Eilidh Whiteford

Scottish National Party - Former Member for Banff and Buchan

First elected: 6th May 2010

Left House: 3rd May 2017 (Defeated)


Shadow SNP Westminster Group Leader (Social Justice and Welfare)
21st May 2015 - 3rd May 2017
Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Work and Pensions)
15th Jun 2010 - 20th May 2015
Shadow SNP Spokesperson (International Development)
15th Jun 2010 - 13th May 2015
Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Women)
15th Jun 2010 - 13th May 2015
Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Agriculture and Fisheries)
15th Jun 2010 - 13th May 2015
Scottish Affairs Committee
12th Jul 2010 - 30th Mar 2015


Division Voting information

Eilidh Whiteford has voted in 933 divisions, and 4 times against the majority of their Party.

15 Oct 2012 - Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill - View Vote Context
Eilidh Whiteford voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 2 Scottish National Party Aye votes vs 4 Scottish National Party No votes
Tally: Ayes - 211 Noes - 290
11 Jul 2012 - Sittings of the House - View Vote Context
Eilidh Whiteford voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 2 Scottish National Party No votes vs 3 Scottish National Party Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 241 Noes - 256
11 Jul 2012 - Sittings of the House - View Vote Context
Eilidh Whiteford voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 2 Scottish National Party Aye votes vs 3 Scottish National Party No votes
Tally: Ayes - 267 Noes - 233
11 Jul 2012 - Sittings of the House - View Vote Context
Eilidh Whiteford voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 2 Scottish National Party Aye votes vs 2 Scottish National Party No votes
Tally: Ayes - 205 Noes - 228
View All Eilidh Whiteford Division Votes

All Debates

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

View all Eilidh Whiteford's debates

Banff and Buchan Petitions

e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.

If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.

If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).

Eilidh Whiteford has not participated in any petition debates

Latest EDMs signed by Eilidh Whiteford

26th April 2017
Eilidh Whiteford signed this EDM as a sponsor on Wednesday 26th April 2017

MOTABILITY 40TH ANNIVERSARY

Tabled by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
That this House congratulates Motability for reaching its 40th anniversary and for providing over four and a half million scheme vehicles; recognises the importance of Motability in helping disabled people, their families and friends have increased mobility and independence; and commends all those involved in the creation and continued support …
18 signatures
(Most recent: 26 Apr 2017)
Signatures by party:
Scottish National Party: 15
Independent: 2
Plaid Cymru: 1
26th April 2017
Eilidh Whiteford signed this EDM on Wednesday 26th April 2017

SUCCESS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS

Tabled by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
That this House congratulates the University of St Andrews on its continued success in higher education league tables; notes that St Andrews was recently ranked first in Scotland and third in the UK by the Complete University Guide; further notes that this marks a rise in two places from 2016 …
51 signatures
(Most recent: 26 Apr 2017)
Signatures by party:
Scottish National Party: 50
Independent: 1
View All Eilidh Whiteford's signed Early Day Motions

Commons initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Eilidh Whiteford, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.

MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.


Eilidh Whiteford has not been granted any Urgent Questions

Eilidh Whiteford has not been granted any Adjournment Debates

Eilidh Whiteford has not introduced any legislation before Parliament


Latest 50 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
2 Other Department Questions
23rd Feb 2015
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many companies have been required to carry out equal pay audits after they have been found to be discriminating on the basis of gender since 1 October 2014.

Regulations requiring an employment tribunal to order an equal pay audit where an employer is found to be in breach of equal pay law came into force on 1st October 2014. We are not so far aware of any cases where an audit has been ordered.

16th Oct 2014
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many tonnes of carbon dioxide were displaced by reneweable (a) electricity and (b) heat generation in (i) the UK, (ii) England, (iii) Scotland and (iv) Wales in 2013.

The table below shows show many tonnes of carbon dioxide were displaced by renewable electricity in each of the UK, England, Scotland and Wales in 2013.

