Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost is to the public purse of the provision of free television licences to people over 75 years of age.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The cost of providing free TV licences to people aged over 75 years was £655m to the public purse in 2017/18. Cost outturn for 2018/19 has not been published yet, but was forecast to be £468m. This is the first year of the part funding agreement that was set out in the summer budget 2015. The cost is forecast to reduce to £247m in 2019/20 and then nil from 2020/21 when responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.
Note that all the figures quoted in this response are in nominal terms.
DWP publish expenditure and caseload information here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2019>
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2019 to Question 208843 on Department for Work and Pensions: Overseas Aid, what that money was spent on.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is clear that in meeting its responsibilities to the world's poorest through its aid commitments, the UK also protects its own security and interests. As set out in the UK's Aid Strategy, the UK aid budget is used to tackle the great global challenges - from the root causes of mass migration and disease, to the threat of terrorism and global climate change - all of which also directly threaten British interests.
The spend comprises part of DWP’s subscription to the International Labour Organisation and the year one costs of refugees from the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme.
Details of UK ODA programming can be found on the DevTracker database at https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department has spent on Official Development Assistance in each year since 2015.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The amounts of DWP expenditure classified by Department for International Development (DFID) as Overseas Development Assistance are shown in the Table below
2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
£m | £m | £m |
9 | 24 | 31 |
These are published by DFID.
2016 and 2017 can be found on Page 12, Table 3 in the following publication
2015 and 2016 can be found on Page 12, Table 3 in the following publication
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants subject to recovery of recoverable hardship payments have them recovered at a rate of 40 per cent.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
For eligible Universal Credit Full Service claims paid in September 2018, 5,300, which is less than 1%, had repayments taken for a Recoverable Hardship Payment (rounded to the nearest 100). Of these, only 12% have an RHP repayment at 40% of the Standard Allowance whereas, the majority (68%) have a recovery rate of 30% or less.
The claim count figure in this answer will not match the official statistics due to methodological differences.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the main policy priority is for her Department for 2018; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department for Work and Pensions published an updated Single Departmental Plan on 23 May 2018. This set out the department’s main policy objectives and how it will achieve them. Single Departmental Plans will be revised annually to reflect new priorities or changes in responsibilities.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many contractors currently employed by her Department are paid £1,000 or more per day.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
DWP have 6 contractors paid £1,000 or more per day. They are not DWP employees.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many contractors have been employed by her Department for (a) up to one year, (b) between one and five years, (c) between five and 10 years and (d) over 10 years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Details of the duration of contractor engagements are published in DWP’s Annual Accounts as part of the Remuneration and Staff Report. The latest Annual Report (2016-17) is published online at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2016-to-2017
The 2017-18 report is being finalised and approved. This should be published in July.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the job titles are of civil servants in her Department who have been provided with (a) an official car and (b) a driver.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
No civil servants within the Department are provided with an official car and driver.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which regulations her Department (a) has introduced as a result of EU legislation from 23 June 2016 to date and (b) expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2018 and (ii) 2019; and what estimate she has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The UK remains a member of the EU until we leave, with full rights and obligations of membership. This includes transposing EU legislation into UK law.
As such, the legislation which has been or will be brought forward by DWP as a result of the following EU legislation since 23 June 2016 is listed below:
1) Directive (EU) 2013/59/Euratom lays down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation and came into force 1 January 2018. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has the overall UK government policy lead. The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for a discrete set of regulations (The Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017/1075) under the Basic Safety Standards Directive. The full impact assessment is available at the following link: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/1075/impacts
2) Directive (EU) 2017/164 establishing a fourth list of indicative occupational exposure limit values pursuant to Council Directive 98/24/EC. The transposition deadline is 21 August 2018. The full impact assessment is available at the following link: http://www.hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/cd283.htm
3) Directive (EU) 2016/2341 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs). The transposition deadline is 13 January 2019. We are engaging closely with industry and will assess any cost or impact of any amendments to existing legislation as appropriate.
Any transposition of EU legislation beyond 29 March 2019 will be dependant on the outcome of on-going negotiations with the EU on the UK’s relationship with the EU following our exit from the EU.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2017 to Question 105738, how many people aged (a) between 100 and 105, (b) between 106 and 110, (c) between 111 and 115 and (d) over 116-years receive the UK state pension in each country outside the UK.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are issues with the quality and robustness of the data relating to those over 100 years old so it is not possible to give a definitive answer at this stage. I will write to the Hon gentleman providing further details.