Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the length of time between people reaching State Pension age and receiving their first State Pension payment in each of the last three months.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DWP is aware that a small number of new State Pension claims have been subject to delays in receiving payment.
The Department is working hard to clear the current backlog, many of which have accrued since the Covid Pandemic.
We are prioritising overdue payments and payments that are imminent within the next few weeks. Normal service will be resumed by the end of October 2021.
Claimants don’t need to act, we have identified the cases and will process them as soon as possible.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2021 to Question 23230, what her timeframe is for the publication of the equality impact assessment on the Kickstart Scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Equality Impact Assessment for the Kickstart Scheme has now been published online, and can be accessed here.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what private companies are contracted to provide security services at her Department’s buildings that contain ministerial private offices; and whether there are closed circuit television cameras in any ministerial private office within the departmental estate.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As has been the case under successive Administrations, it is not government policy to comment on security procedures in government buildings.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2021 to Question 21940 on Department for Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information, if she will publish the number of freedom of information requests her Department has referred to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House for advice on handling in 2020-21.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department currently has no plans to publish this information. We do not capture data on the number of requests which are referred to the Cabinet Office Clearing House.
Official statistics on Freedom of Information requests are published by the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis, available on gov.uk here - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what declarations of interests have been made by her Department’s non-executive directors; and where that information is published.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Non-executive directors comply with the provisions of the Cabinet Office’s Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies.
Board members are required to submit any declarable interests annually; this information forms part of the independent National Audit Office review ahead of the publication of Departmental annual report and accounts.
Information on any relevant interests will be published in the Department annual report and accounts, which will be available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the Equality Impact Assessment for the Kickstart scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions plans to publish the Equality Impact Assessment on the Kickstart Scheme in due course.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many freedom of information requests her Department has referred to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House for advice on handling in each year since 2016.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DWP has referred requests to the Cabinet Office Clearing House where appropriate and in line with the published criteria, which is available on gov.uk here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-and-freedom-of-information
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not operate any rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.
We respond to all Freedom of Information requests under our obligations as set out in the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
All Freedom of Information requests are judged purpose-blind and presentational sensitivity has no bearing on whether we should release information under the Freedom of Information Act or not.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
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 potential effect of youth unemployment on the level of national output in 2021.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment of the potential effect of youth unemployment on the level of national output in 2021 has been made.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to supporting everyone who has been affected by the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the labour market. We want everyone to be able to find a job, progress in work and thrive in the labour market, whoever they are and wherever they live.
Through Plan for Jobs, the government invested £30bn in measures to create, support and protect jobs. This included over £3bn investment in the Kickstart programme for young people and an additional 13,500 Work Coaches in our Jobcentres, as well as other measures focussed on boosting work search, skills and apprenticeships.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by the Prince’s Trust and Learning and Work Institute entitled Facing the future: employment prospects for young people after Coronavirus published in March 2021, if she will respond to the finding in that report that youth unemployment will have a fiscal cost of £2.5 billion in 2021.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have reviewed the report to which the Honourable Lady refers. DWP has made no assessment of the fiscal cost of unemployment outlined in the report.
We recognise that younger people have been some of the hardest hit by the pandemic. Our DWP Youth Offer provides the wrap-around support to help this group access so much of the positive provision stood up as part of the Plan for Jobs. Our Youth Employment Programme is complemented by joined-up local delivery through Youth Hubs, as well as specialist Youth Employability Coaches for those with complex needs. Our £2bn Kickstart programme is helping young people into jobs and opportunities which will enhance their future employment prospects and help the economy to recover.