Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many independent case examiners there are to assess complaints in respect of the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is one Independent Case Examiner (ICE), appointed under contract to adjudicate on the merits of complaints where the complainant remains dissatisfied, having exhausted the Department’s complaints process and those of its provider partners.
The ICE is supported by the ICE Office, an independent unit which is recruiting up to its headcount of 112 FTE.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of not uprating benefits in line with inflation on levels of child poverty in Gower.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No such assessment has been made. The Government is up-rating benefits in line with inflation. The Secretary of State undertakes an annual review of benefits and pensions with reference to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). All benefit up-rating since April 1987 has been based on the increase in the relevant price inflation index in the 12 months to the previous September. The relevant benefits are increasing by 3.1% from April.
The latest statistics on the number and proportion of children who are in low income families by local area, covering the six years, 2014/15 to 2019/20, can be found in the annual publication: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).
This Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families, and believes work is the best route out of poverty. Our approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment – particularly where it is full-time – in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
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 number of people who have been affected by the underpayment of benefits after transitioning from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance in Gower constituency.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19th January to question number 104377.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of not being considered the primary caregiver, where a shared custody agreement is in place, on Child Maintenance payments for subsequent children.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Where a paying parent has overnight care of a child for whom they pay child maintenance, for at least 52 nights a year (i.e. an average of one night per week), their overall liability is reduced to reflect this.
Reductions are made according to bands, reflecting each additional night per week of overnight care.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on receipt of benefits for people with joint custody of their children but who are not considered the primary parent in the years (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017, (d) 2018, (e) 2019 and (f) 2020.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No assessment has been made. DWP does not hold information on custody arrangements between all parents claiming benefits and therefore would be unable to make an assessment of the effect on the parent who is not the primary carer.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of parents or guardians with joint custody of their children were not considered the primary care giver in relation to receiving benefits in each year since 2016.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is not held. DWP does not hold information on custody arrangements between all parents claiming benefits so cannot provide the information requested.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how long her Department takes on average to make a decision on accepting or declining a job advert under the Kickstart scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department of Work and Pensions works closely with employers participating in the Kickstart Scheme to ensure that jobs are created for young people as quickly as possible. A Kickstart job can start at any time over the lifetime of the scheme and some employers choose to delay the commencement of roles for a variety of reasons.
Our data indicates that between the 27/07/2021 and 08/09/2021 the average time between receipt of an application by DWP to confirmation of its approval was 14 days. Within the same period the average time between receipt of an application and the job being made available for young people to apply for was 43 days. A significant portion of this time includes engagement with employers to return grant funding agreements and job description templates promptly so that applications can be progressed.
Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly.
The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the timescale and average speed of a submission to the government approved gateway to the publication of the job advert at the job centre under the Kickstart scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department of Work and Pensions works closely with employers participating in the Kickstart Scheme to ensure that jobs are created for young people as quickly as possible. A Kickstart job can start at any time over the lifetime of the scheme and some employers choose to delay the commencement of roles for a variety of reasons.
Our data indicates that between the 27/07/2021 and 08/09/2021 the average time between receipt of an application by DWP to confirmation of its approval was 14 days. Within the same period the average time between receipt of an application and the job being made available for young people to apply for was 43 days. A significant portion of this time includes engagement with employers to return grant funding agreements and job description templates promptly so that applications can be progressed.
Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly.
The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the standard of communications with the employer at each stage of the process from submission to the gateway to the publication of the job advert as part of the Kickstart scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department of Work and Pensions continues to work closely with employers participating in the Kickstart Scheme. We are pleased that as of 08/09/2021 we have made over 188,000 jobs available for young people to apply to.
Officials continue to assess the effectiveness of this process and have developed a suite of products to support employers during the application process. These products are regularly reviewed and updated to provide the most up to date advice and guidance.
In addition, we have established a network of Kickstart District Account Managers (KDAMs) in every Jobcentre Plus district to support employers and who act as points of contact. Our KDAM network complements our existing National Employer Partnership managers who engage with a wide portfolio of employers to provide support on Kickstart and the Government’s Plan for Jobs initiatives.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason Kickstart job offers involving a person working home are tagged as national by default rather than local jobs.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pension’s Kickstart is creating valuable jobs for 16-24 year olds on Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment. To ensure that as many young people across Great Britain can access a Kickstart opportunity, jobs that require a young person to work from home are listed as ‘national’ roles. This also supports the employer with a wider range of candidates. Any requirement for a young person to attend a workplace in person is made clear in the job advert and as such would be allocated to the appropriate geographical location.