The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to change the rules on staff-pupil ratios in early education settings.
Mr Sam Gyimah
There are no plans to change the staff: child ratios for providers registered on the Early Years Register. Lord Nash made clear, during passage of the Childcare Bill in the House of Lords, that we are committed to keeping the existing ratios.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department’s press release, Prison building revolution announced by Chancellor and Justice Secretary, published on 9 November 2015, what discussions he has had with prison and probation staff on the planned closure of prisons in central London.
Andrew Selous
On 9 November the Chancellor and Secretary of State announced their intention to build a prison estate which allows prisoners to be rehabilitated, thereby enabling them to turn away from a life of crime. This will involve building nine new prisons and closing old and inefficient prisons which do not support the aims of a redesigned estate. No decisions have yet been made on where new prisons will be built.
We are currently considering which of our old and inefficient prisons will close. We will engage with stakeholders during the process of sale including valuation experts and potential developers in order to maximise the value achieved.
Any relocation of prisoners will be done with careful planning. Where staff are affected they will be managed through the process of change using processes deployed during previous closures.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government plans to maintain a separate programme of employment support for people with disabilities after the end of the current contracts for the Work Programme and Work Choice.
Priti Patel
Increasing disability employment is a key part of the Government’s aim to achieve full employment. That is why this Government is committed to halving the disability employment gap by creating the opportunity for a million more disabled people to work.
The Spending Review announced that a new ‘Work and Health Programme’ will replace Work Choice and the Work Programme when current contracts end, restructuring our current provision to providing the best possible support for claimants with disabilities or health conditions as well as those who are long term unemployed. The Department will work with stakeholders on the design, including the structure and how people will be referred to the programme.
The Government will publish a White Paper next year that will set out reforms to improve support for people with health conditions and disabilities and further reduce the disability employment gap.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of new claims for housing benefit in the private rented sector in each of the last 10 years were made by people who were in work at the time they made their claim.
Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not held.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to bring into force section 31 of the Welfare Reform Act 2009.
Priti Patel
There are no current plans to bring into force Section 31 of the Welfare Reform Act 2009.
The claimant commitment, which Work Coaches put together with claimants,
sets requirements that are tailored for a broad range of circumstances, including for matters relating to the wellbeing of children. These reasonable requirements are recorded within the jobseeker’s agreement or action plan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 1.149 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, on what basis the total amount allocated to local authorities for funding temporary accommodation has been calculated.
Mr Marcus Jones
The Spending Review and Autumn Statement announced that funding of the Temporary Accommodation management fee will be devolved to local authorities from 2017/18, giving them more freedom and flexibility in how they use this funding. Current levels of funding will be maintained and, in addition, councils will receive £10 million a year more. The Department for Communities and Local Government will set out the precise detail of how the new funding will be distributed in 2016/17. The Department will work closely with local authorities and other partners to ensure that funding will be allocated in order to most effectively help councils tackle homelessness.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of restricting housing benefit entitlement for single social tenants under the age of 35 to the Shared Accommodation Rate of the relevant Local Housing Allowance on (a) levels of homelessness and (b) the availability of social housing for that age group.
Justin Tomlinson
The introduction of Local Housing Allowance limits to housing benefit and Universal Credit houisng element awards will only apply from April 2018, where new tenancies have been taken out or renewed after April 2016.
Tenants who take on a new tenancy or renew a tenancy will have the opportunity to consider whether they can afford to take on the property before committing to it. Because of the element of choice it is not possible to accurately estimate whether there will be any impact upon homelessness or the availability of social housing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the amount his Department will save as a result of limiting the backdating of housing benefit to a maximum of one month in each of the next four years; and how that estimate was calculated.
Justin Tomlinson
Although information is collected that would enable an estimate to be calculated, the variables in question have not be quality assured to sufficient standards to provide a response. To do so would result in disproportionate costs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department’s publication, Mandatory Programmes official statistics: May 2011 to August 2015, published on 25 November 2015, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the difference between the number of people referred to the Mandatory Work Activity scheme and the number of people who subsequently joined the programme during this period.
Priti Patel
Mandatory Work Activity is a supportive programme designed to help claimants who need extra support from a short work placement to re-focus their job search activity and gain further experience of work. Unemployed Jobseekers Allowance or Universal Credit claimants are referred for up to 4 weeks work experience and will participate on the placement for up to 30 hours a week.
The number of referrals and starts is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/pre-work-programme-and-get-britain-working.
An impact assessment of Mandatory Work Activity was published in 2012 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mandatory-work-activity–2) which considered referrals to the programme in the period May to July 2012. An evaluation of Mandatory Work Activity also published in 2012 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-mandatory-work-activity-rr823) which included a telephone survey of participants who had been referred to and started an Mandatory Work Allowance placement.
The evaluation and impact assessment were conducted in 2012 and does not cover the period of the Official Statistics from May 2011 to August 2015.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report entitled, Estimating the Early Labour Market Impacts of Universal Credit, published by his Department in December 2015, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of (a) the finding reported on page 27, that the additional work undertaken by participants in the study who were claiming universal credit is likely to consist of relatively few hours at relatively low wages and (b) the findings of the independent peer review, published in Annex B of the report, that the differences between the earnings of people in receipt of universal credit and people in the control group were not satisfactory significant.
Priti Patel
The main and most robust finding in the report is that UC has a substantial impact on the chances of people moving into work after they make a new claim. UC claimants were 8 percentage points more likely to get a job within 270 days of claiming than equivalent new claims to JSA made at the same time in similar areas by similar individuals.
The report and the peer review also set out findings on earnings. These are consistent with the extra people in work and suggest that the policy is working by making it more worthwhile and easier for claimants to do small amounts of work. That is, UC ensures that all work pays.
Most of the findings on earnings are statistically significant. As the report explains, we will be able to improve these estimates over time as we get more data.