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1092779

	registered interest
	date	21/03/2019
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the sample size used to inform the design of the benefit cap policy.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Durham
	uin	HL14730
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/04/2019 answer text <p>The rationale behind the benefit cap policy is set out in the Impact Assessment, which supported the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016. The final update was published in August 2016 and is attached.</p><p> </p><p>DWP and HMRC administrative data was used to inform the design of the benefit cap policy, and sample data was not used.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 03/04/2019 16:07:11 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe attachment 1 file name welfare-reform-and-work-act-impact-assessment-for-the-benefit-cap.pdf title Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 Impact Assessment
	tabling member	4312 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Durham

997365

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2018
	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, how many and what proportion of working people in receipt of top up benefits are resident in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) in each region of the UK and (c) in the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Ashfield
	tabling member printed	Gloria De Piero
	uin	184954
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>The numbers of in work families receiving tax credits are in table 1.1 of the Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: finalised annual awards - 2016 to 2017 published by HMRC can be accessed at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/720570/Main_publication_-_final_tables.xlsx" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/720570/Main_publication_-_final_tables.xlsx</a></p><p> </p><p>Geographical breakdowns including constituency level figures are available at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/720739/Main_geographical_-_final_tables.xlsx" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/720739/Main_geographical_-_final_tables.xlsx</a></p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit and Housing Benefit statistics for Great Britain are regularly published and the latest statistics for September 2018 and May 2018 respectively can be accessed at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance for users is available at:</p><p><a href="https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p><p> </p><p>The information available for the number of employed individuals that are in receipt of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance in May 2018 in geographical areas of Great Britain can be found in the following table.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 10/12/2018 18:17:56 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma attachment 1 file name People Table 184954.docx title Working people in receipt of IS, JSA or ESA previous answer version 82637 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3915 label Biography information for Gloria De Piero

784724

	registered interest
	date	06/11/2017
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Buscombe on 30 October (HL Deb, cols 1156–7), what assessment they have made of the impact of the freeze on working-age benefits on incentivising claimants into work.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL2942
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2017 answer text <p>The Government’s assessment of the impact of the benefit freeze is set out in the analysis of the measures in the Welfare Reform and Work Act published at the time of the Summer Budget 2015.</p><p> </p><p>As I said in my response to the Noble Baroness’ question on 30 October, the benefit freeze is part of a package of welfare reforms designed to incentivise claimants into work. These include introducing the National Living Wage, increasing the tax-free personal allowance, providing 30 hours of free childcare to working families in England and rolling out of Universal Credit. Analysis published by the department in September 2017 showed that UC claimants are four percentage points more likely to have been in work at any point within six months of starting their claim than the matched sample of JSA claimants (63 per cent to 59 per cent).</p><p> </p><p>The employment rate now stands at a near record high and the number of children living in workless households has fallen to a record low.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 15/11/2017 17:19:32 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe attachment 1 file name HL2942 universal-credit-employment-impact-analysis-update.pdf title UC Employment Impact Analysis
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1038521

	registered interest
	date	09/01/2019
	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, how many individuals have been affected by the erroneous payment of employment and support allowance and jobseekers allowance in December 2018 and January 2019; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Derby North
	tabling member printed	Chris Williamson
	uin	206812
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2019 answer text <p>Over the New Year period, some JSA and ESA claimants who expected to receive payments fortnightly, actually received two individual weekly payments, rather than a single fortnightly payment. All claimants received the correct amount of benefit and no payments were late (the first part of these ‘split’ payments were paid early).</p><p> </p><p>In total there were 798,211 ESA claimants and 51,977 JSA claimants who received these ‘split’ payments (England, Scotland and Wales). The NI figures were 47,751 ESA and 3,059 JSA.</p><p> </p><p>Operational colleagues were notified how best to support claimants and we also provided a link to key information on gov.uk.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 14/01/2019 16:44:33 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	3976 label Biography information for Chris Williamson

1039614

	registered interest
	date	11/01/2019
	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, how many people requested a mandatory reconsideration for (a) universal credit and (b) PIP in 2018; and how many of those mandatory reconsiderations resulted in changed outcomes.
	tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
	tabling member printed	Toby Perkins
	uin	207594
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2019 answer text <p>DWP collect data about Mandatory Reconsiderations for Universal Credit, and have published some of this specifically in relation to sanctions in Universal Credit Live Service, available on Stat-Xplore here:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p><p> </p><p>However, to carry out the necessary quality assurance in order to publish information across all decisions subject to a mandatory reconsideration on Universal Credit Live Service and Full Service would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p>Statistics on the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mandatory Reconsiderations registered and clearances by type are published in Tables 7a and 7b of the quarterly statistical publication “Personal Independence Payment: April 2013 to October 2018”, available here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-april-2013-to-october-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-april-2013-to-october-2018</a></p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 16/01/2019 17:32:37 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins

