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 job advisers he plans to locate in food banks.
Priti Patel
I refer the Hon. Member to the answers I gave on 3 November 2015 to Question 14114 and 14139
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were paid their Christmas bonus on their benefits in the first week of December 2015.
Priti Patel
For Working Age a total of 430,160 customersreceived their Christmas Bonus with their benefit payment for the period covering week commencing 7th December.
The Pension Service has deemed that to provide a response to this PQ for any of their products could only be provided at a disproportionate cost to the Department.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of times a universal credit claimant has been paid housing benefit and housing costs at the same time resulting in an overpayment of housing benefit.
Priti Patel
The information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the risk register for the universal credit programme.
Priti Patel
In accordance with government policy in this area, the Department does not publish risk registers for major programmes.
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 employed in delivering the Fit for Work programme are (a) registered as disabled or in receipt of disabled people’s benefits and (b) returning to work after serious illness or injury.
Justin Tomlinson
Health Management Ltd (HML), responsible for delivering Fit for Work in England and Wales, does not hold records of staff members who are disabled or who are in receipt of disabled person’s benefits although the company does provide the opportunity for people to self-declare a disability should they wish to do so.
Since Fit for Work was launched, seven members of staff have returned to work following a serious illness or injury. ‘Serious illness or injury’ is here considered to mean an absence of four weeks or more.
For Scottish Government, which is responsible for delivering Fit for Work in Scotland, does not collect this information centrally.
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.