Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional financial support they will provide to parents facing poverty, given the increased cost of living.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. In 2022/23 we will spend over £242 billion through the welfare system in Great Britain including £108 billion on people of working age.
With 1.25 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting parents to move into, and progress in work, an approach which 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.
To help parents into work, our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all Jobseekers with our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart scheme. We are also extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and on low incomes. Through a staged roll-out, which started in April 2022, around 2.1 million low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work.
To further support parents to move into and progress in work, the government provides a range of childcare offers. For more information on what childcare support may be available, we encourage parents to use the Childcare Choices website.
Around 1.9 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free, healthy and nutritious school meal, saving families around £400 per year. In addition, around 1.25 million more infants enjoy a free meal at lunchtime following the introduction of universal infant free school meals. The National School Breakfast Provision programme (NSBP) is providing funding of up to £24 million in a two-year contract to continue our support for school breakfast provision until July 2023 supporting pupils in up to 2,500 schools that meet our criteria for levels of disadvantage.
The Government is also investing £200 million a year to continue the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which benefitted over 600,000 children last summer, and we have increased the value of the Healthy Start Scheme by a third to £4.25 a week.
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee is supporting millions of households with rising energy costs, and the Chancellor made clear it will continue to do so from now until April next year. This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
The £37bn also includes up to £650 in cost of living Payments (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324) which have targeted support at around 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits. In addition, 6 million eligible disabled people have received a one-off disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 and pensioner households will receive a one-off payment of £300 alongside the Winter Fuel Payment from November.
For those who require additional support we have provided an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. The devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula as usual.
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 steps she is taking to ensure people do not fall into food poverty.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. In 2022/23 we will spend over £242 billion through the welfare system in Great Britain including £108 billion on people of working age.
With 1.25 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting people to move into, and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of poverty.
To help people into work across Great Britain, our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all Jobseekers with our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart scheme. We are also extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and on low incomes. Through a staged roll-out, which started in April 2022, around 2.1 million low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work.
This is on top of the support we have already provided by increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour and giving nearly 1.7 million families an extra £1,000 a year, on average, through our changes to the Universal Credit taper and work allowances.
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has provided over £37bn of support including up to £650 in cost-of-living Payments (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324) which have targeted support at around 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits. In addition, 6 million eligible disabled people have received a one-off disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 and pensioner households will receive a one-off payment of £300 through and as an addition to the Winter Fuel Payment from November.
For those who require additional support the current Household Support Fund in England, which will be providing up to £421m of support to those most in need for the period October 2022 - March 2023 and is being delivered by Upper Tier and Unitary Councils. The devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula as usual.
The Government are also investing £200 million a year to continue the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which benefitted over 600,000 children last summer, and we have increased the value of the Healthy Start Scheme by a third to £4.25 a week.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children of compulsory school age live in households in England in receipt of universal credit with a household income after tax and before benefits of less than (a) £7,400, (b) £8,350 and (c) £8,575 a year.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In May 2022, 2.15 million children of compulsory school age lived in households in England in receipt of universal credit. 780,000 of those children lived in households with no income in May 2022.
(a) 1.07 million children of compulsory school age lived in households in England with a monthly equivalent income in May 2022 of less than £7,400 a year.
(b) 1.16 million children of compulsory school age lived in households in England with a monthly equivalent income in May 2022 of less than £8,350 a year.
(c) 1.18 million children of compulsory school age lived in households in England with a monthly equivalent income in May 2022 of less than £8,575 a year.
Notes:
1. Children of compulsory school age is defined as children who will be between the ages of 5 and 16 inclusively on 31st August 2022
2. Figures for children in households with incomes less than £X include households with no income
3. May 2022 aligns with most recently data from published Stat-Xplore figures
4. Figures rounded to nearest hundred thousand children
5. Not all UC claimants will have been receiving UC for a full year, and DWP only holds earnings information for claimants once they start a UC claim. Yearly incomes are therefore calculated by multiplying the monthly incomes in May 2022 by 12.
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has provided over £37bn of support including up to £650 in cost-of-living Payments (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324) which have targeted support at around 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits. [In addition, 6 million eligible disabled people have received a one-off disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 and pensioner households will receive a one-off payment of £300 through and as an addition to the Winter Fuel Payment from November.]
