Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners in Ashfield constituency were subject to a decrease in winter fuel payments as a result of the expiration of the top-up in 2011; and what the average such decrease was.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Winter Fuel Payments are made at rates of between £100 and £300 depending on household circumstances. In the March 2010 Budget, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional one-off payment for winter 2010/11 of £100 for over-80s households and £50 for all other households eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment.
National Statistics on the number of recipients of Winter Fuel Payments, broken down by Parliamentary constituency and age group, are published for each year between 2009/10 and 2015/16 at
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/winter-fuel-payments-caseload-and-household-figures.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people living in Ashfield constituency receive employment and support allowance in the work-related activity group.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The information available for the number of Employment and Support Allowance claimants in the Work Related Activity Group, by Parliamentary Constituency, is published and can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistics-tabulation-tool
Guidance for users is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many working households in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) the East Midlands and (c) the UK were classed as being in poverty in the most recent year for which data is available and in each of the two previous years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Relative low income is used as a proxy for poverty.
The number of working households in relative low income is not available for Ashfield. This is because survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography.
The average number of working households classed as being in relative low income in the East Midlands is 100,000 for the latest 3 -year period 2012/13 - 2014/15. This was also 100,000 in 2011/12 - 2013/14 and 100,000 in 2010/11 - 2012/13.
The average number of working households classed as being in relative low income in the United Kingdom is 1.7 million for the latest 3-year period 2012/13 - 2014/15. This was 1.5 million in 2011/12 - 2013/14 and 1.4 million in 2010/11 - 2012/13.
It continues to be clear that work is the best route out of poverty. In 2014/15 - 8% of children in households where all adults were working were in relative low income, compared with 47% in workless households.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many working households in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) the East Midlands and (c) the UK were in receipt of housing benefit in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The requested figures are not available for UK. This response includes estimates for Great Britain.
Table 1. Estimates for the number of In-Work Families in receipt of Housing Benefit for East-Midlands and Great Britain
|
|
| Millions |
|
In-Work Families in receipt of Housing Benefit | ||||
Financial Year | East Midlands | Great Britain | ||
2012/13 | 0.1 | 1.2 | ||
2013/14 | 0.1 | 1.3 | ||
2014/15 | 0.1 | 1.3 | ||
Source: Family Resources Survey 2012/13, 2013/14, and 2014/15
Notes:
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of households to be affected in Ashfield constituency by the introduction of the lower cap on the amount which working households are entitled to receive in benefits.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
It is estimated that in the Ashfield constituency around 200 households could be affected by the lower benefit cap in 2016/17.
Notes:
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who are certified as self-employed in Ashfield constituency are in receipt of in-work benefits.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold sufficient data on self-employed recipients of in-work benefits to answer this question.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many old-age pensioners in Ashfield constituency who live in social housing properties containing two or more bedrooms and who receive housing benefit will be affected by plans to limit housing benefit to the level of the local housing allowance.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The information requested is not available.
For general needs accommodation in the social rented sector, the appropriate Local Housing Allowance rate will not come into effect in the social rented sector until April 2018; and then only where a new tenancy has been taken out or an existing tenancy has been renewed on or after 1 April 2016.
In the previous Parliament, we significantly increased funding for Discretionary Housing Payments to £470 million and we have already committed a further £870 million in the overall Discretionary Housing Payment funding over the next five years.
Full impact and equality assessments will be undertaken in due course.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the forthcoming change to limit housing benefit to the level of Local Housing Allowance on old age pensioners living in social housing properties with two or more bedrooms.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
This policy does not come into effect until April 2018. It will only apply to people who have taken out or renewed a tenancy on or after 1st April 2016; and their rent is higher than the appropriate Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate. For general needs accommodation social rents are generally lower than the LHA rates.
We have increased funding for Discretionary Housing Payments by £70million, to help those who are vulnerable to mitigate the impact. In total we have provided DHP funding of £870 million over the next five years to help people adapt to the new reforms announced in the Autumn Statement and Summer Budget 2015.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many under 16s in Ashfield constituency have received personal independence payment or disability living allowance in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Statistics on the number of children under the age of 16 in receipt of Disability Living Allowance, by a range of breakdowns including time series, are available from the Tabtool: http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/tabtool.html. Personal Independence Payment is not available to children under the age of 16.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many adults in Ashfield constituency have received carer's allowance for caring for children under the age of 16 in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.