UK

England

Scotland

Wales

Carbon dioxide displaced by renewable electricity generation (million tonnes)

37.6

22.8

11.9

1.9

Carbon emissions displaced by renewable electricity generation have been calculated as renewable electricity generation multiplied by the average emissions factor for electricity supplied by fossil fuel stations in 2013. A breakdown of electricity generation for the countries can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/regional-renewable-statistics

Carbon dioxide emissions factors for electricity supplied can be found in table 5D of the Digest of UK Energy Statistics, 2014, available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes

Information on the carbon savings from the total renewable heat produced in the UK is not available. Chapter 6 of the Digest of UK Energy Statistics provides more information on renewable heat, and shows that 1,729.1ktoe of renewable fuels were used to generate heat in 2013. The full renewable energy chapter is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/renewable-sources-of-energy-chapter-6-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes.

3rd Nov 2014
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will establish a Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals to consider representations from those who support the creation of a (a) National Defence Medal and (b) Nuclear Test Veterans Medal.

The Committee for the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals (HD Committee) has recently, as part of the Independent Military Medals Review, considered the proposals to institute a National Defence Medal and a Nuclear Test Veterans Medal. HD Committee considered the merits of both medals but in respect of the latter concluded that this was not the sort of operational duty that would normally be recognised by the award of a medal; and that a strong enough case could not be made at this time for a National Defence Medal.

8th Nov 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Home Secretary on reintroduction of the post-study work visa.

The Department engages regularly with the Home Office on matters of student migration.

Overseas students can remain in the UK to work following their studies by switching to several existing visa routes, including Tier 2 (skilled worker) visas.

The Government closed the dedicated Post Study Work visa route in 2012 on the grounds that it was open to immigration abuse (including low-skilled work and fraudulent applications).

7th Feb 2017
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on low-income families.

This Government is determined to get the best deal for the whole of the UK and are clear that the benefits of that deal should apply to all UK citizens. At every step of this negotiation we will seek to ensure the best possible outcome for the British people, including low income families.

2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department plans to take to (a) track and (b) report progress made against the Sustainable Development Goals by applying the Food Insecurity Experience Scale.

DFID helped to establish the use of the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. This is the method the UN’s Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators has recommended for tracking and reporting on the prevalence of food insecurity for Global Goal 2.

DFID is in the process of reviewing its results framework and is also considering ways to apply the Food Insecurity Experience Scale in relevant programmes. For example, this year DFID supported the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme to agree a new Monitoring and Evaluation framework which will use the Food Insecurity Experience Scale to track progress on food security for households supported by the programme.

2nd Jun 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to introduce HGV overtaking restrictions on two-lane motorways and on some A-roads to reduce light vehicle journey times; and if he will make a statement.

There are no current plans to place overtaking restrictions on Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) on motorways and trunk roads, beyond their current prohibition from the outside lane of any motorway with three or more lanes. Such restrictions could delay journeys and lead to increased operating costs which could be passed on to consumers.

In addition, the possibility of nose to tail convoys of HGVs in the nearside lane could cause difficulty for drivers wishing to join or leave the motorway. All drivers should know and apply the rules contained in The Highway Code, which includes advice and rules to drivers on overtaking and lane discipline.

However, in very specific locations where there have been congestion problems caused by lorries overtaking on uphill sections of the strategic road network, restrictions have been put in place by Highways England. These restrictions have only been kept in place where clear evidence shows overall journey time improvements. If the Hon Member is concerned more specifically about the situation on roads in Scotland, she should contact Transport Scotland who have a similar power in Scotland to ban overtaking on specific sections of road.

In addition, we have recently increased the national speed limit for HGVs of more than 7.5 tonnes on dual carriageway roads in England and Wales from 50mph to 60mph. This may help to assist with light vehicle journey times when HGV drivers do choose to overtake on dual carriageways. This change only applies to England and Wales so if the Hon Member is concerned more specifically about the situation on roads in Scotland, she should discuss this with the Scottish Government.

19th Jun 2014
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what statistics his Department has collected on the use of average speed cameras and their effectiveness in reducing (a) accidents and (b) fatal accidents.

The Department for Transport does not collect statistics on the use of average speed cameras on local roads.

