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1005853

	registered interest
	date	12/11/2018
	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	Funeral Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's policy is on supporting benefit claimants who must pay for the funeral of a family member; and if her Department will introduce an allowance for benefit claimants who must pay for the funeral of a family member to ensure that their benefit claims are not adversely affected.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	190493
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2018 answer text <p>The Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment scheme makes a contribution towards the cost of a funeral for people in receipt of certain income related benefits and tax credits. To qualify, the applicant must be accepted as responsible for arranging the funeral, they (or their partner) must receive one of the qualifying benefits and they must be the partner or a close relative or close friend of the deceased.</p><p> </p><p>The amount payable depends on whether there is any other money available, for example from the deceased’s estate. As the Payment is linked to the deceased’s assets, it does not adversely affect the applicant’s savings.</p><p> </p><p>The scheme offers support by meeting the ‘necessary costs’ of a cremation or burial, including acquiring a burial plot. An allowance of up to £700 is also available to meet other funeral costs such as a coffin, religious venue and funeral director fees.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 15/11/2018 09:55:33 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1019329

	registered interest
	date	03/12/2018
	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	Children: Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of enabling parents to pursue (a) child maintenance arrears and (b) arrears transferred from the Child Support Agency under through the legal system.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	198381
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/12/2018 answer text <p>The Child Maintenance Service has a wide range of strong enforcement powers, including applying to the court to remove a non-paying parent’s driving licence, order the sale of property, commit them to prison, or disqualify them from holding or obtaining a passport.</p><p> </p><p>There is a longstanding legal position that a permanent arrangement cannot be ordered by a court as part of any settlement action in respect of child maintenance payments. The statutory child maintenance system was established because court outcomes for families were frequently inconsistent. There is little merit in enabling parents to pursue arrears through the court system which is inevitably adversarial, costly and often a slow process which many clients may be unable to afford.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 06/12/2018 10:11:31 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1020006

	registered interest
	date	04/12/2018
	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	Children: Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much child support arrears are concerned in (a) Motherwell and Wishaw, (b) North Lanarkshire Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, and (c) Scotland, under the Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	198884
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>As of June 2018 (most recent published regional data, rounded to nearest thousand), there were the following amounts of unpaid maintenance from Child Support Agency cases:</p><p> </p><p>(a) Motherwell and Wishaw parliamentary constituency - £4,034,000 of child support arrears</p><p> </p><p>(b) North Lanarkshire Local Authority - £17,366,000 of child support arrears</p><p> </p><p>(c) Scotland - £ 225,269,000 of child support arrears</p><p> </p><p>Figures for b and c are published in the regional tables of the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-june-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-june-2018</a></p><p> </p><p>These amounts include all Child Support Agency cases with arrears. This includes cases where recent payments have been made and those where there has been no payment made within the last 3 months. The vast majority of these cases have received no recent payment, and it is only these cases that will be addressed under the Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 10/12/2018 10:21:05 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1023269

	registered interest
	date	11/12/2018
	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	Children: Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of enabling parents to pursue Child Support Agency arrears written off under the Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018 through the legal system.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	201254
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2018 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 06 December 2018 to Question 198381.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-12-03/198381/" target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-12-03/198381/</a></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 17/12/2018 15:28:33 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1043721

	registered interest
	date	18/01/2019
	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	Independent Case Examiner
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much money has been spent from the public purse on the running of the office of the Independent Case Examiner for each available year; and what her Department's plans are for the future funding on that office.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	210055
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2019 answer text <p>Funding for the Independent Case Examiner’s Office is reviewed on an annual basis. The table below provides details of the budget allocated to the Office in the last four financial years.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial Year (April to March)</p></td><td><p>Amount</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>£2,563,702</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>£2,733,114</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>£2,534,005</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018/19</p></td><td><p>£3,008,587</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 23/01/2019 14:58:53 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1043722

	registered interest
	date	18/01/2019
	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	Independent Case Examiner
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the Independent Case Examiner's ability to process complaints in a timely manner.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	210056
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2019 answer text <p>The Independent Case Examiner (ICE) is appointed under contract to adjudicate on escalated complaints about DWP and its contracted service providers, in cases where the complainant has exhausted the relevant internal complaints process and remains dissatisfied. If a complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of an ICE investigation, or the service provided by the Office (including processing times) they can ask their Member of Parliament to escalate their complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. The Permanent Secretary is apprised of the Ombudsman’s findings each year.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 23/01/2019 14:50:19 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1043723

