Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of people with a High Potential Individual visa are in employment.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held by this Department.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost to her Department of the proposed increase in employer National Insurance contributions for financial year 2025-26.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance Contributions costs only. This funding will be allocated to departments in the usual way, in line with the approach taken under the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of low skilled migrants' entitlement to benefits on the public purse.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has no current plans to make such an assessment.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many refugees were in receipt of Personal Independence Payment in each of the last five years; and what the cost to the public purse was.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold the requested information on refugees in receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Decision-makers check that an individual has leave to remain in the UK with recourse to public funds and meets all other eligibility requirements. Once this is established, the claim is processed like any other claim. Refugee claims are not flagged or marked on PIP administrative systems separately that would allow us to provide the information requested.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people convicted for their involvement in Pakistani heritage grooming gangs were in receipt of (a) Universal Credit and (b) another benefit when they committed their crimes.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information is not held.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of officials in her Department were hired via positive action schemes in the last financial year.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
All Civil Service departments work within the Recruitment Principles, as regulated by the Civil Service Commission, to recruit using a fair and open process and appoint on merit.
● Departments will only limit a campaign to a specific group as a form of positive action as a proportionate response to achieve a legitimate aim as defined in section 159 of the Equality Act 2010.
● The Civil Service is committed to a diverse workforce and culture of openness and inclusivity - not as ends in themselves but as means of delivering better outcomes to the citizens we serve.
● The Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-25 Promoting Fairness and Performance, published in February 2022, is positioned as an essential lever to deliver a Modern Civil Service, where our values are to serve with integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality; driving our vision to be a skilled, innovative and ambitious Civil Service equipped for the future. This strategy sets out a broader definition of diversity, to include geographical, social and career backgrounds alongside the protected groups.
● As set out in the Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027, we are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds, to create a modern Civil Service, now and for the future.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of pension payments made to deceased recipients in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Due to data archiving in accordance with GDPR, we can only provide data from the last five financial years.
Direct Payments made into an account after the death of a customer represent only around 0.1% of total annual expenditure on pensions. Although these are treated as non-recoverable and are not enforceable by law, we can request the money back as a voluntary payment. So far, we have recovered around half of the overpayments, to avoid this becoming a long-term cost to the taxpayer.
| State Pension | Pension Credit | Total | ||||||
Year | Overpaid | Voluntary repayment | Net | Overpaid | Voluntary repayment | Net | Overpaid | Voluntary repayment | Net |
2019/20 | £71.8m | £43.3m | £28.5m | £8.6m | £4.0m | £4.6m | £80.4m | £47.3m | £33.1m |
2020/21 | £54.5m | £20.4m | £34.1m | £6.7m | £2.0m | £4.7m | £61.1m | £22.4m | £38.8m |
2021/22 | £106.6m | £53.8m | £52.9m | £13.4m | £5.4m | £8.0m | £120.0m | £59.1m | £60.9m |
2022/23 | £81.0m | £48.5m | £32.5m | £10.1m | £4.6m | £5.5m | £91.1m | £53.1m | £38.0m |
2023/24 | £143.9m | £67.3m | £76.7m | £15.2m | £5.9m | £9.3m | £159.2m | £73.2m | £86.0m |
*Above table identifies the New Debt Value and the value of recoveries of RP & PC DPADs in each financial year.
The repayments in a specific year might not match the overpayments that occurred in that year, as repayment sometimes lags.
Data is GB only and classification information is current.
Payments may have later been reversed.
Debts have not necessarily all been fully recovered.
Net value has been identified using the following Overpaid - Voluntary repayment = Net.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff employed by her Department are responsible for staff welfare; and whether her Department has any contracts with external organisations for staff welfare services.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP Wellbeing Team includes a resource of 8 employees who are responsible for ensuring we proactively support the health and wellbeing of colleagues across DWP, creating a safe and healthy culture for colleagues at work.
DWP has a contract for Occupational Health provision and delivery of a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme with People Asset Management (PAM). DWP also has an Eyecare contract with Specsavers which provides an eyecare service for DWP employees who use display screen equipment at work and offers a free eye test once every two years.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish a list of companies contracted by her Department to undertake training for staff.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department’s main route for Learning is via the Cabinet Office led Learning Frameworks contracts whose main suppliers are KPMG and Ernst and Young.
Any other learning is by exception and this information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many contacts to the Pension Service there were in each month of the last five years.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The attached table shows volumes of telephone calls received within Pension Service over the last 5 years and includes the following services:
Information regarding other contacts is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.