Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress her Department has made on rolling out a programme of placing an officer of her Department into local food banks to assist with benefits (a) access and (b) problems as first piloted in Morecambe.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Working with Trussell Trust we undertook a 12 week telephony hotline trial during the summer 2017, in three Districts (Durham and Tees Valley, Northumberland and Cambridgeshire), to assess the volume and nature of enquiries made by claimants from their linked food banks.
The small number of calls made to the hotline seemed to indicate that demand for Jobcentre resource in food banks was low. However, it was agreed that we would remind colleagues of the signposting process, and District Partnership teams would continue to engage with food banks as part of their portfolio of local partners and stakeholders.
Jobcentres continue to engage with food banks or organisations hosting food banks as part of their normal partnership work. To ensure a consistent offer, an assurance was received in February 2018 that each Jobcentre Single Point of Contact had made contact with their linked food banks to increase and maintain partnership working.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have made applications for funding from the Discretionary Housing Fund in Lancaster district since the inception of that fund.
Answered by Steve Webb
The Department does not hold this information. Information on applications for Discretionary Housing Payments should be sought from individual local authorities.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will estimate how much money his Department has spent in Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency since May 2010.
Answered by Mike Penning
The available information is shown in the table below.
Further benefit expenditure data can be found at the following URL:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-tables
Benefit expenditure in Morecambe and Lunesdale, £ million, 2014/15 Prices | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 |
Excluding Housing Benefit | 229.7 | 232.8 | 242.1 |
Including Housing Benefit | N/A | 265.5 | 275.5 |
Source: DWP Statistical and Accounting data.
Notes:
1. Benefit expenditure is available for financial years only.
2. The last period for which a full year of expenditure by parliamentary constituency is available is 2012/13. Figures for 2013/14 will be published later in the year.
3. For 2011/12 and 2012/13, figures include expenditure for the following benefits: Attendance Allowance, Bereavement benefits, Carer's Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Housing Benefit, Incapacity benefit, Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Pension Credit, Severe Disablement Allowance, State Pension, Winter Fuel Payments. This covers approximately 94% of all DWP benefit expenditure; information on the remaining benefits is not available at constituency level.
4. For 2010/11, Housing Benefit is only available by local authority so it is excluded; these figures therefore cover around 80% of all DWP benefit expenditure.
5. Figures at 2014/15 prices are deflated using GDP deflators published following the 2014 Budget, and published at:
6. Information on the cost of administering the benefits by parliamentary constituency is not collated centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.