Does not the blocking of Joshua Wong as a council candidate offend against the very basic principles of the Sino-British agreement, and what is the Secretary of State planning to do about it?

As I mentioned in my response to the hon. Member for Blaydon (Liz Twist), the local elections on 24 November will be an important milestone to see whether there can be a de-escalation of tensions in Hong Kong, and a path towards political dialogue and engagement that is consistent with the joint declaration and one country, two systems. I share my right hon. Friend’s concern about the barring of Joshua Wong because standing for election is a fundamental right enshrined in Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which itself reflects the one country, two systems model. We continue to make our concerns known to our Chinese partners.

We are concerned by the rejection of Joshua Wong's nomination for next month's local elections. Standing for election is a fundamental right enshrined in Hong Kong's Basic Law and Bill of Rights. Now, more than ever, it is vital that Hong Kong's political processes and institutions help to build trust amongst the public. Hong Kong's success is built on its rights and freedoms, including open and inclusive debate. We will continue to make these points to the Hong Kong SAR government.

Hong Kong district council elections will be an important opportunity for the citizens of Hong Kong to exercise their rights to make their voices heard. We will of course follow the conduct of the elections closely, and raise any concerns with the relevant authorities.

Hardship payments provide financial protection for claimants whose benefit is reduced by a Fraud Loss of Benefit penalty or a Benefit Sanction.

For a) and b), the information requested is not readily available at a country or constituency level and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

For c) the requested data is provided for Great Britain in the following two tables for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) respectively. Please note, figures supplied are derived from data which has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standard. These results can change retrospectively as further information is received. They should therefore be treated with caution. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 1,000.

For Universal Credit, the data cannot be disaggregated to identify the hardship payments that have been directly attributed to the application of a benefit sanction from those resulting from a fraud penalty.

The Department will look to publish its evaluation by the end of 2019.

Statistics on the volume and outcomes of Universal Credit sanction appeal decisions for Live Service claimants are published and can be found at:

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

Guidance for users is available at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

The numbers for full service claimants are not readily available and we anticipate this would incur disproportionate costs.

Jobcentres have discretion to work with a wide range of partners including food banks, and can signpost customers to food banks where they have asked for details, and where all sources of statutory support have been considered. Jobcentre staff are not required to keep records of the numbers or circumstances of benefit claimants they signpost, and we have no current plans to changes these arrangements.

Sanctions are only used in a minority of cases. We have a well-established system of hardship payments, available as a safeguard if a claimant demonstrates that they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs, including accommodation, heating, food and hygiene, as a result of their sanction.

In respect of (a) `reduce the maximum length of financial sanctions for welfare claimants from three years to six months,` we laid legislation to reduce the maximum length of higher-level sanctions from three years to six months on 16 October 2019. We are now working to update communications and Learning and Development products ahead of the legislation coming into force on 27 November 2019.

In respect of (b) `improve access to the labour market for underrepresented groups:`

• We are committed to ensuring that everyone - irrespective of their gender - is able to enter work, progress in work and realise financial security. We are making Universal Credit work better for women, including building the capability of Work Coaches and supporting women in low-paid employment or multiple jobs to increase their earnings. We are also supporting women on Universal Credit to progress from low paying jobs, through a programme of research and trials into the barriers they face and into what works to tackle those barriers.

• To improve access to the labour market for ethnic minorities, we are providing targeted employment support in 20 areas across Great Britain with high levels of ethnic minority unemployment. In these areas, Jobcentre Plus works with employers and local authorities, wider public services and the voluntary sector to overcome barriers to employment faced by different ethnic groups. Lessons learned are shared across the wider Jobcentre Plus network.

• To support older people in remaining and returning to work, we abolished the default retirement age and extended the right to request flexible working.

• In 2017, we published the Fuller Working Lives Strategy, which aims to increase the retention, retraining and recruitment of older workers, by bringing about a change in the perceptions & attitudes of employers, and by challenging the views of working in later life and retirement amongst individuals. We also appointed the Business Champion for Older Workers to spearhead our work to support employers to retain, retrain and recruit older workers.

• In respect of people with disabilities, The Work and Heath Programme (WHP), which is working with local providers to offer co-ordinated support to those with multiple employment barriers, will help 275,000 people over 5 years, including 220,000 disabled people.

• Other DWP initiatives include Intensive Personalised Employment Support Programme (IPES) due to launch before the end of 2019, Access to Work and Disability Confident. In addition, our Jobcentres offer tailored support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers, backed by the Personal Support Package which is a 4 year, £330 million package of employment support targeted at claimants with disabilities and health conditions.

• In respect of those at a disadvantage in the labour market, five DWP locally funded innovation pilots were launched between February and June 2018, aimed at providing tailored support to tackle long term barriers to work and in-work progression for those on low pay.

In respect of (c) `double membership to the Disability Confident scheme:` We are actively working with internal and external stakeholders, including the high profile Business Leaders Group, other representatives of Business and Jobcentre Plus, to promote the Disability Confident scheme and encourage employer sign up. As of 13th September 2019, the latest published figures show that 13,600 employers had signed up to the scheme and that number is growing week by week.

In respect of (d) ‘consult on reforming statutory sick pay,’ we published the consultation `health is everyone’s business` in mid-July and it closed on 7 October. We have received a good response from a range of stakeholders and we are currently reviewing the detailed responses to inform decisions on next steps.