Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Cold Weather Payments have been made to pensioners in (a) South Holland and (b) Kesteven district in the last five years.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Cold Weather Payment (CWP) scheme is administered at weather station level rather than at a constituency or regional level etc. The coverage area for each weather station is determined by the Met Office, which assesses the most appropriate weather station for each postcode area. Cold weather payments are triggered when the average temperature recorded at the weather station has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0° C or below over seven consecutive days, during the Cold Weather season (November to March).
a) The area of South Holland covers all or part of the following postcode areas: PE11, PE12, PE10, PE6, PE13, PE14, PE34.
From the 2019/20 to 2023/24 Cold Weather Payment seasons, the above postcode areas are covered by various weather stations. These weather stations cover the following postcode areas, in Table 1, which include areas not in South Holland. Table 2 shows the number of cold weather payments to pensioners by weather station and cold weather season.
Table 1: Postcode districts mapped to Weather Stations
Weather station | Postcode Districts Covered |
Marham | CB6-7, IP24-28, PE12-14, PE30-38. |
Waddington | DN9-10, DN15-22, DN31-41, LN1-13, NG23-24, PE10-11, PE20-25. |
Wittering | LE15, NN14-18, PE1-9, PE15-16, PE26-29 |
Table 2: Number of Cold Weather Payments to pensioners by weather station and Cold Weather Season
Weather Station | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Marham | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 27,000 | 9,000 |
Waddington | 0 | 26,000 | 0 | 23,000 | 0 |
Wittering | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 24,000 | 0 |
b) The area of South Kesteven covers all or part of the following postcode areas: PE6, PE9, PE10, NG23, NG31, NG32, NG33, NG34.
From the 2019/20 to 2023/24 Cold Weather Payment seasons, the above postcode areas are covered by various weather stations. These weather stations cover the following postcode areas, in Table 3, which include areas not in South Kesteven. Table 4 shows the number of cold weather payments to pensioners by weather station and cold weather season.
Table 3: Postcode districts mapped to Weather Stations
Weather station | Postcode Districts Covered |
Nottingham Watnall | CV13, DE1-3, DE5-7, DE11-15, DE21-24, DE55-56, DE65, DE72-75, LE1-9, LE11-14, LE16-19, LE65, LE67, NG1-22, NG25, NG31-34. |
Waddington | DN9-10, DN15-22, DN31-41, LN1-13, NG23-24, PE10-11, PE20-25. |
Wittering | LE15, NN14-18, PE1-9, PE15-16, PE26-29 |
Table 4: Number of Cold Weather Payments to pensioners by weather station and Cold Weather Season
Weather Station | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Nottingham Watnall | 0 | 60,000 | 0 | 55,000 | 0 |
Waddington | 0 | 26,000 | 0 | 23,000 | 0 |
Wittering | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 24,000 | 0 |
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many starts have been recorded for the Youth Offer in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire as of 25 March 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Youth Offer launched 20 September 2020 and provides support for 16–24-year-olds who are on Universal Credit to help them move into employment. It includes three elements:
As of the 1st of March 2024, there have been 1,200 starts to the Youth Offer in South Holland and The Deepings constituency, and a total of 17,420 starts in the Lincolnshire region. These figures are part of the overall 1,123,000 total starts on the Youth Offer.
Notes
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of the working age population who are disabled in (a) the East Midlands and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is given in the table below.
Number and percentage of disabled people aged 16 to 64, 2022/2023
Geographical area | Number of working age disabled people | Percentage of working age people who are disabled |
East Midlands | 720,200 | 24.5% |
Lincolnshire | 129,300 | 29.7% |
Source – table LMS008
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in South Holland and the Deepings constituency are on long-term sickness benefits; and how many were on such benefits in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
People on ‘long-term sickness benefits’ have been assumed as those in the main phase of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and the Universal Credit (UC) Limited Capability to Work (LCW) and Limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) groups. The Department regularly publishes Benefit Combination statistics on Stat-Xplore and these were extended inFebruary 2024 to include additional information for those on ESA and the UC Health Journey, so can now be used to provide the information, from quarter ending May 2019 to the end of the latest quarter, August 2023.
The figures can be obtained from the ‘Benefit Combinations - Data from May 2019 for England and Wales’ dataset using the ‘Additional Claim Details’ options. The ‘ESA Phase of Claim’ and ‘UC Health Journey’ options should be used to identify quarterly totals for ESA Support Group (SG), ESA Work-related Activity Group (WRAG), Universal Credit Limited Capability to Work (LCW) and Limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) groups and those on one benefit but not the other using the ‘Not On’ options. The ‘Geography’ option can then be used to filter by the relevant Westminster Parliamentary Constituency.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
Using the Benefit Combinations data on Stat-Xplore, the number of people on long-term sickness benefits in the South Holland and the Deepings constituency is provided in the table below:
| Aug 2019 | Aug 2020 | Aug 2021 | Aug 2022 | Aug 2023 |
Total | 2,540 | 2,750 | 2,980 | 3,260 | 3,940 |
Source: Stat-Xplore
Notes:
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people of working age in (a) Lincolnshire, (b) East Midlands and (c) England are (i) not working and (ii) not looking for a job.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp
Guidance for users can be found at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of translating languages in Job Centres since 2015.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it will incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help fill job vacancies in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In South Holland and the Deepings, and across the country, our Jobcentre teams are supporting people back into work and those in work to progress. We are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies quickly, delivering Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPS), recruitment days and job fairs.
In partnership with Boston College, Net UK and Steadfast Training, we have recently offered SWAPs for local customers to gain skills and enhance their applications for Security, Construction, Fork Lift Driving and Teaching Assistant vacancies. These offers are repeated bi-monthly. We are also working with the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Boston College to support recruitment into LGV driving roles via a Skills Boot Camp that has been running since early 2023.
Our local Partnership Manager works alongside the South East Lincolnshire Council Partnership on Shared Prosperity Funding Grant Panels, focussed on people and skills, with procurement of a range of options to support the economically inactive to move closer to the labour market and into work.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to encourage people not actively looking for work to find employment.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP supports people across the country to move into and progress in work, and is committed to reducing economic inactivity. We want everyone who can work to be able to find a job, progress, and thrive in the labour market. The Department delivers comprehensive employment support including face-to-face time with Work Coaches in Jobcentres and contracted employment programmes.
Last year we also announced a wide range of additional support via the Spring Budget and the Back to Work Plan which will go further to break down barriers to work for disabled people and those with long-term health conditions, parents, over 50s and young people.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has paid to Stonewall in each of the last five years; and for what (a) programmes and (b) grants funding has been provided.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP are no longer Stonewall Diversity Champions. The department withdrew from its membership to the programme from April 2022.
a) In the last 5 years DWP has paid a total of £11,440.00 to Stonewall for its membership to their Diversity Champion’s Programme and services provided.
2023/2024 £460.00 leadership course
2022/2023 Nil
2021/2022 £3,000.00 membership (including VAT) plus £750 for conference
2020/2021 £3,000.00 membership (including VAT) plus £750 for conference
2019/2020 £3,000.00 membership (including VAT) plus £480 for event
b) DWP has not paid any money to Stonewall in the form of grant funding in the last 5 years.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people receive (a) the state pension and (b) pension credit in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are currently 25,400 people in receipt of the State Pension in the quarter ending May 2023 in South Holland and the Deepings Constituency.
There are currently 2,376 people in receipt of Pension Credit in the quarter ending August 2023 in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Figures are published and available via Stat-Xplore