Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what was the purpose of claims made to the Flexible Support Fund in North Devon in the last 12 months.

The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided for the whole of North Devon at disproportionate cost as we do not record this information by Parliamentary constituency.

Of the three Jobcentres that serve the North Devon constituency, Barnstaple Jobcentre is the only office with its claimant base entirely within the North Devon constituency. For Barnstaple Jobcentre, Flexible Support Fund which is issued on top of benefits spend has been recorded in each of the following categories for the last 12 months, from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022:

• Travel – Training
• Travel - Work Related Interview
• Travel - Job Interviews
• Claimant Equipment for Work
• Other Claimant Expenses to remove barriers
• In Work Emergency Fund
• Up Front Childcare
• Travel – Sector Based Work Academies Programmes