For those who require additional support we have extended the Household Support Fund backed by £421m, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. The devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula as usual.
The Government are also investing £200 million a year to continue the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which benefitted over 600,000 children last summer, and we have increased the value of the Healthy Start Scheme by a third to £4.25 a week.
Asked by: Nick Gibb (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress he has made in moving from a National Funding Formula for schools to a direct funding formula.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Government remains firmly committed to completing our reforms to the national school funding system, and introducing a direct national funding formula.
This will mean that each mainstream school is allocated funding on the same basis, wherever it is in the country, and every child can be given the same opportunities, based on a consistent assessment of their needs.
The Department is moving carefully towards the direct national funding formula over the coming years, working with the sector to ensure that the transition is a smooth one. From 2023-24, local authorities will have to move their own funding formulae closer to the national funding formula as part of our step-by-step approach to transition. Local minimum funding guarantee protections will remain in place to maintain stability for schools and protect them from sudden drops in pupil-led per-pupil funding.
We are also continuing to develop the schools national funding formula to allocate funding nationally in line with our recent consultation: https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/implementing-the-direct-national-funding-formula/supporting_documents/Implementing%20the%20direct%20national%20funding%20formula%20%20government%20consultation.pdf. The Department's response will be published in due course.
The Department will also provide an update on the Schools Bill in due course.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to take steps to provide help with high energy costs to people who are receiving non means-tested benefits.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The Government has announced unprecedented support within its Growth Plan to protect households and businesses from high energy prices. The Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bill Relief Scheme are supporting millions of households and businesses with rising energy costs, and the Chancellor made clear, they will continue to do so from now until April next year.
The consumer saving will be based on usage, but a typical household will save at least £1,000 a year (based on current prices from October). This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost-of-living support announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
The £37bn of support also includes more than 8 million pensioner households receiving a one-off payment of £300 alongside the Winter Fuel Payment from November, and 6 million eligible disabled people receiving a one-off Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 from 20 September.
Also included in the cost-of-living support is the current Household Support Fund in England, which will be providing up to £421m of support to those most in need for the period October 2022 - March 2023.The devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula as usual.
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 steps she is taking to help ensure that people who are out of work and have sufficient resources to pay for their energy, food and other living costs this winter.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills.
The £37bn of support includes up to £650 in Cost-of-Living Payments (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324) which has been designed to target support at around 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits, including people who are out of work and receiving Universal Credit and older people receiving Pension Credit. In addition, more than 8 million pensioner households will receive a one-off payment of £300 through the Winter Fuel Payment from November, and 6 million eligible disabled people will receive a one-off Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 from 20 September.
Also included in the cost-of-living support is the current Household Support Fund in England, which is already providing £421m of support for the period April-September 2022. For the same period, the devolved administrations received £79 million through the Barnett formula. For the period October 2022-March 2023, we are providing an additional £421 million through the Household Support Fund to help households in England with the cost of essentials, and the devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula.
Ongoing financial support for help with the cost of living is provided to people over State Pension age through State Pensions, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit, and to people below State Pension age through Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance. In some cases, and especially in the case of Pension Credit, these entitlements may also give access to other support such as help with Council Tax, NHS costs, discounts on energy bills, and free TV licences for those aged 75 or over.
People with a long-term health condition or disability may be entitled to one of the following non-means tested benefits to help them meet the additional costs that arise from disability: Attendance Allowance; Disability Living Allowance; or Personal Independence Payment. These benefits can be paid in addition to any other social security benefits and may qualify people for additional amounts or premiums as part of these benefits.
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 additional support will be available for disabled people who cannot meet their energy, food and other living costs this winter.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills.
The £37bn of support includes up to £650 in Cost-of-Living Payments (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324) which has been designed to target support at around 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits, including people who are out of work and receiving Universal Credit and older people receiving Pension Credit. In addition, more than 8 million pensioner households will receive a one-off payment of £300 through the Winter Fuel Payment from November, and 6 million eligible disabled people will receive a one-off Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 from 20 September.
Also included in the cost-of-living support is the current Household Support Fund in England, which is already providing £421m of support for the period April-September 2022. For the same period, the devolved administrations received £79 million through the Barnett formula. For the period October 2022-March 2023, we are providing an additional £421 million through the Household Support Fund to help households in England with the cost of essentials, and the devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula.
