Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 18 July on Employment and Support Allowance, WS877, what estimate she has made of the number of people who have been underpaid; and what the average sum is that has been underpaid to claimants in (a) Wales and (b) each parliamentary constituency in Wales.

We are not able to make robust estimates of the numbers of cases likely to be due arrears as part of the exercise to correct underpayments of Employment and Support Allowance, at regional or parliamentary constituency level. All estimated numbers and amounts are available at national level only.

We are focusing our efforts on contacting all potentially affected individuals to ensure they are paid as quickly as possible.

A Written Statement and Frequently Asked Question document was deposited in the House of Commons Library on Wednesday 17^th October which can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/deposited-papers/. Ad hoc statistics can also be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esa-underpayments-forecast-numbers-affected-forecast-expenditure-and-progress-on-checking.