The most recent evaluation of the effectiveness of safety cameras was carried out in the four-year evaluation report of the National Safety Camera Programme, published in 2005.  This evaluation did not however specifically address average speed reduction cameras.

In England, since the National Safety Camera Programme ceased in 2007, evaluation of safety cameras on local roads has been for the individual Safety Camera Partnerships, local authorities and police forces which operate the cameras.

The Highways Agency produces Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) reports for average speed camera systems on the Highways Agency network in England.

19th Jun 2014
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many average speed cameras are operating in each region and constituent part of the UK.

In England, the Highways Agency has the following 6 Average Speed Camera systems on its network:

M3 (Junction 2) (South East Region)

M3 (from the M25) (South East Region)

M25 (J12) (South East Region)

A14 (East of England)

A38 Saltash Tunnel (South West Region)

A3 Hindhead Tunnel (South East Region)

Average speed cameras are also used in road works as a temporary measure.

The Department for Transport does not hold this information for cameras on local authority roads. Local authorities have statutory duties related to road safety and decisions about whether they operate speed cameras are a matter for them.

This is a devolved matter so the Department does not hold information on average speed cameras in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

8th Feb 2017
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the effect of changes in the level of inflation on the value of social security benefits in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

We know that work is the best route out of poverty. That is why the Government has introduced welfare reforms – such as those included in the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 to increase work incentives and reduce welfare dependency. These reforms are working.

We now have the lowest rate of unemployment in over a decade, and the lowest number of workless households since records began. Millions of people are taking home more of what they earn thanks to this Government’s actions to lower taxes and introduce the National Living Wage. This has helped give lower earners their fastest pay rise in 20 years.

8th Feb 2017
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the effect of changes in the level of inflation on working age benefit claimants in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

We know that work is the best route out of poverty. That is why the Government has introduced welfare reforms – such as those included in the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 to increase work incentives and reduce welfare dependency. These reforms are working.

We now have the lowest rate of unemployment in over a decade, and the lowest number of workless households since records began. Millions of people are taking home more of what they earn thanks to this Government’s actions to lower taxes and introduce the National Living Wage. This has helped give lower earners their fastest pay rise in 20 years.

7th Feb 2017
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much will accrue to the Exchequer from the decision not to increase benefit payments for four years.

I refer the Member for Banff and Buchan to the impact assessment of the benefit rate freeze that was published alongside the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 - http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006C.pdf

12th Jan 2017
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support and assistance the Government provides to families which experience reductions in their income as a result of the six-week waiting period for receipt of their first universal credit payment.

Advances of Universal Credit are available if claimants need financial support before they receive their first payment. Advances can be up to 50% of the household’s monthly entitlement.

In addition, there are various forms of Alternative Payment Arrangement available. These are designed to address various aspects of financial difficulty, including a direct payment of housing costs to the landlord, more frequent than monthly payments and split payments within a household in certain circumstances.

At the initial meeting with a new claimant, the Department’s Work Coaches will assess the claimant’s financial situation and determine if there is a need for Personal Budgeting Support. If there is, the claimant can be referred to a range of free services including the Money Advice Service and locally provided support. The Work Coach can also consider whether the criteria for an Alternative Payment Arrangement are met.

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
14th Dec 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people aged under 21 who will be affected by the proposed removal of the housing benefit element of universal credit.

Current estimates suggest that 10,000 people will be affected by the policy by 2020/21.

13th Dec 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish legislative proposals on removing the housing benefit element of universal credit for 18 to 21 year-olds.

Details of the regulations will be published when they are laid in early 2017.

13th Dec 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the estimated average annual cost to the public purse will be of removing the housing benefit element of universal credit from 18 to 21 year-olds.

Current estimates suggest that the removal of the housing costs element of universal credit from 18 to 21 year olds will save £95 million over the course of the current Parliament.

19th Oct 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants in each constituency in Scotland have been in receipt of jobseeker's allowance for (a) one year, (b) two years and (c) five years.

The information available for the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants by Parliamentary Constituency and duration is published and can be found at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

Guidance for users is available at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
5th Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department provides on the minimum number of days between benefit payments for a person ending an employment and support allowance claim and beginning a jobseeker's allowance claim; and what the average time between such benefit payments was in the last 12 months.

