Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Master Trust products have been independently reviewed against the Master Trust Assurance framework.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
DWP does not hold the information requested as the Master Trust Assurance Framework is voluntary and overseen by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. The data which most closely matches that requested can be found on the Pension Regulator’s website, at the following address:
The Pension Regulator publishes annual statistics on occupational defined contribution trust-based pension schemes and memberships. The latest data shows that on 31st December 2016, 13 Master Trusts were on the published list of schemes that have achieved Master Trust assurance. This figure does not include any Master Trusts that may have achieved Master Trust assurance but do not appear on the list, for example because they have chosen not to or are in the process of applying.
As mentioned above, the Master Trust Assurance Framework accreditation process is voluntary. A scheme wishing to undertake this accreditation will engage a Reporting Accountant to carry out the work. There are no requirements for schemes to inform the Regulator that they are undertaking an assurance exercise or to provide the report, unless they wish to apply to join the Regulator’s published list.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of universal credit claimants have required assistance to complete their online account in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Damian Hinds
This information is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of universal credit are defined as being self-employed.
Answered by Damian Hinds
As outlined in the strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in December 2016, officials are currently assessing the data for UC and will only release information once the necessary quality assurance work has taken place. These statistics will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.
Universal Credit official statistics and the Departments release strategy can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many 16-17 year-olds are in receipt of universal credit; and how many of those recipients are (a) lone parents, (b) disabled and (c) without parental support.
Answered by Damian Hinds
As of December 2016, the number of 16 to 17 year olds claiming Universal Credit, including both those in and not in receipt of a payment was 250.
This information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics.
More detailed information about 16 to17 year olds claiming UC is not currently published, however the department is committed to transparency and we intend to increase the range of published data on UC following satisfactory quality assurance of data. Therefore we will release further information on 16 to17 year olds in receipt of UC in due course.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of universal credit have been subject to higher-level sanctions in the last three years.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The information requested is not currently available.
The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on benefit sanctions, including Universal Credit (UC) in April 2016. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently developing the data for UC sanctions and will only release information once the necessary quality assurance work has taken place. These statistics will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.
Benefit Sanctions official statistics and the Departments release strategy can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/jobseekers-allowance-sanctions’
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of universal credit have not declared paid work.
Answered by Damian Hinds
In 2016/17, we estimate that £3m (or 0.5% of the total amount of Universal Credit in payment) was overpaid due to claimants not reporting a change in their level of earnings or the number of hours they worked.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who have received hardship payments in the last three years are classified by the Government as vulnerable.
Answered by Damian Hinds
This information is not available.
Information on the total number of hardship payments, by month, for Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/jsa-and-esa-hardship-applications-and-awards-apr-2012-to-jun-2015
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people in work who have a defined (a) benefit and (b) contribution pension scheme.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Latest ONS data, taken from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) relating to April 2015, shows the proportion of employees in work contributing to an occupational defined benefit scheme was reported to be 28.3%, largely unchanged since 2012. The proportion of employees in work contributing to either an occupational defined contribution, Group Personal or Group Stakeholder pension scheme was reported to be 34.3%, almost double the 17.2% reported in 2012.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will harmonise the eligibility rules for civilian and non-civilian widows entitlement to Bereaved Parents Allowance if a widower decides to (a) remarry and (b) enter a civil partnership.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Entitlement to Widowed Parent's Allowance ceases if a surviving spouse or civil partner remarries, forms a civil partnership or begins living with someone in a relationship akin to marriage or a civil partnership. This is the same for civilian and non-civilian widows and widowers.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of providing free (a) bus passes, (b) television licences, (c) medical prescriptions and (d) other benefits to all pensioners.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Tables showing benefit expenditure and forecasts from Autumn Statement 2016 will be published on 21 December 2016 and will be available at GOV.UK. However, expenditure and forecasts on a Budget 2016 basis for TV licences and other DWP pensioner benefits are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2016
The annual cost for the England National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) is around £1 billion.
It is not possible to provide total expenditure figures for the statutory concession in isolation, as data collected on the cost to public authorities of reimbursement and administration includes discretionary local extensions to the scheme, such as free peak-time travel or care-assistant concessions.
The detailed data is published on the GOV.UK website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus08-concessionary-travel
Those aged 60 and over are exempt from NHS prescription charges. We do not hold information about the pensioner status of those claiming this exemption. The Department of Health has estimated that if this exemption was not available, but all other exemptions and the availability of prescription prepayment certificates remained the same, the saving to the public purse would be around £700 million.