Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she has made on the inclusion of food insecurity questions in the Family Resources Survey; and what the timeframe is for publication of the results of that survey.
Answered by Will Quince
Food security questions were included in the Family Resources Survey questionnaire from April 2019 onwards. Data are being collected throughout the current financial year. The extent of information published will be subject to the usual quality assurance processes, which are applied to both survey responses and DWP statistical publications. If the data on food security are sufficiently robust, publication would take place in the first quarter of 2021.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2019 to Question 238363 on Food Banks, what her timescale is for publication of the final report.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is currently working on the literature review and a release date is yet to be determined.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has received feedback from Dyspraxics on the accessibility of its online platforms.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Universal Credit has been designed with accessibility in mind and we are committed to providing personalised support for all claimants. The Department commissioned an independent accessibility audit of our Universal Credit online service in September 2018 and will receive the final report and accessibility statement this Summer. We continue to provide training and process improvements so that we can maintain an excellent level of accessibility.
Where claimants may struggle to access the Universal Credit online system, face-to-face support in Jobcentres is available to assist them in making and accessing their claim and claimants can also make a claim via the Freephone Universal Credit helpline.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the interim findings of her Department's study entitled Factors driving the use of food banks.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department is carrying out a literature review on the factors driving the use of food banks. There is no plan to publish an interim report. A final report will be published in due course.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of 4 March 2019 by the hon. Member for South Shields, Official Report, column 749, what plans the Government has to respond to the Food Insecurity Bill; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Honourable Member’s Bill is scheduled for Second Reading on Friday 22 March. It is not usual practice for the Government to make a statement on a Private Member’s Bill.
The Department for Work and Pensions has been working with a number of food security experts, the Office for National Statistics and the Scottish Government to introduce, from April 2019, a new set of food security questions in the Family Resources Survey. This means that, from Spring 2021, the Government will be able to monitor the prevalence and severity of household food insecurity at a national level and for specific groups, so that it can better understand household food needs. The survey questionnaire is regularly updated so that it provides the best possible evidence base to support policy-making and it isn’t normal practice to announce any survey changes that are made as a result.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for Social Fund funeral payments were made in each year between 2015 and 2018; how many such applications were refused; and what the (a) average and (b) lowest payment that was made.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As the calendar year 2018 is incomplete at the time of response, figures for 2018 are not included in the tables below.
Table 1 provides the number of Funeral Expenses Payments (FEP) applications received and the number of initial refusals in each year between 2015 and 2017.
Table 1: FEP applications received and initial refusals, 2015-2017
Year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Applications received | 46,600 | 44,300 | 41,800 |
Initial refusals | 20,800 | 19,400 | 16,900 |
Source: Policy, Budget and Management Information System
Notes to table 1:
Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
Due to the timing of application processing, figures on initial refusals may relate to applications received in the previous year.
These figures do not include applications which were processed clerically and have not been entered on to the Social Fund Computer System.
Figures on applications made are based on applications received by DWP, not applications processed. Some applications may have been withdrawn before a decision was made.
The number of applications made in each year is not equal to the number of people who made applications in that year. An individual may make multiple applications in a given time period.
The number of initial refusals gives the number of initially unsuccessful applications and not those that are unsuccessful after appeal. An application will only be unsuccessful if it does not meet the qualifying criteria. These include, amongst other criteria, being in receipt of relevant benefits and meeting rules regarding relationship with the deceased. The full qualifying criteria are outlined in section 7 of “The Social Fund: Technical Guidance” publication. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-social-fund-technical-guidance/the-social-fund-technical-guidance)
Table 2 provides the average FEP award in each year 2015-2017.
Table 2: Average FEP award, 2015-2017
Year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Average award | £1,390 | £1,420 | £1,450 |
Source: Policy, Budget and Management Information System
Notes to table 2:
Figures are rounded to the nearest £10.
The average award figures relate to the average payment net of returned payments (including appeals). This is calculated by taking the total value of payments in a given year (net of returned payments) and dividing by the total number of payments in a given year, as recorded in the Policy, Budget and Management Information System.
These averages include awards made after review, reconsideration or appeal following an initial refusal.
Data on the lowest FEP award in the years 2015-2018 is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Social Fund Budgeting loans to cover funeral costs were (a) approved and (b) rejected in each of the last five years; and what the (a) average and (b) lowest payment was for a Social Fund Budgeting loans.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Data on Social Fund Budgeting Loans, where the loan is used to cover funeral costs, is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The average Social Fund Budgeting Loan payment in each of the last 5 years is provided in table 1. These relate to all Budgeting Loans and not just those used to cover funeral costs.
Figures are rounded to the nearest £10.
Table 1: Average Budgeting Loan payments, 2013-2017
Year | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Average Budgeting Loan payment | £400 | £410 | £420 | £430 | £420 |
Source: Policy, Budget and Management Information System
In each of the last 5 years, the lowest payment made for a Social Fund Budgeting Loan is £100. This is the minimum amount that can be applied for.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many job seekers diagnosed with dyslexia have been sanctioned for failure to submit (a) paperwork and (b) online documentation in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Sanctions are only used in a minority of cases and when people fail to meet their conditionality requirements without good reason. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence they provide, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted. Claimants can send paperwork and online documentation to be considered as part of this process but not submitting this is not, in itself, a reason for a sanction.
The Department publishes quarterly statistics on Universal Credit and Jobseeker’s Allowance sanctions, including a breakdown by sanction referral reason, as part of the Benefit Sanction Statistics publication, which can be accessed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/jobseekers-allowance-sanctions
The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many job seekers diagnosed with Autism have been sanctioned for failure to submit (a) paperwork and (b) online documentation in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Sanctions are only used in a minority of cases and when people fail to meet their conditionality requirements without good reason. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence they provide, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted. Claimants can send paperwork and online documentation to be considered as part of this process but not submitting this is not, in itself, a reason for a sanction.
The Department publishes quarterly statistics on Universal Credit and Jobseeker’s Allowance sanctions, including a breakdown by sanction referral reason, as part of the Benefit Sanction Statistics publication, which can be accessed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/jobseekers-allowance-sanctions
The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many job seekers with visual impairments have been sanctioned for failure to submit (a) paperwork and (b) online documentation in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Sanctions are only used in a minority of cases and when people fail to meet their conditionality requirements without good reason. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence they provide, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted. Claimants can send paperwork and online documentation to be considered as part of this process but not submitting this is not, in itself, a reason for a sanction.
The Department publishes quarterly statistics on Universal Credit and Jobseeker’s Allowance sanctions, including a breakdown by sanction referral reason, as part of the Benefit Sanction Statistics publication, which can be accessed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/jobseekers-allowance-sanctions
The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.