The department does not specifically hold data in relation to claimants who transition from ESA to JSA and the time taken to award JSA following the closure of an ESA claim. As a department we strive to process all new claims made to JSA as quickly and efficiently as possible with a minimum expected level of 90% processed within 10 days. We are currently achieving 90.7% as of July 2016.

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
5th Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to increase awareness of the Disability Confident campaign; and how his Department plans to measure the effectiveness of that campaign.

We have developed a new Disability Confident employer accreditation scheme. This went live in July.

This will be core to our engagement with employers to raise awareness, improve performance and drive up engagement on the disability employment agenda.

We are developing plans to formally launch the scheme in the Autumn and more information on take up and effectiveness measures will be available from then.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to publish data on the number of (a) low, (b) medium and (c) high level sanctions applied to universal credit claimants (i) before and (ii) after challenges.

The Department updated its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in February 2016. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently assessing the data for UC and will only release information once the necessary quality assurance work has taken place. These statistics will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.

Universal Credit official statistics and the Departments release strategy can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on claimants of no longer being eligible to receive employment and support allowance payments at the assessment rate when undergoing a mandatory reconsideration of a work capability assessment.

ESA claimants who are found fit for work and are waiting for their mandatory reconsideration application to be decided, are eligible to claim JSA. This is the right benefit for those who are capable of work, with Jobcentre work coaches fully supporting these claimants during this period - and the statistics released on 8 September show that this period is now a relatively short one – the median average being around 9 days.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disability employment advisers are employed by Jobcentre Plus.

The number of Disability Employment Advisers employed by the Department for Work and Pensions is 263 at July 2016.

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many mandatory reconsiderations for personal independence payments have resulted in a revised decision as a result of further evidence in each of the last three years.

The information requested is not available.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the introduction of personal independence payments on future rates of claims for attendance allowance.

Individuals in receipt of PIP before the age of 65 will continue to receive PIP as long as they continue to meet the eligibility criteria. This mirrors Disability Living Allowance, the benefit that preceded PIP. Anyone that becomes disabled after the age of 65 will be able to claim Attendance Allowance.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the decline in Short Term Benefit Advance applications in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK between February 2015 and March 2016.

Short Term Benefit Advances (STBAs) are payments on account of benefit. The majority of STBAs are awarded to people in the period before their benefit is first due to be paid, but STBAs can also be paid where a change of circumstances significantly increases the amount of benefit due. STBAs are predominately paid to people claiming Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance and Jobseeker’s Allowance. They are not available to people claiming Universal Credit.

Between April 2015 and March 2016, there were 218,592 STBA applications in Great Britain as a whole, with monthly variations ranging from 17,188 in September 2015 to 21,529 in February 2016, but with no downward trend at the year end. In Scotland, there were 26,322 applications over the same period, with monthly variations ranging from 1,462 in November 2015 to 3,022 in April 2015, with a clear downward trend at the year end.

As the roll-out of Universal Credit to all new claimants progresses, we anticipate a corresponding decline in the number of STBA applications.

The Department for Work and Pensions continues to advertise the availability of STBAs through the gov.uk website, with information posters and leaflets in Jobcentres nationwide.

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on claimants of having no timescale within which his Department must return a mandatory reconsideration decision to the claimant.

There has been no statutory requirement to make a benefit decision within a specified time since 1998. This applies equally to a claim for benefit, an application for review and, since it was introduced in April 2013, an application for Mandatory Reconsideration. Decisions are made without delay – whilst giving claimants every opportunity to provide new and additional evidence to support their application.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average number of days was from the posting of a medical certificate by a claimant in support of an employment and support allowance claim to the day his Department acknowledged receipt of that certificate in the last 12 months.

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

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken was to process hardship payments between the day the application was made and the day the claimant received the payment for sanctioned (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) employment and support allowance claimants before reviews, reconsiderations or appeals for the period between 1 July and 31 December 2015.