1054778

	registered interest
	date	04/02/2019
	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 steps she is taking to implement safeguards in situations where her Department makes backdated payments of benefits to vulnerable people with mental health issues or drug or alcohol dependencies.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Darren Jones
	uin	216416
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2019 answer text <p>On legacy benefits when we identify a customer is vulnerable every endeavour is made to contact the claimant or their appointee, discuss and explain the high value payment we intend to issue and identify if they have any concerns over receiving such an amount of money. As part of this process both from the conversation and the earlier information we had available we would encourage using split or phased payments if we viewed a risk in making one large payment to the claimant. If we cannot make contact, we will refer to our visiting team to make attempts to visit them at home and have those conversations. On Universal Credit, vulnerability is dealt with on a case-by-case basis so that the necessary support can be given to claimants.</p><p> </p><p>Current payment regulations only permit us to restrict amounts of payments with a claimant’s consent. If we did not feel that claimant was able to manage their affairs, or make that decision for themselves, we would then consider if an appointee was appropriate.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is currently working to enhance safeguarding procedures across all benefit products to help staff to identify claimants who may need additional support because their circumstances make them vulnerable. A multi-disciplinary working group is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of the processes and procedures we have in place across DWP to identify and support vulnerable claimants who are entitled to backdated payments of benefits. This will include sharing best practice from legacy processes and exploring what more we can do to ensure vulnerable claimants in this situation are given access to the support they need, and developing a proposal for the implementation of these improvements. This will ensure that the Department will be able to fully support the eligible claimants on Universal Credit who will be entitled to a Severe Disability Premium transitional payment.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 07/02/2019 15:42:22 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	4621 label Biography information for Darren Jones

1060641

	registered interest
	date	13/02/2019
	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 steps she is taking to ensure that parity of esteem between mental and physical health extends to the social security system.
	tabling member constituency	Battersea
	tabling member printed	Marsha De Cordova
	uin	221031
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2019 answer text <p>This Department is committed to providing the best possible support to people who have health conditions and disabilities. Assessments used in determining entitlement to disability and incapacity benefits have been designed to assess the impacts of both mental and physical health conditions, and looks at the individual and what they are able and capable of doing, rather than assessing by condition. We also provide a wide range of support designed to help people better manage their conditions, to live more independent lives and take positive steps to return to work, where this is right for the individual.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit is simplifying the benefits system and provides enhanced personalised support for people. All claimants, including vulnerable claimants and those with mental health conditions, receive continuous tailored support managed through personal work coaches, who know each person. We have started to deliver additional training in mental health that will be available to work coaches to build their expertise and provide the most effective support.</p><p> </p><p>Work coaches work closely with people on Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance equivalent and agree personalised support to help move them closer to the workplace.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 21/02/2019 13:56:52 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	4676 label Biography information for Marsha De Cordova

1061300

	registered interest
	date	14/02/2019
	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 proportion of claimants of (a) personal independence payment and (b) employment support that were subject to a mandatory reconsideration were asked whether further evidence has become available since the initial decision stage of their application.
	tabling member constituency	Lanark and Hamilton East
	tabling member printed	Angela Crawley
	uin	221843
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2019 answer text <p>This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>Information for claimants on how to challenge a decision made by the Department is available on GOV.UK.</p><p> </p><p>Where claimants make their Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) application by phone we will gather information on why they think the decision is wrong and ask if they have any further evidence they wish to submit.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant has used the MR form available on GOV.UK, then they will be aware that they should submit any additional evidence with the form. If they write a letter, the Decision Maker will determine whether they need any additional evidence and request it accordingly.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton grouped question UIN 221845 question first answered 21/02/2019 15:46:23 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	4469 label Biography information for Angela Crawley

793963

	registered interest
	date	22/11/2017
	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, pursuant to the Answer of 11 July to Question 3587 on social security benefits, in what circumstances it is unreasonable to expect an individual to undertake any form or amount of work or work related activity.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	115052
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2017 answer text <p>All Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) recipients are divided in to two groups. Those assessed as having Limited Capability for Work (LCW), are placed in the Work-Related Activity Group (WRAG). This means they are required to engage with their Jobcentre Plus work coach, and take reasonable steps to move them closer to the labour market with the aim of being capable of working in the future. They are not required to search for or undertake any form of work.</p><p> </p><p>Those assessed as having Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA), are placed in the Support Group. This means they are not required to participate in any work, work search or, work-related activity, but can choose to access work-related support through the Jobcentre at any point during their claim if they wish to do so.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit claimants with Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity are not set any work-related requirements and just need to inform DWP if they have a change in circumstances that affects their claim.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 27/11/2017 17:21:26 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

793972

	registered interest
	date	22/11/2017
	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 steps he is taking to improve the quality of (a) assessments (b) subsequent decisions and (c) mandatory reconsideration for (i) Personal Independence Payment and (ii) Employment and Support Allowance.
	tabling member constituency	Battersea
	tabling member printed	Marsha De Cordova
	uin	115061
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/11/2017 answer text <p>The Department is continually working to improve the claimant journeys for Personal Independence Payment and Employment and Support Allowance, including working with our assessment providers to further improve the quality of assessments by clinical coaching, feedback and the support available to each assessor.</p><p> </p><p>There are strands of work in progress to drive continuous improvement in the decision making and appeals processes. These include the recruitment of approximately 150 Presenting Officers across both benefits, who are providing valuable insight into why decisions are overturned at appeal. This in turn will help to identify improvements that can be made at all stages of the claimant journey – including the assessment, initial decision and mandatory reconsideration stages. Furthermore, the Department is running a series of tests which explore the different ways we can improve evidence gathering and the quality of our decision making.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 30/11/2017 16:48:41 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	4676 label Biography information for Marsha De Cordova