Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 12 July 2023 to Question 193037 on Universal Credit: Armed Forces, how many Universal Credit claimants have been identified as (a) serving and (b) having served in the armed forces by local authority area for the most recent assessment period.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) started collecting data on the Armed Forces status of Universal Credit (UC) claimants in Great Britain (GB) in April 2021. At first only new claimants were asked about their Armed Forces status. From June 2021 onwards, other UC claimants reporting changes in their work and earnings have also been able to report their status. From July 2021 onwards, UC agents have also been able to record claimants’ Armed Forces status if they are told about this via other means such as journal messages, face-to-face meetings or by telephone.
Data coverage continues to improve over time and by September 2023 data was held on the armed forces status of approximately 67% of the GB UC caseload (see table below). It should be noted that Armed forces status is self-reported by claimants and is not verified by the Ministry of Defence or Office for Veterans’ Affairs. A claimant’s status can be recorded as “currently serving”, “served in the past”, “not served” or “prefer not to say”. Data is not collected on the specific branch of the Armed Forces that claimants are serving in or have served in in the past.
Data is not held on the total number of UC claimants who are currently serving in the Armed Forces or who have served in the past, but data is held on those who have identified themselves so far.
The way the data is collected means the claimants for whom an Armed Forces status is recorded are not representative of the UC caseload as a whole. This means it is not yet possible to produce reliable estimates of the overall number or proportion of UC claimants who are currently serving in the Armed Forces or who have served in the past.
The separate spreadsheet shows how many claimants on the September 2023 UC caseload had a recorded armed forces status of each type, broken down by Local Authority.
Spreadsheet Notes:
1. Data is not collected on the Armed Forces status of UC claimants in Northern Ireland. The figures provided only relate to Great Britain.
2. Figures in the table have been rounded according to the Department’s Official Statistics rounding policy.
3. In line with the latest published People on UC official statistics, provisional figures relating to September 2023 are provided and may be subject to retrospective changes as more up-to-date data becomes available or if methodological improvements are made.
4. Due to methodological improvements, these figures are based on the Official Statistics UC caseload definition. Some answers to previous PQs asking for similar information have used an alternative caseload definition based on assessment period end dates.
5. Further information on the caseload definition used for the UC official statistics can be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) veterans and (b) family members of veterans have received the Nuclear Test Medal.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As at 8 November 2023, 1,684 Nuclear Test Medals had been dispatched to veterans, and 14 to next of kin.
Of the cases assessed, a further 33 veterans are eligible for the Nuclear Test Medal, and 699 next of kin.
There are currently 439 veteran and 648 next of kin cases still to be assessed. Initial priority was given to veterans who had applied prior to 18 September 2023, with applications from those over 90 and/or the terminally ill reviewed first.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) veterans and (b) family members of veterans are eligible for the Nuclear Test Medal.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As at 8 November 2023, 1,684 Nuclear Test Medals had been dispatched to veterans, and 14 to next of kin.
Of the cases assessed, a further 33 veterans are eligible for the Nuclear Test Medal, and 699 next of kin.
There are currently 439 veteran and 648 next of kin cases still to be assessed. Initial priority was given to veterans who had applied prior to 18 September 2023, with applications from those over 90 and/or the terminally ill reviewed first.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans have received their Veteran ID card in each local authority area under the Veterans' Recognition Scheme as of 1 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the hon. Member's questions. I will write to her when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans have received their Veteran ID card under the Veteran's Recognition Scheme as of 1 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the hon. Member's questions. I will write to her when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to correspondence of 30 August 2023 from the hon. Members for Luton South and Luton North.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is endeavouring to provide the fullest possible response to the hon. Members and will reply at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans had received a veteran ID cards as of (a) 1 January, (b) 1 February, (c) 1 March, (d) 1 April, (e) 1 May, (f) 1 June, (g) 1 July, and (h) 1 August 2023.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Under Phase One, since 2018, Veterans ID cards have been issued to all Service leavers. The below table details the number of Veteran ID cards that have been issued as at the 1st of each month so far in 2023.
Month | Total |
January | 60,970 |
February | 62,092 |
March | 63,705 |
April | 65,143 |
May | 66,736 |
June | 68,246 |
July | 69,877 |
August | 71,320 |
The Government will begin phase 2 of the Veterans Card roll-out by the end of the year, which will extend the scheme to pre-December 2018 Veterans.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the total cost to the public purse was of phase one of the veterans recognition scheme.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her to Question 183283 on 9 May 2023.
Under Phase One, since 2018, Veterans ID cards have been issued to all Service leavers; the cost of this is not separately recorded. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) project team responsible for developing and implementing the new digital verification service and issue of ID cards for Veterans who left service prior to 2018 currently consists of 4.6 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) civil servants and 6.0 FTE contractors in total. This number will fluctuate during the current financial year depending on skills requirements.
The MOD has allocated £1.5 million to phase two of the project for financial year 2023-24. Expenditure of £1.07m in financial year 2022-23 was funded by the Cabinet Office when the project was led by the Office of Veterans Affairs.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much from the public purse was spent on the distribution of veteran ID cards in 2023, as of 14 September 2023.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her to Question 183283 on 9 May 2023.
Under Phase One, since 2018, Veterans ID cards have been issued to all Service leavers; the cost of this is not separately recorded. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) project team responsible for developing and implementing the new digital verification service and issue of ID cards for Veterans who left service prior to 2018 currently consists of 4.6 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) civil servants and 6.0 FTE contractors in total. This number will fluctuate during the current financial year depending on skills requirements.
The MOD has allocated £1.5 million to phase two of the project for financial year 2023-24. Expenditure of £1.07m in financial year 2022-23 was funded by the Cabinet Office when the project was led by the Office of Veterans Affairs.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full-time equivalent staff were working on the veterans recognition scheme on 1 September 2023.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her to Question 183283 on 9 May 2023.
Under Phase One, since 2018, Veterans ID cards have been issued to all Service leavers; the cost of this is not separately recorded. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) project team responsible for developing and implementing the new digital verification service and issue of ID cards for Veterans who left service prior to 2018 currently consists of 4.6 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) civil servants and 6.0 FTE contractors in total. This number will fluctuate during the current financial year depending on skills requirements.
The MOD has allocated £1.5 million to phase two of the project for financial year 2023-24. Expenditure of £1.07m in financial year 2022-23 was funded by the Cabinet Office when the project was led by the Office of Veterans Affairs.