The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance his Department issues to employers on helping employees with the cost of childcare.
Nicky Morgan
HM Revenue & Customs has published extensive guidance to help employers run successful childcare schemes, including the Employer Helpbook E18 ‘How you can help your employees with childcare’.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) staff in his Department and (b) members of the public who use his Department’s on-site nurseries.
Mike Penning
The number of DWP families who use the on site nurseries was provided in PQ195198:
10 Apr 2014, Column 320W, Nurseries: House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 10 Apr 2014 (pt 0001)
37 members of the public use the Department’s on site nurseries.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether jobseekers must declare casual income earned during a sanction period once their jobseeker’s allowance claim is resumed; and whether that amount is then deducted from subsequent benefit payments.
Esther McVey
When a Jobseeker’s Allowance Claimant is subject to a sanction, the award continues even if no actual payments are being made. As such the claimant should continue to notify changes of circumstances, including casual work. The normal JSA rules apply, whereby if the hours worked exceed 16 hours or the earnings are higher than the rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance, the award will end.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the Health and Safety Executive will create a register of qualified professionals to ensure that clinical research is carried out safely.
Norman Lamb
The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for the enforcement of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and ensuring that “risks to people’s health and safety from work activities are properly controlled”.
The Health Research Authority (HRA) ensures that ethically-approved clinical research is carried out by suitably qualified professionals through its arrangements for research ethics committee review. Research ethics committee review includes scrutiny of researchers’ suitability to conduct the research they are proposing. This review is required by Departmental guidance, which applies to all health and adult social care research, and by legislation, for instance, in the case of clinical trials, by Schedule 1 part 2(2) of the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/1031).
The HRA publishes a register of research summaries, including a contact name (usually that of the chief investigator) and the research ethics committee’s opinion. The register is publicly available on line at:
www.nres.nhs.uk/researchsummaries
From September 2013, registration of clinical trials in a publicly accessible database is a condition of the favourable ethical opinion given by a research ethics committee.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent assisting people with the costs of (a) travel to interview and (b) clothing for interviews or to commence work in each year since 2005.
Esther McVey
The information requested is only available from 2007. (a) The costs of assisting people travel to job interviews for each year from 2007 are:
(b) Expenditure for equipment to assist people taking up work, including clothing, for each year from 2007 is in the table below. This expenditure also includes assistance with other equipment e.g. health and safety related workwear, work tools and equipment, bicycles and accessories, laptops and mobile phones.
Expenditure totals are not available solely for clothing and would incur disproportionate cost to identify separately.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average duration has been of the assessment period for each claim for personal independence payment from a person diagnosed with a terminal illness in each of the three months to June 2014.
Mike Penning
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the Written Answer I gave him on 18 June, Official Report, column 629W. Information on clearance times is not currently available. Statistics on clearance times are intended for future publication.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of partners in small businesses who will apply for universal credit; and what steps such people need to take to establish their monthly income in order to do so.
Esther McVey
We have not produced estimates of the numbers of partners in small businesses who will apply for Universal Credit.
Guidance on self-employment issued for Universal Credit decision makers can be found in the Advice for Decision Makers, which is available online at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advice-for-decision-making-staff-guide
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the contracts for personal independence payments assessments were awarded to Atos and Capita; and how many applications they were forecast to have processed by (a) March 2014 and (b) March 2015.
Mike Penning
The start date for both ATOS and Capita contracts was the 31st July 2012.
No forecast figures are available for numbers of applications processed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people started to receive universal credit in March 2014.
Esther McVey
Statistics on how many people started Universal Credit in March 2014 can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has given to the tribunals service of how many appeals will be brought by universal credit claimants in each of the next five years.
Esther McVey
We announced our plans for the implementation of Universal Credit on 5 December, and these were set out in a written ministerial statement Official Report 5 Dec 2013, Column 65WS. The WMS can be found here:
Official statistics on Universal Credit were most recently published on 14th May and can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics
Our estimates of the number of appeals will depend on the details of the migration schedule which will be determined in due course.
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