Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personnel from (a) Cumbria Constabulary, (b) Lancashire Constabulary and (c) Merseyside Constabulary her Department has (i) sign posted and (ii) recorded as made use of a local food bank in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
In line with the guidance issued to Jobcentre Plus staff, they are not required to keep records of the number of benefit claimants signposted to food banks in their local area.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to record the number of universal credit claimants that are referred to food banks by job centres.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Jobcentre Plus does not make direct referrals to food banks, but offers a signposting service to customers who have expressed an interest in using a food bank. The Department has no plans to require Jobcentre staff to record the number of Universal Credit claimants that are signposted to food banks.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing reductions in the level of housing benefit to meet the Government's homelessness reduction target by 2027.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Government has set out its plans to eradicate rough sleeping by 2027 in the recently published Rough Sleeping Strategy.
A copy of the Rough Sleeping Strategy can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-rough-sleeping-strategy
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential for an increase in food bank use during the school summer holidays in the North West.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department has not carried out any research into trends in the number of people using food banks or into the many and varied factors which may be influencing their growth. However, we are currently reviewing research carried out by a variety of organisations, to add to our understanding of food bank use, and will consider requirements to add to our evidence base.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many funeral expenses payments have been made in Preston constituency since January 2015.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment Scheme her Department refused in Preston in each year from 2015 to 2018.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of people who will lose their homes as a result of the ending of the Support for Mortgage Interest for claimants in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) claimants will have the option to take up the offer of an SMI loan when the SMI benefit scheme ends. The new loan scheme will continue to provide robust protection against repossession to all eligible claimants in times of need, with the level of support available being calculated in the same way as under the SMI benefit system. Claimants and mortgage lenders will not see any difference in the payments they receive and claimants will not be required to repay the loan until their property is sold or transferred subject to the availability of sufficient equity to repay the loan.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department provides to job clubs run by Christians Against Poverty; what the nature of that support is; and at which locations those job clubs are based.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Department works in collaboration with a number of external organisations to ensure claimants are able to access the support they need.
We have been working with Christians Against Poverty (CAP) since April 2012, with CAP offering a wide range of free non contracted provisions that Work Coaches can signpost claimants towards. This includes job clubs, debt help and money management courses to help claimants overcome barriers to employment.
Relationships with CAP are managed at a local level across the Jobcentre network. Information on the local services provided by CAP is available to staff via our District Provision Tool. This digital tool lists local and national provision and support delivered by Jobcentre Plus, Skills Funding Agency, Skills Development Scotland, Careers Wales, other providers, local authorities, and independent and volunteer organisations.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to regulate trampoline parks; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Businesses running trampoline parks have legal duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated regulations to protect the health and safety of their employees and customers. The legal duties are enforced by local authorities. If a local authority has evidence of poor health and safety performance at a particular trampoline park, it has the powers to investigate and take appropriate enforcement action to ensure compliance with the law.
A British Standard, PAS 5000:2017 ‘Specification for the construction and operation of a fixed indoor trampoline park’ provides advice to trampoline park operators on how to comply with their legal duties.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will reinstate the universal credit child poverty forecast; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Tackling child poverty and disadvantage is a priority for the Government. Work is the best route out of poverty, and Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives for parents to move into and progress in work. However, the impact of Universal Credit cannot be considered in isolation– it is a key component of a broader strategy to move Britain to a higher wage, lower welfare, and lower tax society.
This strategy includes the increase to the personal tax allowance, the introduction of the National Living Wage and the doubling of free childcare from 15 to 30 hours for working parents. Taken together, these reforms are designed to support people into employment and then enable them to progress in work and generate more income for themselves.
We expect claimants to respond positively to the improved incentives Universal Credit introduces and increase their income. The previous forecast is static and, as it does not capture these dynamic effects, it is of limited value in evaluating the impact of Universal Credit on poverty. The Government therefore has no plans to reinstate it.