	registered interest
	date	18/01/2019
	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	Independent Case Examiner
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's target timetable is for complaints to the Independent Case Examiner to be concluded; and what (a) proportion and (b) number of complaints met that target in each year for which information.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	210057
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2019 answer text <p>The table below provides details of the clearance time targets for the Independent Case Examiner’s Office and its performance against those targets since they were introduced in their current form.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Resolution: Aim to resolve the complaint, to the complainants satisfaction, within 8 weeks of it being accepted for investigation</p></td><td><p>Settlement: Aim to settle the complaint, to the complainants satisfaction, with 15 weeks of the investigation commencing</p></td><td><p>ICE Report: Aim to issue the ICE Report within 20 weeks of the investigation commencing</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2015/16</strong></p></td><td><p>80 complaints resolved 79% within target</p></td><td><p>91 complaints settled 74% within target</p></td><td><p>586 ICE Reports 56% within target</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2016/17</strong></p></td><td><p>84 complaints resolved 86% within target</p></td><td><p>127 complaints settled 87% within target</p></td><td><p>660 ICE Reports 41% within target</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2017/18</strong></p></td><td><p>83 complaints resolved 74% within target</p></td><td><p>141 complaints settled 84% within target</p></td><td><p>698 ICE Reports 40% within target</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2018/19</strong> <strong>(April to December 2018)</strong></p></td><td><p>131 complaints resolved 68% within target</p></td><td><p>139 complaints settled 81% within target</p></td><td><p>628 ICE Reports 45% within target</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 23/01/2019 14:42:35 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1049995

	registered interest
	date	28/01/2019
	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: Overpayments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on the living standards of benefit claimants of the rate at which repayments of overpayments are repaid to her Department.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	213410
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2019 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) balances a requirement to protect tax payer’s money with a duty to ensure that claimants are not placed in undue hardship by excessive deductions from their benefit.</p><p> </p><p>For this reason, the maximum deduction rates that can be applied to an on-going benefit award for the recovery of an overpayment are set out in legislation. Different deduction rates will be applied in different circumstances, with the highest rate only being applicable where an overpayment has been classified as fraud.</p><p> </p><p>DWP administers benefits to approximately 20 million people with a wide variety of individual circumstances so it is difficult to make a general assessment on living standards. Therefore, we apply any considerations of this type at an individual level. If a person states they cannot afford the proposed rate of recovery, they are asked to provide details of their income and expenditure. Their individual circumstances will then be taken into account and a temporary reduction in the rate of repayment may be agreed. In exceptional circumstances, a temporary suspension of recovery may be appropriate.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 31/01/2019 14:45:32 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1055055

	registered interest
	date	05/02/2019
	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	Independent Case Examiner
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's target timetable is for deciding whether complaints to the Independent Case Examiner will be accepted for investigation; what (a) proportion and (b) number of complaints met that target in each year for which information is available; and how many complaints are currently awaiting a decision on whether or not they will be investigated.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	217031
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2019 answer text <p>Funding for the Independent Case Examiner’s (ICE) Office is reviewed on an annual basis. In the current financial year, the ICE Office has received funding for thirteen additional posts.</p><p> </p><p>Productivity in the ICE Office has increased by 34% in the current reporting year, with the Office having cleared 1,047 cased by the end of January 2019, compared with 782 in the same period during 2017/18.</p><p>The Office has an internal target to inform 90% of complainants within four weeks of its reciept, whether thier complaint can be accepted for investigation. The Office can only accept a complaint for investigation once it has (a) established that the complainant has exhausted the relevant business complaints process, and (b) reached agreement with the complainant regarding the scope of any investigation.</p><p> </p><p>The table below provides the available performance data.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Number of complaints received</p></td><td><p>Number of complaints not accepted for investigation</p></td><td><p>Number of complaints accepted for investigation</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>5,886</p></td><td><p>2,247 (81% within internal target of four weeks)</p></td><td><p>3,639 (38% within internal target of four weeks)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018/19 (1<sup>st</sup> April 2018 to 6<sup>th</sup> February 2019)</p></td><td><p>4,169</p></td><td><p>2,928 (68% within internal target of four weeks)</p></td><td><p>1,073 (47% within internal target of four weeks)</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>As at 6<sup>th</sup> February 2019, there were 168 complainants awaiting a decision on whether their complaint could be accepted for examination.</p><p> </p><p>During the period covered by this response the Independent Case Examiner’s Office received 4,118 complaints from women concerning changes to State Pension age, which directly impacted on its ability to meet its internal target for determining whether a complaint can be accepted for examination.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 08/02/2019 12:40:02 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1057082

	registered interest
	date	08/02/2019
	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	Independent Case Examiner
	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 improve the performance of the Independent Case Examiner.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	218827
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/02/2019 answer text <p>During 2017/18, the Independent Case Examiner’s Office received high levels of demand.</p><p>In the 2018/19 reporting year, the Office received funding for thirteen additional staff and productivity increased. By the end of January 2019 the Office had cleared 1,047 complaints, compared to 782 at the end of January 2018.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 13/02/2019 12:31:56 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows