Asked by: Paul Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he Department has undertaken an assessment of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit full service on the economy of the City of Glasgow in 2018-19.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Department does not forecast the economic impact of Universal Credit by area.
The Universal Credit Programme Full Business Case demonstrates that Universal Credit provides value for money and will produce economic benefits of £34bn over the next ten years and £8 billion in economic benefits per year once fully rolled out. It will also increase the number of people in employment by 200,000.
The Universal Credit Programme Full Business Case can be accessed at
Asked by: Paul Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
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 ending the protected places scheme on (a) organisations that receive funding from and (b) disabled people in work who are supported by that scheme.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Work Choice providers and Supported Businesses have been aware that the Protected Places arrangement delivered via the Work Choice contracts would end at the end of December 2018 and will have been transitioning their businesses to manage the end of this funding stream. To support them in the transition funding for Protected Places has been extended until March 2019. We plan tp provide long-term sustainable funding for this group of people.
Supported businesses use different models to manage the Protected Places provision, so assessments are being made at a range of businesses:
Asked by: Paul Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with Universities UK on the decision to close the defined benefit portion of the Universities Superannuation Scheme to all future service.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Subject to the requirements of automatic enrolment, pension arrangements are a matter between employers and their workforce. Neither Ministers nor officials in my Department have received any approach from UK Universities.
Asked by: Paul Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what processes there are in her Department to monitor how often correspondence or evidence submitted to it by claimants, their representatives or other parties is reported as mislaid or lost.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Over 70% of all documents that are received by the Department and relate to a benefit claim are scanned on receipt.
The Reconciliation Analysis Process (RAP) is a process that allows a user to check whether all items of scanned post have been delivered by the end to end mail opening and scanning solution to the appropriate endpoint. As part of the RAP, there is a tool that takes in all the files produced by each of the components in the chain and performs analysis to produce output reports to highlight any problem areas. The reconciliation is carried out on a daily basis.
Mail for benefits that is not scanned is processed according to the reports instructions and forwarded by courier. Tracking of individual items is only available for post sent recorded or special delivery.
Asked by: Paul Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason her Department does not have an automated system for the acknowledgement of receipt of e-mails.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Email is not recognised as a secure communication channel and the Department does not currently ask people to send personal details by email. As email is not an official communication channel, the Department does not acknowledge the receipt of contact through this medium.
The Department is committed to improving our communication with customers, whilst ensuring customer’s data is protected and is actively investigating how digital channels, including email, could be safely used for two-way communication with customers.
Asked by: Paul Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of benefits remained unclaimed in 2017.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department publishes ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up’ statistics annually.
The latest statistics, which relate to 2015/16, are published here:
These statistics provide estimates of take-up, by caseload and expenditure, of the following income-related benefits only (other benefits are available but no take-up estimates are calculated):
They also provide the total and average amounts of benefit claimed and unclaimed for each of these benefits.
Asked by: Paul Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what resources his Department has committed to (a) ensuring that unclaimed benefits are claimed and (b) investigating false and fraudulent claims for benefits in each of the last three years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We are unable to identify all those who are eligible and have not claimed benefits, however, Information on what benefits are available and how to claim is available online at gov.uk and through a range of third sector organisations such as Citizens Advice Bureau.
The Counter Fraud & Compliance Directorate (CFCD), part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for the prevention, detection and where appropriate, investigation of fraud and error against all benefits administered by and on behalf of DWP.
The operational arm of CFCD which investigates false and fraudulent benefit (formerly known as the Fraud and Error Service) comprised the following resources for the period 2014/15 to 2016/17:
2014/15: Full Time Equivalent staffing totalled 4,833 at a cost of £145m
2015/16: Full Time Equivalent staffing totalled 4,898 at a cost of £155m
2016/17: Full Time Equivalent staffing totalled 4,293 at a cost of £160m
This includes staff engaged in the full range of fraud work, including telephone and letter based interventions, fraud investigation and compliance work and at its most extreme, serious, complex and organised fraud.
Asked by: Paul Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will carry out an assessment of the potential effect of the closure of Maryhill and Possilpark Jobcentre on levels of poverty in the area served by those jobcentres.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
There are no plans to assess poverty levels in connection with closures of individual sites such as Maryhill Jobcentre.
I would stress that the office mergers are not about reducing services but about taking the opportunity to stop spending money on empty space so we can spend more on supporting those in need. The face-to-face support our work coaches offer at jobcentres will continue to be a core part of the service we deliver.
National statistics on the number of individuals in relative low income are set out in DWP’s annual ‘Households Below Average Income’ publication. Latest 3-year estimates for Scotland in 2013/14 - 2015/16 show the rate of individuals in low income households at 15%, before housing costs. The number and proportion of individuals in relative low income is not available at a local authority or constituency level because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography. Estimates to 2016/17 have been pre-announced to be published in March 2018.
Asked by: Paul Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to monitor trends in the level of sanction decisions at Springburn Jobcentre for 12 months after the divestment of Maryhill and Possilpark Jobcentre.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
As part of our preparations for divestment of jobcentres, we recognise that some claimants will be taking an unfamiliar journey to a new location. Therefore, arrangements are in place for work coaches to support claimants over a transitional period until they become accustomed to new travel arrangements.
Within our normal business activities, sanction levels are already monitored to identify trends. Imposing a sanction is not something we do lightly. In the small minority of cases when a sanction is used, claimants are given every opportunity to explain why they failed to meet their agreed conditionality requirements, before a decision is made.
Asked by: Paul Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have successfully appealed the removal of their place on the Motability Scheme under the Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Disability benefit claimants are able to apply for a vehicle under the Motability Scheme if they are in receipt of Higher Rate Mobility in DLA or Enhanced Rate Mobility in PIP. If the claimant loses their entitlement to these components, they will no longer be eligible for a vehicle under the Motability Scheme. If a claimant is not satisfied with the original decision, they are able to request a Mandatory Reconsideration and if, following the Mandatory Reconsideration they are still not satisfied, they can appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal.
The number of Motability Scheme customers who successfully appeal following a decision which removes Enhanced Rate Mobility (PIP) or Higher Rate Mobility (DLA) is not held by the Department.
The Department worked closely with Motability to introduce a £175 million Transitional Support package for people leaving the scheme following PIP reassessment paid for by Motability and at no cost to the taxpayer. This gives significant help: