Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many fraudulent advance Universal Credit claims have been identified by his Department's machine learning algorithm.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Publishing these figures would compromise our ability to prevent or detect fraud.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average number of Work Coaches was per Jobcentre in the latest period for which data is available; and what the average caseload was of a Work Coach in the same period.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Average number of Work Coaches per Jobcentre
Jobcentres across the DWP estate vary significantly in size and capacity, the average number of Work Coaches per Jobcentre does not reflect this variation and is not a metric used by the Department.
At the end of March 24, the number of full time equivalent (FTE) UC, JSA and ESA Work Coaches across Great Britain was 16,480 and the number of Jobcentres was 634, giving an average number of Work Coaches per Jobcentre of approximately 26.
Notes on the figures:
Average caseload of a Work Coach
The table below shows the average number of Universal Credit customers in the Intensive Work Search regime per Universal Credit work coach FTE across Great Britain in March 24.
| March 24 |
People on UC (Intensive Work Search only) | 1,495,380 |
Number of UC work coaches (FTE) | 15,290 |
Intensive Work Search customers per UC work coach (FTE) | 100 |
Data sources: Work coach FTE - DWP’s internal Activity Based Model, People on UC - Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk)
Please note, the Department does not use caseload per Work Coach to estimate the number of Work Coaches required nationally or locally. Not all UC claimants have a Work Coach, but we have provided the number of Intensive Work Search customers per UC Work Coach as most of this group do. The Department has complex models to estimate the resource required in Jobcentres at a national level. These models cover activities across all DWP customer groups and job roles.
The Department continually impacts and assesses the service being offered to customers. Staff numbers, including the number of Work Coaches, and demand for Jobcentre services are reviewed on an ongoing basis, in line with the latest economic and benefit forecasts.
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Notes on the figures:
All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 and cover Great Britain
People on UC
FTE
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Work and Health Programme statistics: background information and methodology, updated on 29 February 2024, what estimate he has made of the six metrics figures by (a) nation and (b) region.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As explained in the Work and Health Programme statistics: background information and methodology, the latest release of these statistics can be found in the Work and Health Programme statistics collection which is published on .GOV.UK.
The latest statistics, to November 2023, provide the measures for the first five metrics: referrals, individuals referred, starts, first earnings from employment, and job outcomes, for England and Wales and regional level on Stat-Xplore.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
The sixth metric, on performance expectations, is published separately in table 4.1, by provider.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department estimates the Universal Support programme rollout will be completed (a) nationally and (b) by region.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The pioneer phase of Universal Support is already live with Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care being delivered across 42 local authority areas in England, and since April, two areas in Wales, providing support for around up to 25,000 disabled people and people with health conditions and new support through the Work and Health Programme Pioneer for an additional 25,000 people across England and Wales.
Universal Support will be delivered through around 50 Local Authority led delivery areas, covering all of England and Wales. We expect areas will go live with Universal Support in a phased way from Autumn 2024. We will work collaboratively with delivery areas to agree their delivery plan and implementation timetable.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in his Department were working on programmes supporting disabled people into work as of 23 April (a) 2010 and (b) 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold this information centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
Improving the lives of disabled people is a priority for this Government. This includes supporting more disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work. In recognition of this, the Joint DWP and DHSC Work & Health Directorate was set up in 2015 in recognition of the significant link between work and health and to reflect the shared agenda of boosting employment opportunities for disabled people and people with health conditions. This not only benefits people’s health and wealth, but also the UK economy through increased productivity and reduced economic inactivity.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 33 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts, what proportion of Jobcentres provide access to the Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies programme as of 23 April 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As well as providing employment support, Jobcentre Work Coaches can signpost to NHS Talking Therapies, which can be accessed via self-referral.
Jobcentres do not provide direct access to Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies.
Employment Advisers and Work Coaches often work together to support NHS Talking Therapies clients - who are in contact with JCP - to find work, return to work from sick leave and remain in work.
The Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies programme is currently being rolled out across England. All NHS Talking Therapies providers in England are on track to have Employment Advisers in post during 2024/25.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 33 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, how many people received support from the Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies programme (a) nationally and (b) by region in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
NHS Talking Therapies data (including on employment support) is published monthly by NHSE. There is a slight lag in the publication, so the last 12 months for which data is available is March 2023-February 2024.
For the period March 2023-February 2024:
(a) NHSE data shows that 47,280 individuals started employment support in NHS Talking Therapies (this service is in England only)
(b) The following table breaks this down by NHS regions:
NHS Commissioning Region | Employment support starts |
EAST OF ENGLAND | 4,745 |
LONDON | 7,495 |
MIDLANDS | 10,240 |
NORTH EAST AND YORKSHIRE | 4,205 |
NORTH WEST | 3,830 |
SOUTH EAST | 12,505 |
SOUTH WEST | 4,260 |
Source: NHS Talking Therapies Monthly Statistics Including Employment Advisors - NHS England Digital
Caveats:
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make a comparative estimate of the number of people who were economically inactive and waiting for NHS treatment by (a) nation and (b) region as of (i) 23 April 2010 and (ii) 23 April 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information available on the number of people who were economically inactive and waiting for NHS treatment is given below.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published waiting times for a hospital appointment, test or to start receiving treatment through the NHS for those who are economically inactive as part of the Opinions and Lifestyles Survey. This data is available for Great Britain and is not available at lower-level geographies and the earliest available data is for 22 November to 18 December 2022 therefore a comparison with 2010 at a national and regional level cannot be made.
The latest Opinions and Lifestyle Survey data shows that the number of economically inactive adults aged 16 years and over in Great Britain is 6.9 million, excluding those who are retired (18 October 2023 to 1 January 2024). Economically inactive adults will, for example, include adults who are studying, have caring responsibilities or are long-term sick. Of this population, between 2.1 million (30%) and 2.6 million (38%) are currently waiting for a hospital appointment, test, or to start receiving medical treatment through the NHS.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department held discussions with organisations representing disabled people on the disbanding of the Work and Health Programme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Stakeholder engagement has been a key part of the design processes for the range of new programmes to enhance employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions being funded through the Back to Work Plan announced at Spring Budget and Autumn Statement 2023 – including Universal Support.
This has included a range of organisations representing the types of people who are eligible for the current Work and Health Programme. We will continue to engage with relevant organisations as the planning for and roll out of these new and expanded programmes progresses.
Any further announcements regarding the Work and Health Programme will be made in due course.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has (a) spent on and (b) reduced its expenditure due to the expansion of targeted case reviews.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Targeted Case Review (TCR) is currently scaling at pace to strengthen the department’s response to fraud and error within Universal Credit.
We are investing £443 million to save £6.6 billion by March 2028.
Investment in TCR for 2022-23 was £19.6 million. As set out in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) 2022-23, TCR delivered DWP £39 million of savings, of which £14 million related to 2022-23 expenditure.
We expect the majority of savings to occur in the final years of the project when Targeted Case Review is fully operational.
The Annual Report and Accounts for the financial year 23/24 is expected to be published Summer 2024. This will include Targeted Case Review spend and expenditure. The Fraud and Error National Statistics will be published on 16 May 2024.