Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons it is her policy that there should be a managed migration of legacy benefits to Universal Credit.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Migrating the remaining legacy benefits over to Universal Credit ensures that the advantages of Universal Credit for claimants are fully realised.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department has spent on producing social media videos and graphics for use on ministerial social media accounts since January 2020.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has a Digital Communications team to create content to communicate departmental policies online via corporate channels. It is often appropriate for this content to be amplified on ministers' own social media accounts where this helps drive wider engagement from the public.
Content creation is one part of the digital team’s responsibilities, there is no individual cost per video or graphic created. The creation of these assets, as well with other communications products, is funded by the DWP’s Strategic Communications staffing budget.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in her Department manage ministerial social media accounts as either (a) their primary responsibility or (b) as part of their role.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has a Digital Communications team to create content to communicate departmental policies online via corporate channels. It is often appropriate for this content to be amplified on ministers' own social media accounts where this helps drive wider engagement from the public.
Content creation is one part of the digital team’s responsibilities, there is no individual cost per video or graphic created. The creation of these assets, as well with other communications products, is funded by the DWP’s Strategic Communications staffing budget.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 number of people who have been affected by the underpayment of benefits after transitioning from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance in Putney constituency.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19th January to question number 104377.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 trends in levels of funding for individual job centres since 2019.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not assess funding at individual Jobcentre level. We use forecasts to determine what level of funding is required to meet demand nationally and in districts based on forecast workloads.
There has been an increase in resources dedicated to Jobcentres across all four Nations reflecting the change in the economic environment and increased caseloads since 2019 including recruiting over an additional 13500 Work Coaches.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that job centres run efficiently.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our Jobcentre teams are committed to delivering a quality service to ensure all claimants receive the best possible support to meet their individual circumstance. We operate a service delivery framework which sets out the service expectations for our Jobcentre network and the requirements for how they deliver their services efficiently. It provides information on why these expectations are set, and ways that Jobcentre leaders and Work Coaches should implement the expectations.
Jobcentre staff undergo a comprehensive learning journey designed to equip them with the tools, skills and behaviours required to provide a high quality, efficient service to all claimants. They receive on-going learning in their roles and have access to guidance which is refreshed at regular intervals. Jobcentre Team Leaders are responsible for monitoring and assuring the quality and efficiency of services provided to individual claimants. Through a combination of observation of interviews, feedback, coaching and appraisal.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure adequate staffing of job centres.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Jobcentre caseload sizes are closely monitored at both a national and sub national level to allow DWP to plan workforce numbers required. This information is then used to assess the size of the workforce needed in each Jobcentre, which then helps to inform the recruitment activity and ensure adequate staffing levels in each Jobcentre site.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the number of disabled people living in poverty in the UK.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Spending on benefits for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions is currently the highest it has ever been. In 2021/22 we are forecast to spend £59 billion. Latest statistics (2019/20) show that rates of absolute poverty, both before and after housing costs for individuals living in disabled families are down since 2009/10.
We are working to make sure that money spent on supporting disabled people and people with health conditions has a positive impact on their lives and we want to go further to support and empower disabled people and people with health conditions. Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper, published earlier this year, is one key way we are seeking to do this. The Green Paper seeks to ensure the welfare system is an enabler to work through improving our strong and effective package of employment support. Alongside the Green Paper, the National Disability Strategy and the Health Is Everyone’s Business consultation response form part of a holistic approach to enable disabled people and people with health conditions to live independent lives.
Whilst the consultation period for this publication has now closed, we are working through over 4,500 responses from individuals, charities, and organisations to analyse responses and improve health and disability policies. We continue to engage with stakeholders, particularly on the broader aspects of the paper that focus on future reform and remain committed to responding to this Green Paper consultation with a White Paper in mid-2022.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what fiscal steps she is taking to reduce child food poverty.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government is wholly committed to supporting low-income families, including through spending over £110 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22 and by increasing the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 from April 2022.
As our recovery gathers pace and with record vacancies, our focus now is on continuing to support parents into, and to progress in, work. This is because we know that work, particularly where it is full-time, substantially reduces the risks of child poverty and improves long-term outcomes for families and children.
Given clear evidence that parental employment, particularly where it is full-time, substantially reduces the risks of child poverty, we are focusing on supporting employment. With record vacancies in the economy, there are opportunities available across the UK and our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, is helping people to access them.
Universal Credit recipients in work will soon benefit from a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%, while eligible in-work claimants will also benefit from changes to the Work Allowance. These measures represent, for the lowest paid in society, an effective tax cut of around £2.2 Billion in 2022-23, and will benefit almost two million of the lowest paid workers by £1000 a year on average.
We recognise that some people may require extra support over the winter as we enter the final stages of recovery, which is why vulnerable households across the country will now be able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund will provide £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials.
To support low income families further we have increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, helping eligible low income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins, and we are also investing over £200m a year from 2022 to continue our Holiday Activities and Food programme which is already providing enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all English LAs.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy that there be transitional protection on income entitlements for those transitioning from the legacy benefit system to the Universal Credit system.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
When required to move to Universal Credit from legacy benefits, having been notified to do so by this Department, eligible claimants will be awarded transitional protection. This will ensure that their Universal Credit is not less than the sum of their legacy benefit payments at the point that they move to Universal Credit.
Claimants may also move from legacy benefits to Universal Credit when they experience a significant change in their circumstances that triggers a new claim to benefit. Transitional protection is not generally awardable in these cases as a claimant making a new claim due to changes in their circumstances has always been likely to receive a different benefit entitlement than on their previous benefit. This would be the case whether the new claim had occurred pre-Universal Credit system or on Universal Credit.