Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to regulate trampoline parks.
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: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of Support for Mortgage Interest have applied for a loan since the introduction of that loan.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As of week commencing 5th March 2018, over 10,100 claimants have stated their intention to take up the offer of an SMI loan. Around 109,000 claimants have been contacted and approximately 16,000 are considering their options.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which method her Department used to estimate the number of recipients of Support for Mortgage Interest who have access to funds and therefore would not need to use the new loan system.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Information on the Department’s estimate of current SMI recipients who have access to funds and therefore would not need to use the new loan system is available here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2017/117/pdfs/ukia_20170117_en.pdf
The estimate is based on analysis of the Family Resources Survey on the number of mortgage holders not in employment who receive help with mortgage payments e.g. from friends or relatives.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the effectiveness of Serco in informing Support for Mortgage Interest recipients about the transition to loans; what estimate her Department has made of the number of people not yet informed on that transition; and what representations her Department has received on the adequacy of the service provided by Serco in providing comprehensive information on that transition.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Serco have contacted approximately 95% of existing SMI claimants. The remaining 5% of cases we have so far been unable to refer to Serco for a variety of reasons, such as the need to obtain a telephone number for the claimant. The majority of this group has however been asked to provide the information required, and the reason it is needed including the change of SMI from a benefit to a loan. Serco have met all of the service levels included in the contract and we have received a minimal number of complaints about the service.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the value is of Serco's contract to undertake Support for Mortgage Interest replacement loans work; and what terms that contract contains on performance-related pay.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Serco have been appointed as an external supplier to offer information (as opposed to advice) to new and existing SMI customers. The contract was awarded following an Open competition and is valued at £4.5 million. Payment is related to the number of customer contacts completed. There are no payments linked to call outcome or to customer decision on whether to take out a loan.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of take-up for the new loan product that will replace Support for Mortgage Interest in April 2018 is people currently in receipt of that benefit.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
SMI loans will be available to all claimants who currently qualify for SMI as a benefit. The level of support available will be calculated in the same way as under the current system and claimants and mortgage lenders will not see any difference in the payments they receive. Claimants may change their mind whether to take or decline a loan at any time.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2018 to Question 127702, whether all of the recipients of Support for Mortgage Interest have now been contacted regarding the cessation of that benefit.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Serco have contacted approximately 95% of existing SMI claimants. The remaining 5% of cases we have so far been unable to refer to Serco for a variety of reasons, such as the need to obtain a telephone number for the claimant. The majority of this group has however been asked to provide the information required, and the reason it is needed including the change of SMI from a benefit to a loan.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what date her Department estimates that the processing of SMI replacement loans claims by Serco will be completed.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Serco do not undertake SMI loan processing being contracted solely to provide information to claimants in the form of letters, leaflets and telephone ‘Informed Discussions’. These Informed Discussions will continue to be offered to new applicants who are eligible for the SMI loan.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of Serco’s rate of processing SMI replacement loan applications in the last 12 months.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Serco do not undertake SMI loan processing being contracted solely to provide information to claimants in the form of letters, leaflets and telephone ‘Informed Discussions’. Serco have made 338,000 call attempts, with 275,000 being successful contacts since July 2017.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will set out the number of claimants of support for mortgage interest in each region of England and Wales in the most recent 12-month period for which figures are available.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The table below provides forecasts of the caseload for Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) in 2017/18 by region.
Region | Estimated SMI caseload (000s) |
North East | 6 |
North West | 16 |
Yorkshire and Humberside | 9 |
East Midlands | 8 |
West Midlands | 11 |
East | 10 |
London | 12 |
South East | 12 |
South West | 8 |
Wales | 7 |
Scotland | 12 |
|
|
Total | 110 |
Notes: