Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department's planned increase to state pension will affect means-tested benefits, including housing benefit.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve. The State Pension is the foundation of support for older people. Subject to Parliamentary approval, State Pensions will increase by 10.1% from April 2023 in line with the Consumer Prices Index increase for the year to September 2022.
Housing Benefit is an income-related benefit which is intended to assist people who need help to pay their rent. Pension Credit is the other main income-related benefit received by pensioners. It is intended to help poorer pensioners with their day to day living costs. This year we are taking action to increase Pension Credit rates by 10.1%, in line with CPI, from April 2023. The personal allowances in Housing Benefit will also be increased by 10.1% from April.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department spent on first class train travel for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in (i) 2020, (i) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
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| £'s | ||
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| Ministers | Civil Servants | Total |
First Class Rail Travel | 2020 | 199.37 | 1,515.98 | 1,715.35 |
2021 | - | 910.10 | 910.10 | |
2022 | - | 1,330.35 | 1,330.35 | |
Total | 199.37 | 3,756.43 | 3,955.80 | |
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Source: QS Travel App and ABM FTE App. |
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Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when changes to the eligibility criteria for Bereavement Support Payments for cohabiting couples will take effect.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
On 11 October 2022, we laid the draft Bereavement Benefits (Remedial) Order 2022 to extend Widows Parent’s Allowance and Bereavement Support Payment to cohabitees with dependent children. It will lay in Parliament for a 60-day period. The draft Order will be debated, and voted upon, in both Houses of Parliament before the Order can become law. You can find more information in the proposed draft Order and Explanatory Memorandum, which can be accessed on GOV.UK. We cannot at this stage say when the Order will become law and people will be eligible to claim, that will depend on the Parliamentary process.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
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 (a) agency workers and (b) agency retainer fees in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Julie Marson
(a) Agency workers (more commonly referred to as “Contingent Labour” or “Temporary Workers”) are subject to a Cabinet Office controls framework to ensure robust governance of spending in this area. Contingent Labour Spend Control - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Commentary on Contingent Labour usage, if applicable, is available in departmental annual reports. Annual Reports and Accounts for Central Government Departments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Crown Commercial Service provides two frameworks specifically for the supply of Contingent Labour which are used by central government departments. These are:
RM3749 - Public Sector Resourcing.
Public Sector Resourcing - CCS (crowncommercial.gov.uk) - This provides a managed service for departmental use including low supplier margins, regular pay rate benchmarking, comprehensive tracking and reporting of contingent labour assignments, full time sheeting and approvals technology and onboarding, contracting and payroll services.
RM6160 - Non Clinical Temporary and Fixed Term Staff.
Non Clinical Temporary and Fixed Term Staff - CCS (crowncommercial.gov.uk) - This provides access to a range of generalist, specialist and niche contingent labour agencies offering a wide range of suppliers, maximum margins, free transfer to permanent after 12 weeks and onboarding, contracting and payroll services.
Use of these frameworks provides robust governance, visibility, value for money and flexibility in meeting departmental contingent labour needs.
(b) We have interpreted your reference to agency retainer fees as the fees charged at the commencement of the provision of a search recruitment service, this is only applicable when recruiting for a permanent or fixed term post.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much their Department has spent on air travel for (a) Ministers and (b) officials in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The data provided is for all staff including the ministerial team.
Departmental Air Travel costs:
2020 – £90,408.81
2021 – £34,738.46
2022 – £94,349.12*
*January – June
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much their Department has spent on advertising in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Total Advertising Spend | 2019-20 | 16,317,534 |
2020-21 | 15,677,340 | |
2021-22 | 18,128,093 |
Source: Hyperion
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
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 consultancy fees in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022; and what the name is of each consultancy contracted.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publishes details about headcount and payroll costs for permanent staff and contractors on GOV.UK, monthly.
DWP workforce management information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The DWP consultancy spend for the financial years ending 2020 through to 2022 is shown below.
2019/20 £4,570,665
2020/21 £1,284,861
2021/22 £1,041,058
Information on the name of each consultancy contracted for each of the financial years is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much their Department and its associated agencies spent on legal disputes in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman
We have taken “legal dispute” to mean a case where DWP has instructed the litigation team at the Government Legal Department (GLD) to act on its behalf and “associated agencies” to include the arms’ length bodies (ALBs) and agencies included in this list: Departments, agencies and public bodies - GOV.UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
On this basis, the figures that we have been supplied by GLD litigation are calculated from 1st January each year are and are up to 30th June 2022:
2020 £6,271,760
2021 £6,566,573
2022 £3,262,113
These figures are inclusive of;
The figures are exclusive of;
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total value has been of contracts held by their Department with (a) G4S, (b) Serco and (c) Capita in each year since 2020.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Details of Government contracts from 2016 above £10,000, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, are published on Contracts Finder.
Under the Governments Transparency agenda, all spend data over £25,000 is published and can be found at DWP: departmental spending over £25,000 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many contracts that are worth (a) between £1 million and £3 million and (b) over £3 million their (i) Department and (ii) Department’s agencies and non-departmental public bodies (A) have agreed since 2010 and (B) are due to agree within the next 12 months; how much their Department has spent on monitoring each contract in each year since 2010; and how many officials have been working on that monitoring in each year since 2010.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Details of Government contracts from 2016 above £10,000, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, are published on Contracts Finder. As Contracts Finder was implemented in 2016, not all records before this time are held centrally.
In relation to funding, under the Governments Transparency agenda, all spend data over £25,000 is published and can be found at DWP: departmental spending over £25,000 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
For the Department, there are 166 contracts with a value between £1 million and £3 million, and 69 contracts with a value over £3 million, due to be agreed in the next 12 months.
The numbers represent the anticipated forecast number of contracts that may be agreed within the next 12 months to 31/07/2023. These figures are unsupported by any necessary dependent approval governance and/or change in demand signal.
For the Department’s agencies and non-departmental public bodies, there are 11 contracts with a value between £1 million and £3 million, and 4 contracts with a value over £3 million, due to be agreed in the next 12 months.
Due to a number of organisational and staff changes since 2010, information on Departmental spend on monitoring each contract and the number of officials working on them, is not readily available and would require a very high degree of manual processing. To provide this information would incur disproportionate cost.