Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
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 the two-child limit on benefits on child poverty levels in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made.
This Government is wholly committed to tackling child poverty. Throughout the pandemic, our priority has been to protect family incomes including by spending an additional £7.4 billion last year to strengthen the welfare system for those most in need, taking our total expenditure on welfare support for people of working age to an estimated £112bn in 2020/21.
As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help parents move into and progress in work as quickly as possible based on clear evidence around the importance of parental employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty. We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effect of the introduction of universal credit on women in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department for Communities, part of the Northern Ireland Executive, is responsible for Universal Credit in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data her Department holds on the number of people who worked in Northern Ireland and paid national insurance contributions while aged 14 or 15 between 1947 and 1957, that have fallen two years or less short of the years needed to qualify for a full state pension.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information requested is not available.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will bring forward proposals to change Support for Mortgage Interest from a loan to a grant.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has no plans to change Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) from a loan to a grant.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
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 merits of increasing the Child Maintenance Service's powers to allow it to compel information from non-resident parents.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) already has measures in place to compel non-resident parents to provide information including bank details, address and income details.
The Service can also compel third parties such as employers, financial institutions, HMRC, local authorities and other government departments to provide information, where appropriate.
While the Service always keep such powers under review, we have no plans to further enhance CMS information gathering powers.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
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 December 2020 APPG report on Frozen Pensions.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The policy on the up-rating of UK State Pensions for recipients overseas is longstanding and has been supported by successive Governments for over 70 years. The Government has no plans to change this policy.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether a freeze on local housing allowance levels will result in the value of housing benefit falling below the 30th percentile of local rents in the months ahead.
Answered by Will Quince
The increase in Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates in April 2020 provided 1.5 million claimants with, on average, around £600 more housing support per year than they would otherwise have received. In 2021/22 all LHA rates will be maintained at their increased level, meaning claimants renting in the private rented sector will continue to benefit from the significant increase in the rates applied this year, providing claimants with stability during this period of uncertainty.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
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 on the operation of employment projects for people with disabilities of the end of their access to the European Social Fund.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Spending Review, the Chancellor announced the introduction of a UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will succeed EU Structural Funds and help to level up and create opportunity for people and places across the UK. The government will publish a UK-wide investment framework in 2021.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her Department's policy to reverse the changes made to Support for Mortgage Interest due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has no plans to change the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme from a loan.
The support provided is at the same rate as when SMI was paid as a benefit and therefore the scheme offers the same level of protection against repossession.
Reversing the changes would not provide any additional assistance to home owners during the current pandemic.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Financial Investigations Unit of the Child Maintenance Service has begun the use of video calling technology to complete interviews under caution.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Due to current COVID-19 restrictions in place until at least 3 December, no interviews under caution are being conducted across DWP. However, as part of a DWP wide project, the use of video conferencing for interviews under caution is currently being explored.