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

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average and median waiting time is for users calling the universal credit helpline; and how many calls to that helpline were answered in (a) less than five, (b) between five and 10, (c) between 10 and 15, (d) between 15 and 20 and (e) more than thirty minutes between 1 January and 30 June 2016.

The data below states the Average Speed of Answer for all UC calls for the period 1 January 2016 – 30 June 2016.

Universal Credit Average Speed of Answer

Average Speed of Answer

January 2016

00:02:09

February 2016

00:02:03

March 2016

00:02:01

April 2016

00:02:44

May 2016

00:02:24

June 2016

00:02:41

Total

00:02:22

Data source: Operational Management Information System (OPMIS)

It would be a disproportionate cost to compute the median in each month, and the breakdown by waiting time intervals.

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the value is of the contract between his Department and SCC for providing server support for the universal credit portal.

This information can be found on the Contract Finder website - please see the below link.

https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans are in place to ensure that a server issue with the universal credit portal does not reoccur.

Whenever a service problem is identified the Department always prioritises claimants first ensuring their payments are not interrupted. In this instance the outage impacted only 24 of the 712 Jobcentres across Great Britain and none of the claimants impacted experienced a delay in their payments.

The performance of all systems is continuously monitored on many resilient servers and in the event of an outage an immediate impact assessment is made and appropriate action taken to ensure normal service is resumed at the earliest possible opportunity and the impact on claimants is minimised.

We continually assess the performance of our suppliers, and underlying engineering, to ensure systems are available to meet the needs of claimants and the Department. With the exception of this isolated supplier outage the performance of the UC portal has been higher than expected, however, further improvements to resilience were already under active consideration as part of preparing for UC Full Service national expansion.

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will prepare an impact assessment of any future server outage on the universal credit portal.

Whenever a service problem is identified the Department always prioritises claimants first ensuring their payments are not interrupted. In this instance the outage impacted only 24 of the 712 Jobcentres across Great Britain and none of the claimants impacted experienced a delay in their payments.

The performance of all systems is continuously monitored on many resilient servers and in the event of an outage an immediate impact assessment is made and appropriate action taken to ensure normal service is resumed at the earliest possible opportunity and the impact on claimants is minimised.

We continually assess the performance of our suppliers, and underlying engineering, to ensure systems are available to meet the needs of claimants and the Department. With the exception of this isolated supplier outage the performance of the UC portal has been higher than expected, however, further improvements to resilience were already under active consideration as part of preparing for UC Full Service national expansion.

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the recommendations made by the UK Statistics Agency in August 2015, what plans his Department has to extend the range of benefit sanction data available by addressing gaps in information on repeat sanctions and hardship payments alongside the development of sanction data from the universal credit system.

The sanctions publication strategy which details the approach being taken by DWP statisticians to improve the sanctions statistics being developed, which include the addition of Universal Credit sanction statistics, can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-sanction-statistics-publication-strategy

The latest release of sanction statistics within the Quarterly Statistical Summary: August 2016 includes an experimental monthly rate of claimants sanctioned and can be found (on page12) at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dwp-statistical-summaries-2016

The related background information to support this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monthly-rate-of-claimants-sanctioned-background-information-and-methodology

Management Information data on the number of applications and awards for hardship payments were published on 18th November 2015 and can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/jsa-and-esa-hardship-applications-and-awards-apr-2012-to-jun-2015

We will consider the regularity of future publications of hardship statistics alongside our routine prioritisation of our statistical work programme.

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on claimants of the (a) seven waiting days at the beginning of a universal credit claim and (b) six week period a claimant must wait before receiving their initial payment.

Many claimants come to Universal Credit with final earnings to support them until their first payment, and they often find work quickly.

The Universal Credit assessment period and payment structure is a fundamental part of the design; it mirrors the world of work, where 75% of people are paid monthly.

As with other working age benefits, Universal Credit is not designed to provide cover for brief spells of unemployment or sickness, and seven waiting days are served in Universal Credit as they are in Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance.

We have a number of safeguards in place to help claimants' transition to Universal Credit, including Advances and Budgeting Support.

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will provide details of the contracts that his Department has with the technology company SCC.

