Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of (a) the number of officials in her Department involved in recording retained EU legislation for the purposes of the Retained EU Law Dashboard in the latest period for which figures are available and (b) the cost to the public purse of recording that information.
Answered by Chloe Smith
No additional full time staffing resource was required for the completion of this exercise which forms part of the overall project to list Retained EU Law held by this Department. Three officials worked on the exercise in addition to their other duties over a period of four months which in turn fed into the compilation of the dashboard.
There has been no additional non-pay cost to the public purse by creating the dashboard. The process was led by the Cabinet Office, who commissioned Government Departments to find Retained EU Law within their legislation and compile an authoritative account of where Retained EU Law sits on the UK statute book.
The dashboard itself is made by the Government Strategic Management Office and is hosted on Tableau Public, which is a free platform for hosting public dashboards. The dashboard will continue to be updated at no additional cost.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claimants on legacy benefits had deductions made to their payments for third party debt deductions in May 2021.
Answered by David Rutley
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average monetary value was for deductions made from (a) universal credit, (b) employment and support allowance, (c) jobseeker's allowance, (d) income support and (e) pension credit claimant’s payments by (i) categories of third party debt deductions, (ii) benefit overpayments and (iii) other types of deductions in May 2021.
Answered by David Rutley
The average deduction amount per claim by deduction type, for (a) Universal Credit, in May 2021 is provided in the attached spreadsheet.
Information for (b) (c) (d) (e) (i) (ii) (iii) is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The Government recognises the importance of supporting the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. We seek to balance recovery of debt against not causing hardship for claimants and their families. Processes are in place to ensure deductions are manageable, and customers can contact DWP Debt Management if they are experiencing financial hardship, in order to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment or a temporary suspension, depending on their financial circumstances. The Department is not able to
change the rate of most Third Party deductions as these are set out in the regulations.
Advances are a claimant’s benefit entitlement paid early, allowing claimants to access 100% of their estimated Universal Credit payment upfront. They ensure nobody has to wait for a payment in Universal Credit and those who need it are able to receive financial support as soon as possible. Claimants can receive up to 100% of their estimated Universal Credit award if required, resulting in 25 payments over a 24-month period.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of (a) employment and support allowance, (b) jobseeker's allowance, (c) income support and (d) pension credit claimants had deductions made to their payments by (i) categories of third party debt deductions, (ii) benefit overpayments and (iii) other types of deductions in May 2021.
Answered by David Rutley
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to resume face-to-face appointments at job centres in the next three months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Throughout the pandemic, Jobcentres remained open for anyone who needed face-to-face support. From April, Jobcentres in England, Scotland and Wales returned to their pre-lockdown opening hours and restarted face-to-face appointments, in accordance with government guidelines.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
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 average waiting time from the point of application for a person to obtain a National Insurance number.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Demand for the National Insurance Number (NINo) service is currently high with the average time taken to process applications around 13 weeks. The Department is currently recruiting and training additional staff to reduce these waiting times.
The Department expedites NINo applications for those who require one in order to receive Social Security Benefits.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
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 effect of the £20 uplift in universal credit on levels of child poverty in (a) England and (b) Oxford West and Abingdon constituency.
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 £112 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2020/21. This included around £7.4 billion of Covid-related welfare policy measures.
We introduced our Covid Winter Grant Scheme providing funding to Local Authorities in England to help the most vulnerable children and families stay warm and well fed during the coldest months. It will now run until June as the Covid Local Support Grant, with a total investment of £269m.
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: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
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) England and (b) Oxford West and Abingdon 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. Additionally, in December 2020 we introduced our Covid Winter Grant Scheme, providing funding to Local Authorities in England to enable them to support people with food and essential utility bills during the coldest months. It will now run until June as the Covid Local Support Grant, with a total investment of £269m.
National Statistics on the number and percentage of children in low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. Data for Oxford West and Abingdon is unavailable due to insufficient sample size.
Latest statistics for the levels of children who are in low income in England, covering 2019/20, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020,“children-hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2019-20-tables” in table 4.16ts (relative low income, before and after housing costs) and in 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 England was 18%, 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 Oxford West and Abingdon and in England, covering 2019/20, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2014-to-2020/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-fye-2015-to-fye-2020.
Due to methodological differences, the figures in these two publications are not comparable.