The Prime Minister is clear that tackling poverty and disadvantage, and delivering real social reform, is a priority for this Government.

The Department for Work and Pensions is leading work across Government to bring forward a social justice green paper in the New Year. This will identify and address the root causes of poverty, building upon the two statutory indicators set out in the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.

My Lords, the noble Baroness is right about the serious challenge that we face. Key to this, of course, is building more, and she will know that we are committed to that, with 400,000 affordable homes and a target of a million new homes in this Parliament. That is part of it, but I acknowledge the importance of working with charitable partners, which we are committed to doing and are doing, as I saw yesterday on a visit to Chelmsford.

The EPI report fails to recognise the fact that the government’s proposals are about creating more good school places for more parents in more parts of the country by giving them more choice. Our proposals to expand the number of good school places available to parents will help more young people have the chance to go as far as their talents will take them.

Faith schools are among the highest performing schools in the country, with more primary and secondary faith schools judged good or outstanding than their non-faith counterparts[1]. Faith schools are popular with parents and the removal of the 50% faith cap will enable the establishment of even more good schools.

[1]Ofsted official statistics: Maintained schools and academies inspections and outcomes as at 31 March 2016 shows faith schools are more likely to be good or outstanding as compared to non-faith schools (89% as compared to 86% at primary; 81% as compared to 75% at secondary).

The report “Unfinished Business: where next for extended schools?” was received and reviewed by my Department. Officials have met representatives of the Child Poverty Action Group to discuss the findings. This report adds to our evidence base in this policy area.

My Department is also currently extending that evidence base by conducting in-depth research on what activities schools offer outside their core timetable and the challenges they encounter.

As a part of the March 2016 Budget, the previous Chancellor announced that funding from the soft drinks industry levy would help up to 25% of secondary schools to extend their school day.

The Department is currently determining the details of how this funding will be allocated and we will provide further details in due course.

I cannot but I can assure noble Lords that, as soon as I get any information on this, your Lordships will be the first to know.

The Department does not track individual claims made by refugees. However, where people have problems getting a bank account, they are not prevented from making a claim for Universal Credit. Furthermore, DWP in conjunction with the Home Office, are currently piloting a new process to assist asylum seekers granted refugee status and needing support to make a claim to benefits.

Officials are currently assessing the data for Universal Credit and will only release information once the necessary quality assurance work has taken place. These statistics will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics. The Department does not track individual claims made by refugees and therefore this information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The Department does not track individual claims made by refugees. However, where people have problems getting a bank account, they are not prevented from making a claim for Universal Credit. Furthermore, DWP in conjunction with the Home Office, are currently piloting a new process to assist asylum seekers granted refugee status and needing support to make a claim to benefits.

Officials are currently assessing the data for Universal Credit and will only release information once the necessary quality assurance work has taken place. These statistics will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics. The Department does not track individual claims made by refugees and therefore this information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The Universal Credit Decision position is significantly improved and by January, it is anticipated the volume of outstanding sanction decisions would take 5 working days to clear.

We do not currently have data to indicate performance by time band for Universal Credit Full Service or for 3 days. The information below relates to Universal Credit Live Service only as a result.

Of the 25,154 decisions made in October 2016, 7789 (31.0%) were made in 0-5 working days. 14,705 (58.5%) were made in a timeframe exceeding 28 working days.

The noble Baroness raises an important point—we certainly would not want these children, who have experienced terrible trauma in their lives, to go on to experience trafficking. Obviously, we have been concerned about safeguarding these children, and there is intelligence in the broader sense on trafficking, but I can let the noble Baroness know specifically what proactive work we are doing with regard to children who come here. We are meeting tomorrow, so perhaps we can have a further catch-up about that.

The review of citizenship is ongoing.

Data on the level of care available to older people needing care is not held centrally. NHS Digital collects, analyses and publishes data on local authority funded social care activity, including outcomes for users and carers, finance and user experience.

NHS Digital keeps its data under review as part of its commitment to ensuring information is relevant, useful and up to date.

In addition, the Care Quality Commission collects data on all care providers. It covers every hospital, care home, general practitioner, dentist and care home agency in England as well as other types of service like ambulances, prison care services and hospices.

The Department for Education intends to publish the questionnaire from the first Children’s Services Omnibus Survey in Spring 2017, as part of the research report. This is standard practice for research reports. There are no plans to publish the questionnaire prior to this.

