Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the benefit cap on the number of workless households.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
I refer the hon.Member to the answer I gave today to Oral Question UIN 901933
The benefit cap is having a long term positive impact on people’s lives, and encouraging them to find work.
Over 60,000 households have been capped since April 2013. As of May 2015, over 40,000 households were no longer subject to the benefit cap. Of those, 16,300 households moved into work.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people who have committed benefit fraud whose cases were not prosecuted in court (a) have repaid, (b) are repaying, (c) are in arrears with repayments of and (d) have been subsequently prosecuted for breaching their agreement to repay those benefits and any financial penalties in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
This information is not readily accessible within the time available.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to review the process for applying for funeral payments.
Answered by Steve Webb
We are currently taking steps to improve the scheme and will continue to monitor its effectiveness.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his policy is on the freezing of state pensions for those living overseas.
Answered by Steve Webb
The UK state pension is payable worldwide. However, where a recipient is not ordinarily resident in the UK, eligibility for annual up-rates is generally restricted to people living in a country which is a member of the European Economic Area, including by extension Switzerland, or in a country with which the UK has a bilateral social security agreement that provides for up-rating of the UK state pension. A list of these countries can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pensions-annual-increases-if-you-live-abroad
Restricting the availability of annual up-rates to the UK state pensions in this manner has been the long standing policy of successive Governments. This Government has no plans to change it.