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1108699

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
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	Work Capability Assessment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her speech entitled Closing the gap between intention and experience delivered on 5 March 2019, what the timetable is for her Department to introduce the proposed small test of a no conditionality approach for claimants awaiting a work capability assessment.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	239291
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Department is still finalising the design of the Proof of Concept and seeking input from key representatives from the sector. It is a small scale test which will be run in 2-4 jobcentres during summer 2019. We will use the Proof of Concept to test whether we can increase engagement with claimants with disabilities or health conditions. Work Coaches will start with no mandatory requirements and then tailor conditionality up, based on an individual’s circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>We intend to apply it to those claimants pre-Work Capability Assessment; and, that, for those post work capability assessment found to have a Limited Capability for Work. We will apply it to all claimants presenting with medical evidence of a health condition, or disability, excluding only those who are Terminally Ill or who have conditions defined in schedule 8 or schedule 9 of the Universal Credit Regulations. Universal Credit does not use the ICD10 classification system for claimants recognising that each claimant is unique. Further detailed design on inclusion/exclusion criteria have yet to be defined.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The evaluation of the Proof of Concept will take place in Autumn 2019 after which we will determine next steps.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 239290 239292 question first answered 04/04/2019 12:52:02 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1108700

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
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	Work Capability Assessment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her speech entitled Closing the gap between intention and experience on 5 March 2019, when her Department plans to publish the findings of the small test of a no conditionality approach for claimants awaiting a work capability assessment.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	239292
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Department is still finalising the design of the Proof of Concept and seeking input from key representatives from the sector. It is a small scale test which will be run in 2-4 jobcentres during summer 2019. We will use the Proof of Concept to test whether we can increase engagement with claimants with disabilities or health conditions. Work Coaches will start with no mandatory requirements and then tailor conditionality up, based on an individual’s circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>We intend to apply it to those claimants pre-Work Capability Assessment; and, that, for those post work capability assessment found to have a Limited Capability for Work. We will apply it to all claimants presenting with medical evidence of a health condition, or disability, excluding only those who are Terminally Ill or who have conditions defined in schedule 8 or schedule 9 of the Universal Credit Regulations. Universal Credit does not use the ICD10 classification system for claimants recognising that each claimant is unique. Further detailed design on inclusion/exclusion criteria have yet to be defined.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The evaluation of the Proof of Concept will take place in Autumn 2019 after which we will determine next steps.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 239290 239291 question first answered 04/04/2019 12:52:02 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1108715

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
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	Working Links
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 29 March to Question 235318 on Working Links, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the process of awarding the (a) Work Programme Leavers and (b) Links to Work contracts Working Links (Employment) Ltd.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	239224
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Department has taken part (a) of the question to be in relation to The Work Programme provision let in 2011, there is no Work Programme Leavers programme.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has taken part (b) of the question to be in relation to the ESF Links to Work Provision let in 2016.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Department complies with Public Procurement rules and Procurement Regulations in all sourcing activity. Internal governance, departmental assessment against Government Commercial Office Standards and Internal Audit reports monitor compliance.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/04/2019 12:57:32 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1108716

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
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	Working Links
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 29 March 2019 to Question 235320 on Working Links, over what period her Department’s Employment Category team carried out the due diligence process on Fedcap Employment.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	239225
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The DWP Employment Category team undertook initial due diligence on the Fedcap Group in August 2018 when Fedcap first entered the UK market. Since then they have kept that due diligence up to date and impacted the changes arising from the Working Links takeover in February 2019.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/04/2019 13:04:01 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1108717

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
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	Working Links
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 29 March 2019 to Question 235321 on Working Links, if she will introduce financial safeguards to protect the viability of the Community and Voluntary Sector in the event of a Department contractor collapsing with money owing to sub-contractors.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	239226
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Administrator has statutory duties and obligations in relation to the management of a company and its property/assets during the period of any administration – these are covered by the Insolvency Act 1986. Any appropriate safeguards or commercial changes which DWP introduces will be subject to the normal application of insolvency law and procedure. DWP will seek to learn lessons as a result of the Working Links administration, and will implement appropriate commercial changes where appropriate.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/04/2019 13:07:48 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1108718

