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Written Question
Poverty: Poplar and Limehouse
Thursday 11th January 2024

Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

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 number of children living in poverty in Poplar and Limehouse constituency.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The latest available data showing the number and proportion of children in absolute and relative poverty before housing costs by parliamentary constituency can be found in the children in low-income families local area statistics. Absolute poverty after housing costs is the government’s preferred measure as the poverty line is fixed in real terms so is not affected by overall median income.

Households Below Average Income (HBAI) provides estimates of children in low-income families only at national and regional levels but can’t provide estimates by parliamentary constituency due to the sample size of the survey at that level.

Children in Low Income Families (CiLIF) is constructed using administrative data and calibrated to the HBAI regional estimates for consistency at that level. This use of administrative data provides more granular local area information not available from HBAI alone.

More background information on CiLIF and the methodology can be found here.


Written Question
Poverty: Poplar and Limehouse
Thursday 11th January 2024

Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

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 level of (a) absolute, (b) relative, (c) fuel and (d) food poverty in Poplar and Limehouse constituency.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

National statistics on the number and percentage of people in poverty, including regional-level data, is published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. This can be found here. Statistics are not available at the constituency level.

National statistics on food security and food bank use, including regional-level data, for 2021/22 are available here. Statistics are not available at the constituency level.

The latest statistics for the number of households in fuel poverty in parliamentary constituencies in England, can be found in the published sub-regional fuel poverty Official Statistics, in Table 4 here.


Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Vodafone Group
Friday 23rd June 2023

Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment their Department has made of the potential effect of the merger between Three and Vodafone on their Department's contracts with Vodafone.

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

The Department has assessed whether the merger constitutes a risk to service and whether the contract documentation needs to be updated. We are also awaiting advice from Cabinet Office regarding any wider significance to the merger. We are content no further action is required pending the Cabinet Office advice.


Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: Age
Wednesday 20th April 2022

Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the call by Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) women for fair and adequate compensation; and what steps she plans to take in response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report on the communication of changes to state pension age.

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

It would not be appropriate to comment on the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s report whilst the investigation is ongoing; and section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations “shall be conducted in private”.

This a multi staged process and the report published on 20 July 2021 concluded stage-one of the investigation.


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment: Appeals
Tuesday 19th April 2022

Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of mandatory reconsiderations made in favour of claimants were made on the basis of no additional evidence supplied by the claimant, beyond the completion of a mandatory reconsideration request form for claimants (a) nationally and (b) in Poplar and Limehouse constituency.

Answered by Chloe Smith

The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment
Tuesday 19th April 2022

Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of personal independence payment claims are auto-extended on more than one occasion due to a backlog of claims being processed by assessment providers, such that an assessment cannot be undertaken within the first period of auto-extension.

Answered by Chloe Smith

To protect PIP customers, we have developed an automated Digital solution which essentially extends the current award for cases where there is a risk that the claim will fall out of payment.

As we see continuing high demand for PIP new claims, customers are currently waiting longer than expected to have their claim reviewed, which has led to some awards being extended more than once.

The information requested on multiple extensions, however, is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment: Poplar and Limehouse
Tuesday 19th April 2022

Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of mandatory reconsideration requests for personal independence payments were found in favour of claimants, for those claimants resident in Poplar and Limehouse constituency in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.

Answered by Chloe Smith

The proportions of mandatory reconsiderations requests for PIP found to be in favour of claimants in the Poplar and Limehouse constituency is available on Stat-Xplore: : https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. In particular, you may be interested in the ‘PIP MR Clearances’ table, which, under ‘Westminster Parliamentary Constituency’ you can select Poplar and Limehouse and ‘MR Decision’ will give you the breakdown of the MR decisions.

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.


Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Appeals
Tuesday 19th April 2022

Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of changes in the level of the cost of processing mandatory reconsiderations of claimants on the number of requests being processed.

Answered by Chloe Smith

The number of forecasted MRs processed each month is based on the number of forecasted MRs received each month. The forecast methodology of the numbers of MRs received each month varies from benefit to benefit. Broadly, analysts use factors such as claim rate, caseload, historical MR rates, and decision outcomes e.g. disallowed cases. Analysts review these factors at each forecasting round to improve the quality of forecasts.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Habitual Residence Test
Friday 25th February 2022

Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of universal credit claims that were initially found to have failed the habitual residence test had those decisions overturned at (a) Mandatory Reconsideration Stage, (b) First-Tier Tribunal, and (c) prior to a Tribunal hearing but having submitted a request to open an appeal.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Detailed information on Universal Credit Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs) is available from Feb-19 onwards.

Percentage as a proportion of claimants with a failed HRT

Requested an MR after failed HRT

7

Decision changed at MR

2

Appeal lapsed before tribunal

less than 1

Appeal overturned original decision at tribunal

less than 1

GB only

An overturned appeal is where the DWP decision is revised in favour of the customer at a tribunal hearing.

This information is based on HRT (Habitual Residence Test) decisions from Feb 2019 to June 2021, for Great Britain only, and MR and appeals decisions to the end of September 2021. The figures do not include MRs or appeals made about other aspects of these UC claims.

A lapsed appeal is where DWP changed the decision, in the customer’s favour, after an appeal was lodged, but before it was heard at a tribunal hearing.

A number of appeals lodged concerning an HRT decision during this time have not yet been heard by a tribunal, so these figures may rise slightly. In addition, while most appeals are lodged within a month of the MR decision, it is possible for appeals to be lodged with good reason beyond this time.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Habitual Residence Test
Thursday 24th February 2022

Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help ensure that those who are unable to access universal credit due to failing the habitual residence test are appropriately signposted to alternative forms of (a) financial and (b) crisis support and advice.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Customers who fail to satisfy the Habitual Residence Test are advised of appeal rights within the decision notification letter they receive. The letter also reminds them of their right to submit a Mandatory Reconsideration, which will be reviewed by another Decision Maker in our Disputes Resolution Team.

Customers who contact the Department or Jobcentres for further assistance are directed to local support services available. If they are deemed to be extremely vulnerable, a referral is made to our local Advanced Customer Service Senior Leaders team, who have greater local knowledge of support available for customers in need.

All complex decisions for the Habitual Residence Test will be escalated to specialist Decision Makers, who go through specific training on making Habitual Residence Test decisions. These decisions are subject to rigorous quality standards.