Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the benefits cap for families with children living in poverty.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest statistics show that in 2022/23 there were 100,000 fewer children in absolute poverty after housing costs than in 2009/10.
Where possible, it is in the best interests of children to be in working households and the benefit cap provides a clear incentive to move into work. Children living in workless households were over 6 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work.
To ensure the most vulnerable are supported, exemptions also apply to households who are entitled to disability benefits and/or carer benefits.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the average distance benefit recipients need to travel to their assigned Jobcentre; and what the greatest distance for a recipient was in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average value was of a benefits underpayment in the 2022-2023 financial year.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP does not produce an estimate for the average value of a benefit underpayment.
We estimate that the total rate of benefit expenditure underpaid in 2022-2023 was £3.3bn: Fraudand error in the benefit system Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to support unemployed people in Birmingham with (a) skills training and (b) financial management.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In Birmingham, our local Jobcentre Plus partnership teams are working directly with colleges and training providers to ensure claimants have access to the right skills support. Our successful Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) have seen almost three hundred customers in Sparkhill take up this support in the last year. This provision includes pre-employment training, work experience and a guaranteed job interview across a variety of sectors, with further SWAPs available with employers such as HS2, Compass Group, Air Scaffolding, Weatherspoon’s, and Jet 2.
In the Hall Green constituency, we have recently supported customers into jobs in the hospitality sector through English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision based at Sparkhill Jobcentre. Customers have also taken up non-teaching roles within local schools through the skills training we have set up with Pineapple Recruitment, and Sparkhill Jobcentre staff work closely with Joseph Chamberlain College to support claimants move into self-employment.
We are committed to ensuring that all staff can identify and signpost customers to the financial support they require. Across all our Jobcentres in Birmingham, Work Coaches have regular conversations with customers about the Flexible Support Fund (FSF) and how this can help to remove barriers to work, such as support with childcare costs.
The ‘Move In Move On’ programme helps customers in supported accommodation to move into work via a partnership with the Salvation Army. This programme offers financial education, tenancy skills and employability. We also work with The Money House which offers a financial education course to support 16–25-year-olds with banking, budgeting, and spending habits to support in reducing youth homelessness.
To help facilitate signposting discussions with customers, staff have access to a database of national and local support information, the District Provision Tool, which ensures that customers can access tailored support where required.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of levels of child poverty among (a) BAME, (b) Gypsy, Roma and Traveller and (c) disabled children.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics on the number of Children living in absolute and relative poverty by disability in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication in “table 1_7c” and “table 1_7d” (respectively) of “summary-hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2022-23-tables” at Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). The number of children living in absolute and relative poverty by ethnic group of head of household can be found in “table 4_1db_BHC” and “table 4_1db_AHC” at the link above. Poverty statistics for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children are not available.
The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23. The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the main causes of poverty in (a) children, (b) pensioners and (c) adults.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Poverty is a complex subject and there are different ways to measure and assess it.
DWP tracks and monitors many different aspects of poverty, including our four statutory measures for children of relative income, absolute income, combined low income and material deprivation and persistent poverty that are published annually.
National statistics on the number of individuals living in absolute and relative poverty are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication at Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will extend member and trade union representation to the board of the Pension Protection Fund.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no legal requirement for the Board of the Pension Protection Fund to include member or trade union representation, and there are no plans to extend representation to these groups.
The Pension Protection Fund does, however, have Member Panels – which Board members are invited to attend – to enable members to feed in views on the service offered and thoughts about changes that could be made in the future.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
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 (a) average and (b) maximum amount of waiting time when contacting the Carer's Allowance Unit by telephone.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Telephony is our customers’ primary channel to contact us. We continually assess the number of calls we are receiving and the associated waiting times, deploying resources accordingly to support service levels wherever this is possible.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of classifying covid-19 as an occupational disease for healthcare workers; and whether his Department has had discussions with relevant professional bodies on that matter.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), an independent scientific body, on changes to the list of occupational diseases for which Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) can be paid.
The Council considered the available scientific and epidemiological evidence around COVID-19 infection and published a Command Paper entitled, ‘COVID-19 and occupational impacts’ in November 2022 found here.
The Command Paper recommends that the list of prescribed occupational diseases for which IIDB can be paid should be expanded to include health and social care workers with five serious pathological complications following COVID-19 infection.
The Department is currently carrying out a detailed assessment of the report’s recommendations and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of social security payments on levels of child poverty.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest statistics show that in 2022/23 there were 100,000 fewer children in absolute poverty after housing costs than in 2009/10.
The Government is committed to supporting people on lower incomes and expects to spend around £306bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2024/25 including around £138bn on people of working age and children.
We estimate that in 2024/5 around 20 million families will benefit from the uprating of DWP and HMRC benefits in Great Britain. Over 11 million children in Great Britain will benefit from the uprating of DWP and HMRC benefits in 2024/5.