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, which one of his Department’s assets Telereal Trillium are responsible for maintaining.

Justin Tomlinson

Since 1998 the Department for Work and Pensions occupies space provided through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) known as the PRIME Contract.

Under the terms of this PFI Contract the Department sold all of its property assets and assigned all leases held to Telereal Trillium, and now leases back fully serviced accommodation from them.

As such the Department does not own any assets that are maintained by Telereal Trillium.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the number of people who have been affected by the under-occupancy penalty.

Justin Tomlinson

Current numbers of people affected by this measure can be found using the following link to Stat-Xpore:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

Following on from the 2012 impact assessment an independent two year evaluation was commissioned that looked at the effects of this policy. The interim report was published last July and the final report is due to be published before the end of the year.

A link to the interim evaluation can be found below:-

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/329948/rr882-evaluation-of-removal-of-the-spare-room-subsidy.pdf

The full report will be published by the end of the year.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the results were of temperature tests to determine eligibility to receive winter fuel allowance of people living abroad in 2015.

Justin Tomlinson

The winter fuel payment eligibility criteria for people who normally live in the EEA, was changed for winter 2015-16. A temperature criterion was introduced by the DWP using information from a report it commissioned from the Met Office. This report showed the average winter temperature data for each EEA country and Switzerland and for the regions of the UK. The Met Office report was produced in 2012 and used information from a dataset for the reference period 1961-1990 available through the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia.

The average winter temperature in the warmest part of the UK, the South West, is 5.6^oC. This point is the basis for the changes made to the winter fuel payment eligibility criteria. People living in countries with an average winter temperature of no more than 5.6^oC, or a temperature that is close enough to that to be statistically equivalent, are eligible for a winter fuel payment.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what preparatory work his Department has undertaken on the administration of differential rates of child benefit across EU member states.

Damian Hinds

Details of the proposals for child benefit are subject to ongoing negotiation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2016 to Question 30330, if he will publish examples of the feedback received on the placing of work coaches in foodbanks.

Priti Patel

The Department has shared findings from the food bank initiative with Jobcentre District Managers. There are no plans to publish the Lalley Community Centre findings externally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new staff have been appointed to his Department since 21 March 2016.

Justin Tomlinson

A total of 337 new employees were appointed to the Department for Work and Pensions during the period 21 March 2016 to 25 April 2016.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many ongoing legal disputes his Department is currently engaged in.

Justin Tomlinson

The Department does not hold any central register of on-going legal disputes.

To collate the information requested would take the costs of responding to the question over the disproportionate cost threshold.

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

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment the Government has made of the rates of productivity of young employed people in the UK.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the morale of his Department’s staff.

Justin Tomlinson

The morale of the Department’s staff is not measured although the related concept of Employee Engagement is measured regularly through the Department’s annual People Survey.

The People Survey is conducted in the Autumn every year and we are currently in the middle of completing this year’s survey.

Results will be available and made accessible to the public through the Gov.uk website in mid-November.

Last year’s results can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/397958/dwp-people-survey-2014.pdf

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment the Government has made of the potential effect on productivity of increasing the minimum wage.

Nick Boles

The Government will publish a full Impact Assessment alongside draft regulations to implement the National Living Wage.

As noted in Summer Budget 2015, at a firm level there is some evidence that previous increases in minimum wages in low paying firms may have been associated with increases in productivity.

Additionally, the Office for Budget Responsibility has published an estimate of the aggregate impact on productivity due to compositional change in the economy. They estimate an increase in hourly productivity in 2020 of 0.3 percentage points through this mechanism.