Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the increase in universal credit claims as a result of the covid-19 outbreak has affected claim processing times.
Answered by Will Quince
Since mid-March we have seen a huge volume of calls to the Universal Credit helpline, with over 2 million calls on a single day at one point. We are aware that this demand has meant that some claimants were not able to get through.
People making new claims for Universal Credit no longer need to call the Department as part of the process. Once they have completed their online application we will call them if we need to check any of the information they have given us. We have also introduced new processes to ease pressure on waiting times for identity verification over the phone and other processes.
The Department’s priority is to continue to ensure those who are entitled to benefit receive the support they need at a time when new claims for Universal Credit are at an unprecedented level.
Since 16 March 2020, we have received more than 1.5 million new claims for Universal Credit. 10,000 members of staff from other parts of DWP are being redeployed to support work on new claims and we are urgently recruiting additional people to assist with the processing of claims.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which public appointments she is responsible for.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The public appointments that the department is responsible for making are set out in the Schedule to the Public Appointments Order in Council 2019. https://publicappointments.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019-Public-Appointments-Order-In-Council.pdf
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much time off in lieu has been taken by staff in her Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Will Quince
DWP offers a Flexible Working Hours (FWH) policy which allows employees to accrue additional hours worked as a flexi credit that can then be taken as time off in lieu.
The FWH policy is managed locally and DWP does not hold central records of how much time off in lieu has been taken by employees, therefore the information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
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 total amount of unpaid overtime worked by staff in her Department in the last 24 months.
Answered by Will Quince
The DWP does not expect its employees to work unpaid overtime.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people working on the Automatic Enrolment Programme are (a) contingent labour, (b) supplier resource and (c) civil servants.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Automatic Enrolment has transformed workplace pension’s savings. To date, in excess of 10million eligible workers have been automatically enrolled, by over 1.4million employers. A link to the 2017 Automatic Enrolment Review can be found here:
The current resourcing is 26 full time equivalent civil servants and this headcount consists of programme management, policy, analytical and stakeholder partnering expertise.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the value of contracts held by her Department with (a) Deloitte, (b) Slaughter and May and (c) Mott MacDonald is in the last two years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
a.Deloitte –
The contract named DWP ADMS Transition Partner Service was valued at £7,608,816 and the term was 19 Feb 2016 to 18 Feb 2018.
The contract named Provision of consultancy for DWP estates PMO requirement was valued at £2,000,000 and the term was 14 Feb 2017 to 9 Feb 2018.
The contract named Consultancy for organisational design for DWP Finance Group was valued at £444,200 and the term is 8 Jul-2018 to 31 Mar 2019.
The contract named Digital Organisation Transformation Support was valued at £2,500,000 and the term is 30 Apr-2018 to 30 Apr 2019.
b. Slaughter and May – £0
c.Mott Macdonald - £0
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the corrected Answer of 22 January 2019 to Question 206251, how many civil servants in her Department were working part or full-time on projects in the Government Major Projects Portfolio in (a) June 2016 and (b) December 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government Major Project’s Portfolio (GMPP) is a continually evolving portfolio of the government’s most complex and high risk projects. Direct comparisons of the GMPP across years should therefore be treated with caution. Projects join and leave the GMPP throughout the year and it is therefore likely that a simple comparison across two time points will refer to different sets of projects.
At the end of June 2016, 845 full time equivalents Civil Servant Project Delivery Professionals were working on projects in the Government Major Projects Portfolio in the Department for Work and Pensions.
At the end of December 2018, 675 full time equivalents Civil Servant Project Delivery Professionals were working on projects in the Government Major Projects Portfolio in the Department for Work and Pensions.
This data refers to public sector employees, defined as those who are directly in the employment of the Civil or Crown Service, local government or Arms’ Length Body at the relevant snapshot date, including seconded members of staff who join the team as Civil, Crown or Public servants.
The data supplied covers Project Delivery Professionals staff paid for from cost centres associated with the GMPP programmes at the dates specified. Other public sector employees will be involved in the delivery of the programmes in some capacity.