Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1314940

registered interest
date	17/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What steps she is taking to ensure that assessments for health and disability benefits are conducted safely during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Sittingbourne and Sheppey
tabling member printed	Gordon Henderson
uin	900037
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2021 answer text <p>In March 2020, to ensure safety, we paused face-to-face assessments and assessed through paper-based review, telephone and video assessments. Working with providers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, we developed guidance to ensure the re-opening of assessment centres and resumption of face-to-face assessments can be conducted safely. Face-to-face will initially be for claimants unable to be assessed through other means.</p><p /> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 17/05/2021 15:16:03 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4050 label Biography information for Gordon Henderson

1314941

registered interest
date	17/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Employment: Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What steps she is taking to ensure equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
tabling member constituency	Redcar
tabling member printed	Jacob Young
uin	900038
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2021 answer text <p>This Government is committed to seeing 1 million more disabled people in work by 2027. The department delivers a range of initiatives which includes specialised employment support like the Work and Health Programme, local trials in partnership with health, Access to Work and Disability Confident.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 17/05/2021 15:19:35 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4825 label Biography information for Jacob Young

1314942

registered interest
date	17/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pensions: Personal Savings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What assessment she has made of the effect of pension auto-enrolment on levels of retirement savings among people in Bury South constituency.
tabling member constituency	Bury South
tabling member printed	Christian Wakeford
uin	900040
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2021 answer text <p>In Bury South, 10,000 employees now have an automatically enrolled workplace pension, saving 8% per annum and I would encourage more to do the same.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 17/05/2021 15:21:30 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4871 label Biography information for Christian Wakeford

1314759

registered interest
date	14/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Sign Language
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to bring forward legislative proposals on the legal recognition of British Sign Language; and what steps she has taken to ensure local authorities raise awareness of British Sign Language.
tabling member constituency	Ynys Môn
tabling member printed	Virginia Crosbie
uin	1415
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/05/2021 answer text <p>On 18 March 2003 the UK government formally recognised that British Sign Language (BSL) is a language in its own right. Provision for accessing services by users of BSL are covered by the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty.</p><p> </p><p>Existing equality legislation already means employers, service providers and public bodies have to provide services in BSL and other formats when it is reasonable to do so. The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies, when carrying out their functions, to have due regard to the needs of a range of protected characteristics, including disability.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 19/05/2021 12:51:28 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4859 label Biography information for Virginia Crosbie

1314883

registered interest
date	14/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to increase data sharing with local authorities on universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Preseli Pembrokeshire
tabling member printed	Stephen Crabb
uin	1283
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2021 answer text <p>The Department already shares significant amounts of Universal Credit (UC) data through a secure mechanism with Local Authorities (LAs), including through a daily feed of change notifications to support administration of Council Tax Reduction schemes. In addition, LAs have access to claimant level UC data via a system called Searchlight. We continue to engage with LAs to enhance our understanding of how data access may support localised provision.</p><p> </p><p>To further support LAs in identifying vulnerable families, we are also planning to provide them with information about those Universal Credit claims with limited capability for work as well as claims with earnings below the free school meals and free prescription thresholds before the end of May.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 1284 question first answered 18/05/2021 15:58:49 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1554 label Biography information for Stephen Crabb

1314884

registered interest
date	14/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of sharing universal credit data with local authorities to help improve local responses to poverty.
tabling member constituency	Preseli Pembrokeshire
tabling member printed	Stephen Crabb
uin	1284
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2021 answer text <p>The Department already shares significant amounts of Universal Credit (UC) data through a secure mechanism with Local Authorities (LAs), including through a daily feed of change notifications to support administration of Council Tax Reduction schemes. In addition, LAs have access to claimant level UC data via a system called Searchlight. We continue to engage with LAs to enhance our understanding of how data access may support localised provision.</p><p> </p><p>To further support LAs in identifying vulnerable families, we are also planning to provide them with information about those Universal Credit claims with limited capability for work as well as claims with earnings below the free school meals and free prescription thresholds before the end of May.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 1283 question first answered 18/05/2021 15:58:49 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1554 label Biography information for Stephen Crabb

1314900

registered interest
date	14/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to reduce the backlog of assessments for universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Heeley
tabling member printed	Louise Haigh
uin	1334
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/05/2021 answer text <p>For the purposes of this response, I have assumed the Honourable Member is referring to Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) used to assess the health entitlement in Universal Credit when referring to “assessments.”</p><p> </p><p>Throughout the pandemic following the suspension of face to face Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) to protect the health of our customers and staff, we continued to assess people on paper evidence whenever possible and introduced telephone assessments from May 2020, doing so in a cautious and evidence-based way, in order to reduce the risk of incorrect benefit outcomes.</p><p> </p><p>Our priority was and continues to be to get our customers into payment as soon as possible. Therefore, telephone assessments initially focused on claimants who were most likely to benefit from having an assessment i.e. those who were likely to have limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA), with this being the only outcome available. Using a test and learn approach, we expanded the range of outcomes available in telephone assessments during the course of the pandemic and, from February 2021, the full range outcomes have been able. This is enabling us to provide a further telephone assessment to those customers who didn’t get an outcome from their first one. We are also, in parallel, doing a small number of Video Assessments.</p><p> </p><p>We have continuously improved our guidance and processes to minimise the number of customers for whom a telephone assessment is not suitable because of their health condition. Now only a small proportion of customers are unable to undertake a telephone assessment. These customers will be prioritised for a face to face assessment following their resumption this month.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 19/05/2021 12:48:43 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4473 label Biography information for Louise Haigh

1314412

registered interest
date	13/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of financial support provided to people who have moved from (a) severe disability premium and (b) other legacy benefits to universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	1170
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2021 answer text <p>No assessment has been made of the adequacy of financial support provided to people who have moved from Severe Disability Premium and other legacy benefits to universal credit.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 18/05/2021 16:32:30 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1314414

registered interest
date	13/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether plans to increase the benefit cap.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	1172
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/05/2021 answer text <p>There is a statutory duty to review the levels of the cap at least once in each Parliament and this will happen at the appropriate time. The current unusual economic period with potentially counter intuitive and shifting trends, will need be considered in the context of any decision regarding a review.</p><p>Claimants can approach their Local Authority for a Discretionary Housing Payment if they need additional support to meet rental costs.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 19/05/2021 13:03:50 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1314415

registered interest
date	13/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Slough
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Slough are subject to the benefit cap.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	1173
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/05/2021 answer text <p>Information on the number of people is not available. However, statistics for the number of households receiving Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, who were subject to the Benefit Cap, by Parliamentary Constituency (including Slough), are published every three months and can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 19/05/2021 12:57:12 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi