Tag: Owen Smith

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to universal credit, what his estimate is of Government spending on transitional protection where entitlement is lower in each year until 2018-19.

Priti Patel

Our estimates of Government spending on transitional protection over the Spending Review period are: £120 million in 2018/19. The national implementation of managed migration is not planned to start before June 2018, and so transitional protection will not start until then.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disabled people have been helped back to work by the Access to Work scheme in each of the last five years.

Justin Tomlinson

The table below lists annual totals for people who have been helped by Access to Work in each of the last five years.

Customer Type	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Existing customer	22,480	20,760	20,670	22,850	24,730
New customer helped	13,330	10,010	10,830	12,720	12,080
Total	35,810	30,780	31,500	35,560	36,820

Access to Work is not an exclusively back-to-work scheme and the department’s data do not distinguish between those helped into new employment opportunities and those helped to retain existing work. The data quoted here are for total numbers helped by Access to Work.
These figures are taken from the latest statistics for Access to Work, which show figures for people helped by the scheme going back to 2007 and are published quarterly here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/468889/access-to-work-statistics-apr-jun-2015.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will publish an impact assessment in respect of the Universal Credit (Work Allowance) Amendment Regulations 2015.

Priti Patel

The impact of the work allowance change cannot be considered in isolation – it is part of a broader package of measures announced at the Summer Budget, such as the increase to the personal tax allowance and introduction of the national living wage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of tax credit recipients who are likely to be migrated onto universal credit in each year of this Parliament.

Priti Patel

The number of people on benefits is driven by a range of factors. Because of this, the programme measures progress by the successful achievement of milestones of its delivery plan rather than targets for numbers of claimants.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to prepare for the administration of changes to migrant benefits proposed under the planned emergency brake on in-work benefits for EU citizens in employment in the UK.

Priti Patel

These details are a matter for the implementation of the proposal, and further announcements will be made in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff are employed in delivering the Fit for Work programme in (a) Sheffield, (b) Nantgarw and (c) the UK.

Justin Tomlinson

As at 31 March 2016, Health Management Limited (HML), which delivers in England and Wales, employs 83.93 staff at its Sheffield office, 18 staff at its Nantgarw office and a further 19.6 staff elsewhere in England and Wales. Fit for Work Scotland employs 46.4 staff in Scotland. The total for the UK is therefore 167.9.

(Staffing numbers are given in full-time-equivalent figures)

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his oral contribution of 21 March 2016, Official Report, column 1269, whether his Department plans to proceed with the removal of housing benefit for people aged between 18 and 21 years old.

Justin Tomlinson

The Government will be taking forward its plans to remove the automatic entitlement to housing support for new claims in Universal Credit for 18-21 year olds who are out of work from April 2017; as announced in the 2015 Summer Budget. The planned changes will ensure that vulnerable young people who are in need of support for their housing needs continue to receive it whilst maintaining a system that is fair to the taxpayer

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of people relying on temporary accommodation since 2010.

Mr Marcus Jones

Provision of temporary accommodation ensures that homeless households in priority need are not left without a roof over their heads.

We have provided more than £500 million since 2010 to support local authorities and the voluntary and community sector to tackle and prevent homelessness. This has helped prevent homelessness for 935,000 households.

Households leaving temporary accommodation now spend, on average, 7 months less in temporary accommodation than they did in 2010.

The numbers of households in temporary accommodation remain well below their peak, when they hit 101,000 in 2004.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of pensioners who will not be exempt from the size criteria of universal credit.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many days were lost to sickness in his Department in each of the last 10 years.

Justin Tomlinson

We have greatly reduced sickness absence in DWP from an average of 11.1 days per employee eight years ago to just 6.4 days per employee now. This is below the figure for the public sector of 7.9 days on average per employee, which was independently reported by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development in its latest sickness absence report.

The number of working days lost to sickness within the Department for Work and Pensions in each of the last 10 years is recorded in the following table.

Period	Working Days Lost to Sickness Absence	Average Working Days Lost per Employee
2014/15	527,961	6.5
2013/14	620,122	6.9
2012/13	699,731	7.4
2011/12	671,412	7.3
2010/11	846,168	8.1
2009/10	911,809	8.5
2008/09	849,448	8.9
2007/08	1,053,768	10.1
2006/07	1,361,196	11.1
2005	1,233,162	10.1