Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the installation of prepayment meters on trends in the level of energy debt in the last 12 months.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Ofgem works to protect energy consumers. To ensure that their work is informed by the needs of Britain’s energy consumers, they regularly monitor levels of debt and arrears of UK domestic consumers. This is available at https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/debt-and-arrears-indicators
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of increases in the cost-of-living on private pension funds.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The latest data shows private pension opt out and stopping saving rates remain low.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increases in the cost-of-living on trends in the level of social isolation; and whether her Department is taking steps to help tackle social isolation.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Many people experience loneliness and social isolation, and the government is committed to building a more connected society, where everyone is able to build meaningful relationships. Having strong social relationships plays an important role in our physical and mental wellbeing, and government, local councils, health systems and voluntary and community sector organisations all have an important role to play in tackling loneliness.
The Community Life Survey, which the department publishes annually, measures loneliness and collects data on people’s social interactions and support networks. Last year we also published research into the factors associated with loneliness in adults, and found that being on a lower income or unemployed was a contributing factor. We also engage regularly with stakeholders like the Jo Cox Foundation, who are monitoring the impact of cost of living pressures on individuals and charities providing services that aim to reduce loneliness.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is also delivering the ‘Know Your Neighbourhood Fund’ to boost volunteering and reduce loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England. The £30 million fund will create thousands of opportunities to bring people together, allow them to develop skills, build relationships and feel more connected to their community.
As announced at the Spring Budget, the department is also delivering a £101.5 million package of support for charities and community organisations in England. As part of this, the £76 million Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund is currently open until 16 October 2023 for applications from frontline organisations, including those that tackle social isolation, that are seeing increased demand for their services and increased delivery costs because of cost of living pressures.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the UK's withdrawal from the EU on trends in the level of Scottish (a) imports and (b) exports.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ regional trade statistics show that in the year ending March 2023, the overall value of UK trade in goods increased by 18% for exports and by 24% for imports, compared with the previous year.
Compared with the year ending March 2022, Scotland’s goods exports to EU countries were worth £22bn (up £4.3bn, or 24%) in March 2023, whilst Scotland’s goods imports from EU countries were worth £12bn (up £3.3bn, or 38%) in March 2023, resulting in a surplus of £10bn.
Since the fourth quarter of 2020, the value of EU exports from Scotland has consistently exceeded the value of non-EU exports.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department made of the impact of the rise in the cost of living on working families who (a) qualify and (b) do not qualify for universal credit.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessments have been made.
The Government understands the pressures people, including parents, are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help. Overall, we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023- 24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of bills.
From April 2023, everyone who receives a state benefit or pension will have seen their benefit rates increase by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions, the benefit cap levels have also increased by the same amount.
To support parents who are in work, from 1 April, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW.
We recognise that high childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours. That is why, as announced at the Spring Budget, we are investing billions in additional childcare support for parents of toddlers, investing in wraparound childcare in schools, and increasing financial support for, and expectations of, parents claiming Universal Credit.
Households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. The first £301 payments have been issued to 8.3 million households, and two further payments will follow this autumn and in spring 2024. In addition, 6.4 million individuals on eligible ‘extra-costs’ disability benefits have also recently received a further £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment meaning households with more than one disabled person will receive multiple Disability Cost of Living Payments.
For people who require additional support, in England, the Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows Local Authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living. The guidance for Local Authorities can be found here. Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of this guidance and grant determination that DWP have set out for the fund. Local Authorities are expected to support households in the most need, and in particular those who may not be eligible for the other support Government has recently made available, however, are nevertheless in need. The Devolved Administrations will receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of the rise in the cost of living on working families with children.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessments have been made.
The Government understands the pressures people, including parents, are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help. Overall, we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023- 24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of bills.
From April 2023, everyone who receives a state benefit or pension will have seen their benefit rates increase by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions, the benefit cap levels have also increased by the same amount.
To support parents who are in work, from 1 April, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW.
We recognise that high childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours. That is why, as announced at the Spring Budget, we are investing billions in additional childcare support for parents of toddlers, investing in wraparound childcare in schools, and increasing financial support for, and expectations of, parents claiming Universal Credit.
Households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. The first £301 payments have been issued to 8.3 million households, and two further payments will follow this autumn and in spring 2024. In addition, 6.4 million individuals on eligible ‘extra-costs’ disability benefits have also recently received a further £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment meaning households with more than one disabled person will receive multiple Disability Cost of Living Payments.
For people who require additional support, in England, the Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows Local Authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living. The guidance for Local Authorities can be found here. Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of this guidance and grant determination that DWP have set out for the fund. Local Authorities are expected to support households in the most need, and in particular those who may not be eligible for the other support Government has recently made available, however, are nevertheless in need. The Devolved Administrations will receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the UK's withdrawal from the EU on (a) supermarket and (b) domestic energy prices.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
It is for the Office for Budget Responsibility to provide economic and fiscal forecasts.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the efficacy of universal credit in supporting families with children during the school summer holidays.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2023 to Question 191605 on Asylum: Staff, what steps her Department has taken to (a) streamline, (b) digitalise and (c) simplify the asylum processing system.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are accelerating decision-making and rapidly speeding up asylum processing times. We are driving productivity improvements by simplifying and modernising our system. This includes shorter, more focussed interviews; removing unnecessary interviews; making guidance simpler and more accessible; dealing with cases more swiftly where they can be certified as manifestly unfounded; targeted training; and recruiting extra decision makers.
Another way in which we will achieve that is via the Streamlined Asylum Process which is centred around accelerating the processing of manifestly well-founded asylum claims.
We have developed existing and new technology to help build on recent improvements such as digital interviewing and move away from a paper-based system. We are also developing digital tools to support case working, including appointment booking, case prioritisation, allocation tools and a document exchange portal.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of whether the planned increase in the number of asylum decision-makers to 2,500 by September 2023 will enable her Department to clear all legacy asylum claims made before 28 June 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There is currently work underway to redesign the training of Asylum decision makers. The current plan will see the initial training reduced from 9 to 2-3 weeks with further training given as the decision maker progresses.
As of 01 May 2023, there are 1,280 full time equivalent (FTE) Asylum Decision Makers. This information is published online: Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Bill on GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Please note that this data is provisional and includes the number of asylum decision makers employed from the beginning of each month from August 2019 to May 2023.
The latest Home Office statistics show asylum decisions are up in the year ending March 2023, with a 35% increase in asylum decisions from the previous year which may be in part due to the increase in the number of asylum decision makers employed by the Home Office.
We are on track to clear the legacy asylum backlog by the end of 2023.