Ongoing financial support for help with the cost of living is provided to people over State Pension age through State Pensions, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit, and to people below State Pension age through Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance. In some cases, and especially in the case of Pension Credit, these entitlements may also give access to other support such as help with Council Tax, NHS costs, discounts on energy bills, and free TV licences for those aged 75 or over.
People with a long-term health condition or disability may be entitled to one of the following non-means tested benefits to help them meet the additional costs that arise from disability: Attendance Allowance; Disability Living Allowance; or Personal Independence Payment. These benefits can be paid in addition to any other social security benefits and may qualify people for additional amounts or premiums as part of these benefits.
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 plans she has to provide additional support to older people who cannot meeet the cost of (a) energy bills, (b) food costs, and (c) other living costs.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills.
The £37bn of support includes up to £650 in Cost-of-Living Payments (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324) which has been designed to target support at around 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits, including people who are out of work and receiving Universal Credit and older people receiving Pension Credit. In addition, more than 8 million pensioner households will receive a one-off payment of £300 through the Winter Fuel Payment from November, and 6 million eligible disabled people will receive a one-off Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 from 20 September.
Also included in the cost-of-living support is the current Household Support Fund in England, which is already providing £421m of support for the period April-September 2022. For the same period, the devolved administrations received £79 million through the Barnett formula. For the period October 2022-March 2023, we are providing an additional £421 million through the Household Support Fund to help households in England with the cost of essentials, and the devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula.
Ongoing financial support for help with the cost of living is provided to people over State Pension age through State Pensions, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit, and to people below State Pension age through Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance. In some cases, and especially in the case of Pension Credit, these entitlements may also give access to other support such as help with Council Tax, NHS costs, discounts on energy bills, and free TV licences for those aged 75 or over.
People with a long-term health condition or disability may be entitled to one of the following non-means tested benefits to help them meet the additional costs that arise from disability: Attendance Allowance; Disability Living Allowance; or Personal Independence Payment. These benefits can be paid in addition to any other social security benefits and may qualify people for additional amounts or premiums as part of these benefits.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to implement the National Food Strategy recommendation that the true cost of eating healthily should be calculated into benefits payments; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The current rates of income-related benefits such as Universal Credit do not represent a minimum requirement and are not described as such in legislation. The Government specifies the rates which are applicable to different benefits, and these may vary according to claimants' circumstances.
Income-related benefit rates are not made up of separate amounts for specific items of expenditure such as food or fuel charges, and beneficiaries are free to spend their benefit as they see fit, in the light of their individual commitments, needs and preferences.
The Government has expanded free school meals to more children than any other, including rolling out universal infant free school meals to all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, ensuring a further 1.25 million pupils receive a free nutritious meal each day, in addition to the 1.9m children that receive benefits related free school meals.
The Holiday Activities and Food programme has been expanded to operate across all England Local Authorities, providing over £600m for the next 3 years. Last summer reaching over 600,000 children.
We are investing up to £24 million into the National School Breakfast Programme, benefitting up to 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas, building on the previous programme.
The Government also increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, (children aged under one receive £8.50 in total, every week), helping eligible low-income households to buy fresh, frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, milk and infant formula. Recipients are also eligible for free Healthy Start vitamins.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 merits of the devolution of welfare powers to Wales to permit the Welsh Government to provide additional support for households amid the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Wales Act 2017 sets a reserved powers model, making clear that social security, pensions and child maintenance remain reserved to UK Parliament. This position is unchanged since devolution began. The UK Government does not intend to devolve reserved social security powers to the Welsh Government. It has, however, used them to make provision for the £650 Cost of Living Payment (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324) for around 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits; the one-off disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 currently being paid to 6 million eligible people; and the extra one-off £300 Winter Fuel Payment this year to be paid to over 8 million pensioner households across the UK.
The UK Government has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills through the new “Energy Price Guarantee”, which will mean a typical UK household will now pay up to an average £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years from 1 October. This will save the average household in Great Britain at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October. This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme and the cost of living payments. It also includes an additional £500 million from October to help households across the UK with the cost of essentials. In England, £421 million is being provided to extend the Household Support Fund, a discretionary scheme run by Upper Tier Local Authorities, from October 2022 – March 2023. The Welsh Government has been allocated its share of this funding through the Barnett Formula.