The Department does not hold any direct contracts with the technology company SCC. It has however tendered services from SCC via the Crown Commercial Service.

2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people who were affected by the recent server issue affecting the universal credit portal; and if he will make a statement.

Whenever a service problem is identified the Department always prioritises claimants first ensuring their payments are not interrupted. In this instance the outage impacted only 24 of the 712 Jobcentres across Great Britain and none of the claimants impacted experienced a delay in their payments.

The performance of all systems is continuously monitored on many resilient servers and in the event of an outage an immediate impact assessment is made and appropriate action taken to ensure normal service is resumed at the earliest possible opportunity and the impact on claimants is minimised.

We continually assess the performance of our suppliers, and underlying engineering, to ensure systems are available to meet the needs of claimants and the Department. With the exception of this isolated supplier outage the performance of the UC portal has been higher than expected, however, further improvements to resilience were already under active consideration as part of preparing for UC Full Service national expansion.

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseeker's allowance and employment and support allowance hardship payments were (a) made and (b) applied for and declined in (i) Scotland and (ii) the UK, before review or appeal, between 1 July and 31 December 2015.

Information on the applications and awards for hardship are provided below. The figures cover Great Britain; information regarding Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland. It is not possible to provide figures for the number of applications declined before review or appeal.

JSA and ESA hardship awards between 1 July and 31 December 2015

Benefit

Great Britain

Scotland

JSA

60,100

5,900

ESA

1,500

200

JSA and ESA hardship applications between 1 July and 31 December 2015

Benefit

Great Britain

Scotland

JSA

67,600

6,400

ESA

1,700

200

(1) The tables show the total number of JSA and ESA hardship applications received and the number of awards made in the period from 1 July 2015 to 31 December 2015. These figures show applications and awards rather than the number of individuals; individuals may have made more than one application and received more than one award.

(2) The numbers are collated from aggregate DWP MISP Management Information. This data is a combination of system and clerically sourced Management Information. As such it may contain duplicates and other inaccuracies. It does not form part of the official statistics outputs that are released by the Department in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice, and is subject to potential future revision.

(3) The difference between applications and awards will include those not progressed for a number of reasons, for instance applications that are refused or withdrawn.

(4) Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.

Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Sep 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to include proposals relating to personal independence payments in his Department's Green Paper on the disability employment gap.

Later this year, we will produce a Green Paper and conduct a consultation on a wide range of issues.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
13th Jul 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of extending the Shared Accommodation Rate to social rented housing on the ability of single people under the age of 35 to access general needs social rented housing.

Full impact and equality impact assessments will be undertaken in due course.

Single people under 35 will be exempt from the Shared Accommodation Rate if they fall into one of the categories below:

  • They have children or a non-dependent living with them;
  • They qualify for a severe disability premium;
  • If they have left care and are under the age of 22;
  • If they have an extra bedroom for a non-resident carer providing overnight care;
  • If they are a foster carer;
  • They are aged 25 to 34 years old and have spent at least 3 months in a homeless hostel or hostel specialising in rehabilitation and resettlement;
  • They are aged 25 to 34 years old who are an ex-offender managed under a multi-agency MAPPA agreement.

For those who are not covered by these exemptions, they will be able to apply for Discretionary Housing Payments if they need help meeting the shortfall in their rent.

4th Jul 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish updated mortality statistics for employment and support allowance, incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance.

The Department has no plans to update these statistics.

20th May 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidelines his Department issues to its staff on carrying out Genuine Prospect of Work assessments.

Guidance for Department for Work and Pensions staff responsible for carrying out Genuine Prospect of Work tests can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/510008/dmgch0703.pdf

20th May 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 28 April 2016 to Question 34944, on Employment and Support Allowance, if he will publish the guidance on all aspects of the Work Capability Assessment including the application of Regulation 35 of the Employment Allowance Regulations 2008.

The revised version of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) Handbook, which contains written guidance on all aspects of the Work Capability Assessment including the application of Regulation 35, will be published in due course.

20th May 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people (a) successfully made an application for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) and (b) were unsuccessful in an application for JSA following a Genuine Prospect of Work assessment in the last two years.