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
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	Working Links
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, at the time of Working Links (Employment) Ltd's collapse what contacts they held with her Department; what the total value was of each of those contracts; and how much her Department had paid to Working Links (Employment) Ltd in relation to each of those contracts.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	239227
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>Working links held 3 Work Programme contracts, 5 Work Choice contracts, 6 European Social Fund contracts and were on the low value Dynamic Purchasing System.</p><p> </p><p>Work Programme and Work Choice were in exit mode, following cessation of referrals in March 2017 and November 2018 respectively, at the point of administration.</p><p> </p><p>Copies of the contract and contract values are accessible on the following site. <a href="https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search" target="_blank">https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search</a></p><p> </p><p>In accordance with the Government transparency commitment I can confirm that the DWP publishes a list of all financial transactions over £500 and £25,000</p><p> </p><p>For spend over £25,000 follow the below link:-</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://data.gov.uk/dataset/ccdc397a-3984-453b-a9d7-e285074bba4d/spend-over-25-000-in-the-department-for-work-and-pensions" target="_blank">https://data.gov.uk/dataset/ccdc397a-3984-453b-a9d7-e285074bba4d/spend-over-25-000-in-the-department-for-work-and-pensions</a></p><p> </p><p>Explanatory notes on your findings on spend over £25000 can be found by following the below link:-</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-monthly-payments-explanatory-notes" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-monthly-payments-explanatory-notes</a></p><p> </p><p>For spend over £500 follow the below link:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/what-dwp-spends" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/what-dwp-spends</a></p><p> </p><p>Explanatory notes on your findings on spend over £500 can be found by following the below link:-</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-government-procurement-card-monthly-payments-explanatory-notes" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-government-procurement-card-monthly-payments-explanatory-notes</a></p><p> </p><p>Departmental contracts held by Working Links were on a payment by results basis and, therefore, actual spend will not align to the contract value as the latter is based on 100% performance.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/04/2019 13:23:40 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1108738

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
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	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 (a) cost to the public purse and (b) benefits of universal credit claimants receiving an up-front payment after making a valid claim for universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	239300
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Department is committed to ensuring that Universal Credit works for all claimants. We listen to the concerns and views of organisations and individuals and have delivered improvements to better support claimants, and will continue to do so.</p><p> </p><p>New claimants can apply for a Universal Credit new claim advance, worth up to 100 per cent of a claimant’s indicative award, and are available up front, if there is a need. Advances are paid back over a period of 12 months and in the Autumn Budget 2018, we announced that from October 2021, the payback period for these advances will be extended further, up to 16 months.</p><p>This is just one of a number of measures the Department has put in place to support claimants such as paying those claimants moving from Housing Benefit onto Universal Credit a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/04/2019 16:57:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1108751

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
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	Child Maintenance Service: Staff
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many members of staff (a) were employed in each year for which information is available and (b) are employed by the Child Maintenance Service to deal with complaints; and whether that Service has plans to employ more such staff.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	239269
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>CMG Headcount/FTE (a)</p></td><td><p>Complaints Headcount/FTE (b)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2019</p></td><td><p>7056</p></td><td><p>135</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2018</p></td><td><p>6963</p></td><td><p>184</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2017</p></td><td><p>8066</p></td><td><p>153</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2016</p></td><td><p>8558.2</p></td><td><p>94.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2015</p></td><td><p>8442.8</p></td><td><p>111.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2014</p></td><td><p>8098.9</p></td><td><p>127.16</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2013</p></td><td><p>6961.8</p></td><td><p>142.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2012</p></td><td><p>7528.8</p></td><td><p>175.7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2011</p></td><td><p>7635.1</p></td><td><p>203.8</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The numbers in column (a) reflects the total number of people or headcount in Child Maintenance Group.</p><p> </p><p>The numbers in column (b) are the resource supporting complaints for CMS and CSA. We are unable to provide a CMS only breakdown as the team deal with both CMS and CSA complaints. Resourcing in Complaints team is reviewed regularly, with the most recent review completed in April 2018. However, I can confirm that there are no plans in place at present to increase staffing in that area.</p><p> </p><p>Prior to 2017 this was counted as total resource required, however from 2017 this was recorded as headcount i.e. people. Hence from 2017 the number increases as it began counting number of individuals.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/04/2019 14:48:59 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1108755

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
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	Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether a claimant of personal independence payment that received a health assessment report audited by her Department is entitled to the (a) original and (b) audited report.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	239270
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>If a claimant requests a copy of their assessment report they are entitled to receive it. Where an assessment report has been reviewed or reworked by DWP the claimant will receive copies of both the original and audited versions. Please note, the audited version of an assessment report is different to the Auditors Report produced by the Department about the Assessment Provider. Claimants are not entitled to see Auditors Reports.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/04/2019 13:29:37 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1108819

registered interest
date	01/04/2019
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	Asbestos: Industrial Diseases
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what response they are making to the announcement by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health that diseases as a result of exposure to asbestos are killing 5,000 people a year and that more than 130 companies or individuals have been ordered to stop work activities over the past year after being found to be non-compliant.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL14926
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Government welcomes the efforts by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) to raise awareness of the health risks arising from workplace exposure to asbestos. The announcement by IOSH highlights the need for employers and employees to remain vigilant when undertaking work which may disturb asbestos. The Health and Safety Executive and Local Authority inspectors will continue to take action in cases of non-compliance with the law, as indicated in the IOSH announcement.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 04/04/2019 16:17:38 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool