Tag: Eilidh Whiteford

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on claimants of the (a) seven waiting days at the beginning of a universal credit claim and (b) six week period a claimant must wait before receiving their initial payment.

Damian Hinds

Many claimants come to Universal Credit with final earnings to support them until their first payment, and they often find work quickly.

The Universal Credit assessment period and payment structure is a fundamental part of the design; it mirrors the world of work, where 75% of people are paid monthly.

As with other working age benefits, Universal Credit is not designed to provide cover for brief spells of unemployment or sickness, and seven waiting days are served in Universal Credit as they are in Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance.

We have a number of safeguards in place to help claimants’ transition to Universal Credit, including Advances and Budgeting Support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, which official welfare-related engagements in Scotland (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department have attended together with Ministers in the Department of Work and Pensions since May 2010.

David Mundell

The Secretary of State for Scotland and I have carried out a series of welfare related visits from which we have fed back to DWP Ministers. DWP have also carried out a series of welfare related meetings. Specific accompanied visits are:

In 2011 the then Secretary of State for Scotland undertook in April a visit to High Riggs Jobcentre Plus with Chris Grayling, and in May attended a youth employment event in Irvine with Iain Duncan Smith.

In November 2012, Lord Freud and I undertook a series of welfare related engagements including meeting with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Edinburgh Council and Dunedin Canmore Housing Association; discussions with locally elected members from Dumfries and Galloway, West Dunbartonshire and North Lanarkshire; and meeting with the Scottish Parliament Welfare Reform Committee.

In July 2013, Lord Freud and I met with both the Scottish Minister for Housing and Welfare, Margaret Burgess MSP and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), at Lord Freud’s office in London.

Lord Freud and I also attended the 2013 Annual COSLA Conference where Lord Freud gave a key note speech on welfare reform.

I recently completed a second round of meetings with all 32 local authorities in Scotland to seek their feedback on how the welfare reform changes are working in practice. I was also pleased to give evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee on the 26 June 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to the statement of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee on 26 June 2014, that ‘I want an analysis of the use of foodbanks that everybody can subscribe to’, whether his Department (a) is producing, (b) has commissioned or (c) plans to produce or commission any new research into the use of foodbanks in Scotland.

David Mundell

My evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee on the 26 June highlighted the underlying complexity to the use of foodbanks and my desire to ensure that any further analysis be done in a way that would ensure widespread support.

The Government has already commissioned a report on food security by Warwick University, which was published in February 2014.

The Government has no immediate plans to produce or commission further research, but will keep this under review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which official welfare-related engagements (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department have attended in Scotland since May 2010.

Esther McVey

All visits to Scotland by this Department’s Ministers are welfare related engagements. The following gives details of those visits

Secretary of State

The Rt.Hon. Iain Duncan Smith

· September 2010 – delivered a speech and attended meetings in Edinburgh

· February 2011 – attended a meeting in Glasgow and conducted site visits in Motherwell

· April 2011 – conducted site visits in Edinburgh

· May 2011 – delivered a speech and conducted a site visit in Irvine

· September 2011 – delivered a speech in Edinburgh

· September 2011 – conducted a site visit in Leith and meetings in Edinburgh

· March 2012 – conducted a site visit and attended meetings in Edinburgh

· March 2012 – delivered a speech and conducted site visits in Dundee

· September 2012 – conducted site visits and delivered a speech in Glasgow

· March 2013 – delivered a speech and attended meetings in Edinburgh

Minister for Employment

The Rt.Hon Chris Grayling

· April 2011 – conducted a site visit and attended meetings in Edinburgh

· Jan 2012 – conducted site visits in Clydebank and Cumbernauld and attended meetings in Edinburgh

Mark Hoban MP

· March 2013 – conducted a site visit and attended meetings in Glasgow

Minister for Welfare Reform

Lord Freud

· November 2010 – delivered a speech and attended meetings in Edinburgh

· July 2012 – delivered a speech and attended meetings in Edinburgh

· November 2012 – attended meetings in Edinburgh

· March 2013 – delivered a speech in St Andrews

· June 2013 – delivered a speech and attended meetings in Glasgow and Edinburgh

· November 2013 – conducted a site visit to Inverness

Minister for Disabled People

The Rt.Hon Maria Miller

· September 2011 – attended meetings in Fife

· March 2012 – attended meetings in Edinburgh

The Rt.Hon Esther McVey

· October 2012 – conducted site visits in Edinburgh

· February 2013 – conducted site visits in Dundee

The Rt.Hon Mike Penning

· March 2014 – hosted an event in Glasgow

Minister for Pensions

Steve Webb MP

· Sept 2010 – attended a conference in Gleneagles

· March 2011 – delivered key note speech in Edinburgh; and provider visit

· September 2011 – attended a conference in Gleneagles

· April 2012 – conducted a site visit in Dundee and attended a meeting in Edinburgh, meeting Deputy First Minister

· September 2012 – attended a conference in Gleneagles

· September 2013 – attended a conference in Gleneagles

· March 2014 – delivered key note speech in Edinburgh; provider visit; roundtable event

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the statement by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee on 26 June 2014, that ‘there isn’t any doubt that there are some people who’ve gone to foodbanks because they have been subject, for example, to sanctions or delays in receiving benefits’.

Esther McVey

The evidence David Mundell, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland provided to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee on the 26 June highlighted the underlying complexity to the use of foodbanks.

The Government has already commissioned a report on food security by Warwick University, which was published in February 2014. The Government has no immediate plans to produce or commission further research, but will keep this under review.

Benefit clearance times are steadily improving with 92% of benefits being processed on time (within 16 days) nationally which is 6 percentage points higher than in 2009/10.

We have in place a robust system of safeguards that seek to ensure sanctions are only applied to those claimants who wilfully fail to meet their requirements. It remains the case that the vast majority of claimants do comply and are not sanctioned – each month only around 5% of JSA claimants are sanctioned and fewer than 1% of ESA claimants. Reduced payments are made where necessary to prevent hardship.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the statement of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee on 26 June 2014, that ‘I want an analysis of the use of foodbanks that everybody can subscribe to’, whether his Department (a) is producing, (b) has commissioned or (c) plans to commission any new research into the use of foodbanks.

Esther McVey

The evidence David Mundell, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland provided to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee on the 26 June highlighted the underlying complexity to the use of foodbanks.

The Government has already commissioned a report on food security by Warwick University, which was published in February 2014. The Government has no immediate plans to produce or commission further research, but will keep this under review.

Benefit clearance times are steadily improving with 92% of benefits being processed on time (within 16 days) nationally which is 6 percentage points higher than in 2009/10.

We have in place a robust system of safeguards that seek to ensure sanctions are only applied to those claimants who wilfully fail to meet their requirements. It remains the case that the vast majority of claimants do comply and are not sanctioned – each month only around 5% of JSA claimants are sanctioned and fewer than 1% of ESA claimants. Reduced payments are made where necessary to prevent hardship.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of households in Banff and Buchan constituency whose incomes from benefit payments have reduced by (a) 10 per cent, (b) between 20 and 49 per cent and (c) 50 per cent or more since May 2010.

Esther McVey

The requested information is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the impact assessment of the single-tier pension published in October 2013, if he will make an estimate of how many people reaching state pension age after implementation of the single-tier pension in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland would have been eligible for savings credit in (i) 2020 and (ii) 2030 had savings credit not been abolished.

Steve Webb

The full rate of the new State Pension will give an income above the basic means test, rewarding retirement income saving.

It is estimated that in 2020 around 10% of pensioner households receiving the new State Pension, around 200,000 benefit units, in Great Britain would be eligible for the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit if it had not been removed for people who reached State Pension age after the introduction of new State Pension in April 2016.

By 2030, it is estimated that 15% of the new State Pension households, around 1 million benefit units, would be in this position.

Not all of these people would take up their eligibility to Savings Credit. The Department estimates that take-up amongst people eligible for only the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit is between 43% and 48%.

Breakdowns of the impact analysis by country or region within Great Britain are not available.

It is estimated that retaining Savings Credit for all pensioners and uprating it line with earnings would lead to additional annual costs in the UK of around £2bn in 20 years’ time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2014-06-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK have received support through the Access to Work scheme in each of the last three years.

Mike Penning

Please see figures for the last full three financial years for which data is avaiable:

Numbers helped by Access to Work support in Scotland:

2010/11: 2,800

2011/12: 2,510

2012/13: 2,500

Numbers helped by Access to Work support in Great Britain:

2010/11: 35,820

2011/12: 30,780

2012/13: 31,500

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2014-06-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what funding has been provided to disabled people in Scotland and the UK through the Access to Work scheme in each of the last three years.

Mike Penning

Please see figures for the last full three financial years for which data is available

Access to Work programme spend in Scotland:

2010/11: £6.5m

2011/12: £6.0m

2012/13: £5.9m

Access to Work programme spend in Great Britain:

2010/11: £105.5m

2011/12: £98.3m

2012/13: £99.0m