The Government have consistently reduced the cost of tax relief on pensions by introducing the lifetime allowance, which has now been reduced to £1 million, and the annual allowance, which has been reduced to £40,000. This year we made further savings of up to £4 billion over the lifetime of this Parliament by saying that for those who earn over £150,000 the £40,000 relief is tapered. So we have made substantial savings in the cost of pensions tax relief.

I entirely agree with the noble Baroness about the importance of ensuring high quality. Our entire focus is on that, particularly for children with SEND. An additional needs element is factored into the early years funding formula to better target funding towards local authorities with a higher relative proportion of children with additional needs, and our final funding policy confirmed last week includes a new disability access fund worth £615 per child per year to support disabled three and four year-olds, and a requirement for all local authorities to have inclusion funds to channel additional support to children with SEND.

The issuing of F-001 requests is the responsibility of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). HMRC does not keep a record of the number of F001s issued.

Regulation (EC) 883/2004 co-ordinates social security systems across the EU, EEA and Switzerland. Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 is the implementation regulation which provides for administrative co-operation between Member States to implement the co-ordination regulation.

Article 6 provides for a Member State to make benefit payments on a provisional basis as the Member State of residence if there is a dispute with another Member State as to who is responsible for the payment of benefits. Article 7 provides for a Member State to make a provisional award of benefit if another Member State has not provided all the evidence requested from them.

The Government does not collect information on the number of provisional benefit payments made on the basis of either Article 6 or 7 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009.

There is published guidance on how to determine an award of benefit through the application of Article 6 (Annex A DWP Annex B HMRC). This is part of the Decision Makers Guidance which is made available to the public.

In domestic guidance there is the facility for a decision maker to make an award of benefit where the evidence required is incomplete, with a revision of that award undertaken, if appropriate, once the required evidence is received. This would cover claims made under Article 7. Each claim to benefit is assessed on a case by case basis.

Regulation (EC) 883/2004 co-ordinates social security systems across the EU, EEA and Switzerland. Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 is the implementation regulation which provides for administrative co-operation between Member States to implement the co-ordination regulation.

Article 6 provides for a Member State to make benefit payments on a provisional basis as the Member State of residence if there is a dispute with another Member State as to who is responsible for the payment of benefits. Article 7 provides for a Member State to make a provisional award of benefit if another Member State has not provided all the evidence requested from them.

The Government does not collect information on the number of provisional benefit payments made on the basis of either Article 6 or 7 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009.

There is published guidance on how to determine an award of benefit through the application of Article 6 (Annex A DWP Annex B HMRC). This is part of the Decision Makers Guidance which is made available to the public.

In domestic guidance there is the facility for a decision maker to make an award of benefit where the evidence required is incomplete, with a revision of that award undertaken, if appropriate, once the required evidence is received. This would cover claims made under Article 7. Each claim to benefit is assessed on a case by case basis.

Regulation (EC) 883/2004 co-ordinates social security systems across the EU, EEA and Switzerland. Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 is the implementation regulation which provides for administrative co-operation between Member States to implement the co-ordination regulation.

Article 6 provides for a Member State to make benefit payments on a provisional basis as the Member State of residence if there is a dispute with another Member State as to who is responsible for the payment of benefits. Article 7 provides for a Member State to make a provisional award of benefit if another Member State has not provided all the evidence requested from them.

The Government does not collect information on the number of provisional benefit payments made on the basis of either Article 6 or 7 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009.

There is published guidance on how to determine an award of benefit through the application of Article 6 (Annex A DWP Annex B HMRC). This is part of the Decision Makers Guidance which is made available to the public.

In domestic guidance there is the facility for a decision maker to make an award of benefit where the evidence required is incomplete, with a revision of that award undertaken, if appropriate, once the required evidence is received. This would cover claims made under Article 7. Each claim to benefit is assessed on a case by case basis.

The staff of the DWP, who I think are effectively being attacked in that Question and by its implications, have really transformed the way that they approach this. With the work coach transformation they are tailoring requirements to the needs of individuals, following a thorough discussion with them on what their needs are in order to get them to play an economic part in this country.

We aim to keep all our policies under constant review to ensure that they continue to function effectively and fairly. The film is one person’s interpretation of the benefit system. I make it clear that our staff, who work incredibly hard day in

and day out, are committed to supporting the most vulnerable and helping people who are able to find work to get a job.