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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many zero-hours contracts were advertised on Universal Jobmatch in each of the last 12 months.

Esther McVey

Information published by the Office for National Statistics suggests zero-hours contracts make up a small part of the overall labour market, accounting for about 2-4% of all people in work.

There are a broad range of vacancies available on Universal Jobmatch, offering various types of contracts to jobseekers. Universal Jobmatch (UJ) was designed to be a self-service job posting and matching service. Before employers can access the service and start advertising job vacancies they are required to subscribe to specific Terms and Conditions. The Terms and Conditions state, that job postings must provide a full, clear and accurate job description of an actual (genuine) job or work opportunity. Further, there is also the requirement that all job postings comply to employment related legislation such as Working Time Legislation and National Minimum Wage.

When a job is being advertised on behalf of another employer (e.g. recruitment agency or job board) a contract should be in place with the end employer. The onus is upon the employer / agency to conform to the Terms and Conditions. DWP and the UJ Service Provider work collaboratively and proactively to ensure system compliance and where an employer is identified as breaching Terms and Conditions, appropriate action is taken. If the employer continues to breach Terms and Conditions, the circumstances will be investigated and access to UJ may be withdrawn.

Jobseekers claiming Jobseekers Allowance are not required to apply for zero-hours contract vacancies, they will not be sanctioned as a result of not applying. UC claimants who refuse to accept a zero hours contract job offer, without good reason, can be subject to a sanction. However a UC claimant will not be sanctioned for refusing to take a zero hours contract with an exclusivity clause.

UC automatically adjusts benefit payments depending on the number of hours a person works – whatever the type of contract. Where Universal Credit claimants refuse to apply for a role, including a Zero Hours Contract role when mandated to do so or refuse to accept a job offer, they can be sanctioned. People on UC will not be required to sign up to zero hours contracts which require exclusivity, so they will always have the opportunity to gain more hours elsewhere.

Universal Credit (UC) will substantially improve incentives to work, allowing people to keep more of the money they earn before it has any impact on the amount of UC they receive.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken from an application for reconsideration of an employment and support allowance decision to a decision being made on that case was in each month since October 2013.

Mr Mark Harper

The latest information available is provided in Table 2.1 in the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mandatory-reconsiderations-of-dwp-benefit-decisions-data-to-october-2014

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people receiving jobseeker’s allowance who have accessed Universal Jobmatch.

Esther McVey

Universal Jobmatch does not differentiate between the different types of user who access the service. Universal Jobmatch is open to all, whether they are in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance or not. There are currently 8.6 million registered users. In order to receive Jobseeker’s Allowance, claimants must (amongst other things) be available for and actively seeking work. Universal Jobmatch is a key source of jobs, so for the vast majority of claimants, using the service will be a key part of actively seeking work and also allows Jobcentre Plus Staff to assist claimants when looking for work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what definition the Government uses for classifying a zero hours contract.

Jo Swinson

There is no legal definition of a zero hours contract in UK domestic employment law. In general terms a zero hours contract is an arrangement under which an employer does not guarantee the individual any work, and the individual is not obliged to accept any work offered.

The ONS in their Labour Force Survey describe a zero hours contract as a contract ‘where a person is not contracted to work a set number of hours, and is only paid for the number of hours that they actually work’.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what processes his Department has agreed to enable housing associations to be informed when tenants migrate to universal credit.

Mr Mark Harper

The Social Security (Information-sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 came into force on 13 February 2015 and enable the Department to inform social landlords whenever one of their tenants makes a claim for, or receives an award of, Universal Credit (UC) with housing costs, for the purposes of enabling social landlords to assess which UC claimants may need advice, support or assistance in relation to managing their financial affairs.

The Department will write to social landlords when a tenant makes a claim for UC, or when a UC claimant becomes a tenant of theirs and the Department has confirmed the tenancy details. The letter will identify the tenant and confirm the date that UC has been claimed from. The information sharing with social landlords through these regulations is aimed at maximising relevant support for vulnerable UC claimants, including enabling social landlords to request Alternative Payment Arrangements (APA) for vulnerable claimants if needed. The Department’s proposals for sharing information with social landlords were published for public consultation last year. Apart from the public consultation, we have also been working closely with local authorities and representatives from the housing organisations in developing our plans for delivering this data sharing.

This data sharing is being implemented on a test and learn basis, and initially being introduced from 16 February 2015 in areas where UC has been rolled out nationally for single people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government and Merseyrail on electrification of the Wrexham to Bidston railway line.

Alun Cairns

On 30 January, I held a transport summit with businesses and local stakeholders in north Wales including Merseytravel and Arriva Trains Wales. The summit discussed transport priorities across north Wales and the case for investing in cross border routes including the rail line between Wrexham and Bidston.