Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the cumulative impact of (a) not uprating benefits in line with current inflation and (b) ending the universal credit uplift in 2021 on the level of child poverty in East Renfrewshire.
Answered by David Rutley
I refer the Hon. Member to my response to Parliamentary Question 126529 answered 25th February 2022.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with (a) the Scottish Government and (b) NHS Scotland on a fuller return to office-based working for her Department's staff based in Scotland.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Since the start of the pandemic, DWP has rigorously followed advice from the respective governments in the devolved nations – allowing people to work safely from the office, or at home. We are committed to continuing this approach. Whilst there is regular engagement with the Scottish Government, the Secretary of State has not held specific discussions, including with NHS Scotland, on returning colleagues to the workplace in DWP as this is being undertaken in strict accordance with Scottish Government guidance.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her Answer of 3 November 2021 to Question 904085, whether arrangements are in place to ensure that EU citizens who are in receipt of benefits when they apply to the EU settlement scheme do not have their benefits withdrawn on the grounds of their immigration status during the processing of their application.
Answered by David Rutley
As of 1st July 2021, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens are required to have a valid immigration status or a validated application to the EU Settlement Scheme to access non-contributory benefits.
However, benefit payments for existing EU, EEA and Swiss claimants without status did not stop automatically on 1st July 2021. DWP has taken a pragmatic approach and, before initiating compliance action, has encouraged these claimants to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme via letters, SMS text messages, messages through the Universal Credit journal, telephone calls face to face appointments and home visits.
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who are currently in receipt of benefits and have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme, will continue receiving payments until their application has been determined.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of universal credit payments.
Answered by David Rutley
The Secretary of State is legally required to conduct an annual review of working age benefits rates to determine whether they have retained their value in relation to the general level of prices.
The up-rating process for working age benefits has traditionally relied on the September CPI figure and in April 2021 Universal Credit was increased by CPI of 0.5%.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the combined effect of (a) increased energy prices and (b) the end of the £20 uplift to universal credit on levels of child poverty.
Answered by David Rutley
No such assessment has been made of the combined impact of increased energy prices and the ending of the £20 uplift on child poverty.
The latest poverty figures (2019/20) demonstrate that absolute poverty rates (both before and after housing costs) for children have fallen since 2009/10. In 2019/20, 17% of children were in absolute poverty (before housing costs), compared to 19% in 2009/10.
There have been significant positive developments in the public health situation since the uplift was first introduced. With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, it is right that our focus is on helping people back into work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty.
This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, and continues to do so through many measures, including by increasing the living wage, and by spending over £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22.
In April this year we 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. We are also investing up to £221m in the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which has been expanded to every Local Authority across England. Participating children are benefitting from a range of support, including healthy and nutritious meals as well as fun and engaging activities covering the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays in 2021.
We recognise that some people continue to require extra support, which is why we have introduced a £421 million Household Support Fund to help vulnerable people in England with essential household costs over the winter as the economy recovers. The Barnett Formula will apply in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.
The Cold Weather Payment scheme also helps vulnerable people in receipt of certain in-come-related benefits to meet the additional costs of heating during periods of severe cold weather. Cold Weather Payments are targeted at those in receipt of eligible benefits with a pension element or disability component or where there is a child under five in the house-hold.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury on 22 June 2021, Official Report, col 748, whether it is her Department's policy (a) that the matter of changes to women's state pension age is settled and (b) to continue to engage with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's investigation into the communication of those changes.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Government has no plans to reverse changes to State Pension age brought in under successive Governments since 1995.
The Government decided over 25 years ago that it was going to make the State Pension age the same for men and women as a long-overdue move towards gender equality. Raising State Pension age in line with life expectancy changes has been the policy of successive administrations over many years.
Changes to State Pension age were made over a series of Acts by successive governments from 1995 onwards, following public consultations and extensive debates in both Houses of Parliament.
Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have held that adequate and reasonable notification was given by the DWP and the Supreme Court refused the claimants’ permission to appeal.
We have been working and will continue to work with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in relation to the investigation into the communication of State Pension age increases.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
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 impact of the £20 uplift in universal credit on levels of child poverty in (a) Scotland and (b) East Renfrewshire.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made.
This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, including by increasing the living wage, and by spending an estimated £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2020/21. This included around £7.4 billion of Covid-related welfare policy measures.
As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help people move into and progress in work as quickly as possible based on clear evidence around the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
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 levels of child poverty in (a) Scotland and (b) East Renfrewshire constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
This Government is wholly committed to tackling poverty. Throughout the pandemic, our priority has been to support the most vulnerable including through spending an additional £7.4billion to strengthen the welfare system, taking our total expenditure on welfare support for people of working age to an estimated £112 billion in 2020/21.
National Statistics on the number and percentage of children in low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. Data for East Renfrewshire constituency is unavailable due to insufficient sample size.
Latest statistics for the levels of children who are in low income in Scotland, covering 2019/20, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020 in data table 4.16ts (relative low income, before and after housing costs) and in data table 4.22ts (absolute low income, before and after housing costs).
In the three years to 2019/20, the absolute child poverty rate, before housing costs, in Scotland was 17%, down 3 percentage points since the three years to 2009/10.
The Department now publishes supplementary official statistics on the number of children in low income families at constituency level. Children in Low Income Families data is published annually. The latest figures on the number of children who are in low income in East Renfrewshire constituency, covering 2019/20, can be found at:
Due to methodological differences, the figures in these two publications are not comparable.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applicants for a personal independence payment have waited for longer than four months from the (a) lodging an application to (b) receipt of an initial assessment in the most recent period in which that information is available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We are committed to ensuring that people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence.
We are currently operating within expected levels. Average clearance times from initial claim to a decision being made for new claims are currently 19 weeks (January 21), including the time permitted to complete and return their “How your disability affects you” questionnaire, which is the same as average clearance times achieved in January 2020.
In September 2020, 64,600 people registered a claim for PIP, of which 58,130 were referred for an assessment.
In the latest available data, to 31st January 2021, 32,330 of these were returned from the Assessment Provider within 4 months of registration, and 25,800 of these were returned after 4 months/are still outstanding.
Notes
Source: PIP ADS
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average call waiting times were for the employment support allowance (a) enquiry and (b) service telephone lines in each of the last twelve quarters.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
a) The average call waiting time (Average Speed of Answer) for calls to the Employment Support Allowance helpline in each quarter from April 2018 to March 2021 is shown in the table below in the format of hours:minutes:seconds.
b) It has not been possible to present data to answer the question posed as there are upward of 100 service lines operated by DWP. If the Member of Parliament was to indicate which service line(s) the ASA was required for, this information could be provided.
Year | Quarter |
| Average Speed of Answer |
2018 -2019 | 1 | April - June | 00:20:01 |
| 2 | July - September | 00:19:23 |
| 3 | October - December | 00:14:31 |
| 4 | January - March | 00:19:50 |
|
|
|
|
2019 - 2020 | 1 | April - June | 00:23:36 |
| 2 | July - September | 00:25:59 |
| 3 | October - December | 00:25:11 |
| 4 | January - March | 00:19:04 |
|
|
|
|
2020 - 2121 | 1 | April - June | 00:22:25 |
| 2 | July - September | 00:30:46 |
| 3 | October - December | 00:20:12 |
| 4 | January - March | 00:20:24 |
Data Source: BT - Historical Management Information (GI2 – HMI)
The data supplied is derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. The data should therefore be treated with caution.