to help people claim Universal Credit, and we are currently undertaking a campaign to increase the take-up of Pension Credit.

The department’s key obligation is to ensure that customers receive the correct benefit entitlement at the right time. We consider a customer’s particular circumstances to provide the right service or ensure appropriate support and can help direct our customers to the most appropriate body to meet their needs.

The department has appointed more than 30 Advanced Customer Support Senior Leaders (ACSSLs) across Great Britain. Their role is to reach across local communities to underpin our relationships with other organisations that provide support to our customers.


Written Question
Jobcentre Plus
Tuesday 15th November 2022

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to improve advice to job seekers.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to providing the best possible support for all our claimants. We are continuously reviewing and improving the service to ensure that it is accessible and responsive to their needs.

The department provides advice and support to jobseekers receiving benefits through our network of Jobcentres. Our Work Coaches engage with claimants on the basis of their individual need to provide advice on finding a job, help with retraining or skills advice, job applications and access to new vacancies, as well as signposting to our JobHelp website.

The JobHelp campaign offers job search advice and showcases priority sectors and job vacancies to help people successfully find work. The JobHelp website also provides help to get work experience and signposting to initiatives such as Access to work.


Written Question
Jobseekers' Allowance: Havering
Tuesday 15th November 2022

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

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 Jobseekers' Allowance in Havering.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Statistics on the number of individuals on Jobseekers' Allowance at the end of each quarter, broken down by local authority, are published on Stat-Xplore.

If needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required from Stat-Xplore.

Monthly statistics for those on Jobseeker’s Allowance are available by local authority on NOMIS, with guidance available here.