To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are currently in receipt of (a) universal credit and (b) any working age benefit.

The information is as follows:

(a) I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I provided on 2 September 2013, OfficialReport, column 251W, to Ian Lavery. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish Official Statistics on pathfinder areas in autumn.

(b) We released our latest full quarterly National Statistics on benefit claimants (February 2013 data) on 14 August 2013 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. This was also our latest monthly release. Official figures can be found on the DWP statistical summaries page of the GOV.UK website:

DWP statistical summaries—Department for Work and Pensions:

www.gov.uk