The Department does not record statistics on applications for Jobseeker’s Allowance following a genuine prospect of work assessment.

To collate the information requested would take the costs of responding to the question over the disproportionate cost threshold.

20th May 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many unplanned Health and Safety Executive inspections were conducted at construction sites in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

HSE does not carry out unplanned inspections, but targets its proactive visits (the majority of which are unannounced) based on intelligence about industry risk profiles and duty holder performance. The following table provides the available data for the last 5 years (HSE does not hold data for inspections in Northern Ireland):

Inspections1

Scotland

England

Wales

Region not recorded3

2011/12

HSE

2215

18010

1289

200

Construction2

1290

9883

942

173

2012/13

HSE

2787

18177

1125

151

Construction2

1283

9009

627

128

2013/14

HSE

2124

19869

1448

157

Construction2

958

10384

541

136

2014/15

HSE

1700

16980

1320

120

Construction2

649

8987

526

110

2015/16

HSE

2082

14774

1170

105

Construction2

873

7794

453

97

Notes:

1 – The data provided is based on live, operational records as at 25 May 2016.

2 – This represents inspections of construction activities carried out by inspectors in Construction Division and by inspectors in other HSE divisions at sites with the Standard Industrial Classifications 41-43.

3 –The regional location is determined by local authority area, which may not have been confirmed at the time of recording.

20th May 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many unplanned Health and Safety Executive inspections took place in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

HSE does not carry out unplanned inspections, but targets its proactive visits (the majority of which are unannounced) based on intelligence about industry risk profiles and duty holder performance. The following table provides the available data for the last 5 years (HSE does not hold data for inspections in Northern Ireland):

Inspections1

Scotland

England

Wales

Region not recorded3

2011/12

HSE

2215

18010

1289

200

Construction2

1290

9883

942

173

2012/13

HSE

2787

18177

1125

151

Construction2

1283

9009

627

128

2013/14

HSE

2124

19869

1448

157

Construction2

958

10384

541

136

2014/15

HSE

1700

16980

1320

120

Construction2

649

8987

526

110

2015/16

HSE

2082

14774

1170

105

Construction2

873

7794

453

97

Notes:

1 – The data provided is based on live, operational records as at 25 May 2016.

2 – This represents inspections of construction activities carried out by inspectors in Construction Division and by inspectors in other HSE divisions at sites with the Standard Industrial Classifications 41-43.

3 –The regional location is determined by local authority area, which may not have been confirmed at the time of recording.

20th May 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government plans to take to reduce the number of occupation illnesses.

Tackling ill health is one of six strategic themes in the new strategy for the health and safety system, ‘Helping Great Britain work well’. The strategy is available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/strategy/index.htm

20th Apr 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have been awarded employment and support allowance (ESA) under regulation (a) 29 and (b) 35 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008; and how many such claimants were originally in the ESA support group.

Information on the outcomes of initial Employment and Support Allowance claims awarded under regulation 35 of the ESA Regulations 2008 can be found in Table 5 of the published statistics:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-claims-made-to-jun-2015-and-appeals-to-dec-2015.

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

20th Apr 2016
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department provides to health care professionals on applying the power in regulation 35 of the Employment Allowance Regulations 2008 to award employment and support allowance to claimants in the support group in exceptional circumstances.

Healthcare professionals who carry out the Work Capability Assessment are trained in all aspects of their role including the application of Regulation 35. They are also issued with written guidance on all aspects of the Work Capability Assessment including the application of Regulation 35.

16th Dec 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Health and Safety Executive is taking to ensure there is timely reduction in the backlog of safety-critical maintenance in the offshore oil and gas industry.

The responsibility for any backlog in safety-critical maintenance in the offshore oil and gas industry lies with the operators of the offshore installations. The Health and Safety Executive is in dialogue with OGUK, the principal industry representative body, regarding how best industry can track, report and improve upon its performance in this area.


The Health and Safety Executive has a programme of inspections of offshore installations. Examination of the standards of maintenance is a key part of the inspection programme and inspectors are empowered to require improvements where standards fall below legal requirements.