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Written Question
Unemployment
Thursday 23rd July 2020

Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for a more localised system for delivering support to (1) young people, and (2) the long-term unemployed.

Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott

The Government is committed to addressing imbalances as economic recovery progresses in every part of the UK and the department already has robust mechanisms in place which provide local support through our Jobcentre Plus network, including provision for young people and the long term unemployed.

As announced by the Chancellor this provision is being further strengthened through a range of measures including:

o doubling the number of work coaches to 27,000 by March 2021;

o an increase in the Flexible Support Fund in Great Britain by £150 million including to increase the capacity of the Rapid Response Service. It will also provide local support to claimants by removing barriers to work such as travel expenses for attending interviews;

o the introduction of the Kickstart Scheme for young people on Universal Credit that will provide high quality, six-month work placements from Autumn this year. Funding available for each job will cover 100 per cent of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week;

o expanding our youth offer to young jobseekers to include all those aged 18-24 in the Intensive Work Search group in Universal Credit to include:

  • a structured 13-week intervention, during which (as capacity allows) they will be referred to the most appropriate support, such as careers advice, a sector-based work academy, a traineeship, work experience, mentoring circles or an apprenticeship. Once they have completed this programme, participants will be encouraged to take up work-related training or an apprenticeship;

  • youth hubs co-located and co-delivered with our network of external partners where young people can access wider support;

  • additional targeted support from Youth Employability Coaches for young people with more complex needs;

o expansion of our sector-based work academy programmes, which will establish bespoke opportunities, working with employers and training providers to support claimants to fill job vacancies and pivot into new careers;

o expansion of the scope of the Work and Health Programme in England and Wales to provide personalised support for up to six months, to help jobseekers who have been unemployed for three months plus to effectively reengage with the labour market. Equivalent provision will also be made in Scotland; and

o a new job finding support service in Great Britain to help recently unemployed people more quickly back in to the labour market, focussing on their transferrable skills and how they might transition to a new employment sector, where there are vacancies.

In addition, we are also working with local partners across England to invest £250 million from European Social Fund’s reserve to help people find new jobs and learn new skills. This is addition to the £440 million that is being invested in locally-tailored programme this year.


Written Question
Employment
Thursday 23rd July 2020

Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for increased investment in local employment support.

Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott

The Government is committed to addressing imbalances as economic recovery progresses in every part of the UK and the department already has robust mechanisms in place which provide local support through our Jobcentre Plus network, including provision for young people and the long term unemployed.

As announced by the Chancellor this provision is being further strengthened through a range of measures including:

o doubling the number of work coaches to 27,000 by March 2021;

o an increase in the Flexible Support Fund in Great Britain by £150 million including to increase the capacity of the Rapid Response Service. It will also provide local support to claimants by removing barriers to work such as travel expenses for attending interviews;

o the introduction of the Kickstart Scheme for young people on Universal Credit that will provide high quality, six-month work placements from Autumn this year. Funding available for each job will cover 100 per cent of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week;

o expanding our youth offer to young jobseekers to include all those aged 18-24 in the Intensive Work Search group in Universal Credit to include:

  • a structured 13-week intervention, during which (as capacity allows) they will be referred to the most appropriate support, such as careers advice, a sector-based work academy, a traineeship, work experience, mentoring circles or an apprenticeship. Once they have completed this programme, participants will be encouraged to take up work-related training or an apprenticeship;

  • youth hubs co-located and co-delivered with our network of external partners where young people can access wider support;

  • additional targeted support from Youth Employability Coaches for young people with more complex needs;

o expansion of our sector-based work academy programmes, which will establish bespoke opportunities, working with employers and training providers to support claimants to fill job vacancies and pivot into new careers;

o expansion of the scope of the Work and Health Programme in England and Wales to provide personalised support for up to six months, to help jobseekers who have been unemployed for three months plus to effectively reengage with the labour market. Equivalent provision will also be made in Scotland; and

o a new job finding support service in Great Britain to help recently unemployed people more quickly back in to the labour market, focussing on their transferrable skills and how they might transition to a new employment sector, where there are vacancies.

In addition, we are also working with local partners across England to invest £250 million from European Social Fund’s reserve to help people find new jobs and learn new skills. This is addition to the £440 million that is being invested in locally-tailored programme this year.


Written Question
Families: Disadvantaged
Tuesday 2nd June 2020

Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what evaluation has taken place of projects funded by the Department for Work and Pensions Reducing Parental Conflict Programme; and when a final evaluation of the programme will be published.

Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott

The evaluation of the Reducing Parental Conflict Programme is ongoing and a final research report will be published in 2022.


Written Question
Families: Disadvantaged
Tuesday 2nd June 2020

Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the Department for Work and Pensions Reducing Parental Conflict Programme beyond 2021.

Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott

The Reducing Parental Conflict Programme is providing crucial support to families, particularly those who may be under increased pressure due to COVID-19. We are working with our local delivery partners to ensure that programme delivery continues during the period of social distancing restrictions, being flexible and innovative in ways that we can reach families that require support. Partners are continuing to make progress in embedding a focus on parental conflict in local services across all local authority areas in England. Decisions on taking forward the Reducing Parental Conflict Programme will be taken by the Department in due course.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Children
Tuesday 5th November 2019

Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent estimate they have made of their expenditure on the (1) child element, and (2) childcare costs element, of Universal Credit.

Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott

The Department’s profile of spending on childcare in Universal Credit is shown in the table below. As the volume of claimants with children on legacy benefits decreases as they move to Universal Credit, spending on childcare will increase accordingly.

Ann. cost 18/19

Ann. cost 19/20

Ann. cost 20/21

Ann. cost 21/22

Ann. cost 22/23

Ann. cost 23/24

Total cost UC Childcare

£100m

£400m

£700m

£900m

£1,100m

£1,400m

Notes:

  1. The figures in the table above are derived from internal DWP models, and costs have been rounded to the nearest £100 million.

Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Children
Tuesday 5th November 2019

Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much they have spent on (1) benefits, and (2) tax credits, related to childcare and other child-related costs, broken down by each payment, in the last year for which figures are available.

Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott

The profile of spending on the Childcare Element of Universal Credit in 2018/19 was £100 million1. As the volume of claimants with children on legacy benefits decreases as they move to Universal Credit, spending on childcare will increase accordingly.

Spending on child-related benefits administered by HMRC are shown in the table below.

2018-19

Child Tax Credit (excluding childcare element)2

£18.0 billion

Tax Free Childcare 3

£117 million

Child Benefit 3

£11.5 billion

Notes:

  1. The Universal Credit spending is derived from internal DWP models, and costs have been rounded to the nearest £100 million.
  2. Total Child Tax Credits comes from HMRC 2018-19 Annual Report and Accounts. This is reduced by an estimate of the value that relates to the childcare element which is subject to a degree of uncertainty.
  3. From HMRC Receipts statistics.

Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Families
Tuesday 11th September 2018

Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Department for Work and Pensions policies have been assessed against the Family Test; and whether they will publish any such assessments.

Answered by Baroness Buscombe

The government is committed to supporting families. To achieve this, in 2014 we introduced the Family Test, which aims to ensure that impacts on family relationships and functioning are recognised early on during the process of policy development and help inform the policy decisions made by Minsters. There is no requirement for departments to publish the results of assessments made under the Family Test.


Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: Post Offices
Tuesday 17th July 2018

Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether state pensions can be collected at post offices.

Answered by Baroness Buscombe

The majority of pensioners have their State Pension paid into a bank account. As most bank accounts can be accessed at the Post Office, claimants can collect their payments that way. Since January, 99% of banks’ personal customers are able to withdraw cash, deposit cash and cheques, and make balance enquiries at a Post Office counter via its network of 11,600 branches. The Department also has arrangements in place to ensure that the majority of those who cannot access a bank account, can collect their State Pension at the Post Office using a Post Office card account.


Written Question
State Retirement Pensions
Wednesday 25th April 2018

Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much higher the basic state pension is in 2018–19 than it was in 2010–11, following the increase announced in April by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Answered by Baroness Buscombe

In 2010-11 the basic State Pension was £97.65 per week. In 2018-19 it is £125.95 per week, an increase since 2010-11 of £28.30 per week or over £1450 per annum. Legislation for the basic and new State Pensions allows for annual increases at least in line with average earnings growth. This ensures that people above State Pension age receive increases in their basic State Pension income that are in line with earnings growth in the population as a whole. In addition, this Government has committed to increases in line with the Triple Lock for the duration of this Parliament, ensuring that increases will be the highest of the growth in prices, earnings or 2.5%. For 2018/19 these pensions increased by 3% (the rate of prices growth under the Consumer Price Index). The full rate of basic State Pension is now £660 more than if it had been uprated by earnings over this period.


Written Question
Parents: Low Incomes
Tuesday 19th September 2017

Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they hold data on the family circumstances of babies born to low income families in the UK; if so, which department holds those data; and how many babies were born to low income families that had (1) parents in a couple relationship, and (2) a single parent, in the last five years for which figures are available.

Answered by Baroness Buscombe

Information on the number of children born into families in low income is not available for any period.

This is because the main sources of income data only capture a household's situation once a year. Therefore we do not record the income of the family on the day the child is born. The sample size for households with very young children will be small and it may also be the case that the response rate from families with very young children will be lower than usual and therefore may not be representative.