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1058635

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
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: Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	Whether her Department has plans to redesign the reassessment process for benefit recipients with severe mental or physical disabilities.
tabling member constituency	Romford
tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
uin	909127
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2019 answer text <p>We are committed to assessing people with health conditions and disabilities fairly and accurately, and helping people to access the right support. We made a clear commitment in <em>Improving Lives</em>: <em>The Future of Work, Health and Disability</em> to reform the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and recognise the importance of getting this right. We are therefore testing new approaches to build the evidence base for what works, and working with external stakeholders to inform future changes to the WCA.</p><p> </p><p>Over the last year we have introduced new guidance into Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC), as well as updated guidance for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to improve the service we provide for those with the most severe/lifelong conditions. For ESA/UC since September 2017 we have switched off routine reassessments for those who meet the Severe Conditions criteria, and since August 2018, those receiving the highest level of support in PIP, whose needs are unlikely to change or may get worse, will now receive an ongoing award with a light touch review at the ten year point.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 11/02/2019 17:02:14 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

1058636

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
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: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What recent assessment her Department has made of the (a) accuracy and (b) efficiency of contracted-out health assessments for (i) employment and support allowance and (ii) personal independence payment.
tabling member constituency	Ellesmere Port and Neston
tabling member printed	Justin Madders
uin	909128
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2019 answer text <p>We are committed to ensuring claimants receive high quality assessments. Providers are closely monitored against a range of measures including through independent audit to improve accuracy and decision making. We are seeing continuous improvement in PIP assessment quality and recent data shows both PIP providers meeting quality expectations. We continually look to improve the efficiency of the assessment process by working closely with health assessment providers and the disabled people the Department supports.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 11/02/2019 16:37:48 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4418 label Biography information for Justin Madders

1058637

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
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	Pensioners: Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of pensioner poverty; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	909129
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2019 answer text <p>This Government has seen the absolute poverty rate for pensioners fall to record lows, with over 200,000 fewer pensioners in absolute poverty before housing costs. Rates of material deprivation for pensioners are also at record lows.</p><p>We have reduced pensioner poverty close to historically low levels, lifting the incomes of millions of older people. Since 2009/10, material deprivation for pensioners has fallen from 10 per cent to 7 per cent in 2016/17 and since 2010 there are 200,000 fewer pensioners in absolute poverty, a record low.</p><p>The Government is committed to action that helps to alleviate levels of pensioner poverty. In 2018/19 we will spend £121.5 billion on benefits for pensioners, including £97 billion on the State Pension for this year.</p><p>The Government has also committed to up-rating the basic State Pension by the highest of the growth in earnings, prices or 2.5 per cent - the 'triple lock' guarantee. This will mean that the full basic State Pension will be around £1450 per year higher in 2018/19 than in 2010. The Government has committed to the triple lock for the remainder of this Parliament.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 11/02/2019 17:58:24 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1058933

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
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: Merseyside
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in the (a) Birkenhead constituency and (b) Wirral local authority area have been affected by the household benefit cap in each year since 2013.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	219309
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2019 answer text <p>The table below shows the number of households capped under Housing Benefit and Universal Credit in the requested areas in November of each year. We are not able to provide statistics on the numbers capped in total in each calendar year, but have provided the same month in each year to allow year-on-year comparisons.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Point-in-time Caseload: Number of households that had their Housing Benefit and Universal Credit capped.</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Nov-13</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Nov-14</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Nov-15</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Nov-16</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Nov-17</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Nov-18</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Birkenhead Parliamentary Constituency</strong></p></td><td><p>Housing Benefit</p></td><td><p>34</p></td><td><p>25</p></td><td><p>27</p></td><td><p>11</p></td><td><p>116</p></td><td><p>90</p></td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Wirral Local Authority</strong></p></td><td><p>Housing Benefit</p></td><td><p>88</p></td><td><p>81</p></td><td><p>60</p></td><td><p>41</p></td><td><p>248</p></td><td><p>195</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Universal Credit</p></td><td><p>n/a</p></td><td><p>n/a</p></td><td><p>n/a</p></td><td><p>..</p></td><td><p>..</p></td><td><p>80</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong>Data Sources:</strong> DWP 100% Single Housing Benefit Extract, DWP Universal Credit Official Statistics Database and DWP Customer Information Service address file.</p><p> </p><p>The Housing Benefit caseload data is taken from DWP Stat Xplore (<a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a>) whilst the Universal Credit caseload data is taken from the official statistics caseload tables, published on 7th Feb 2019 (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-november-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-november-2018</a>). Data on the number of capped households under Universal Credit by Parliamentary Constituency is not currently available on Stat Xplore or in the official statistics publication.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table Notes:</strong></p><ol><li>Numbers less than 10 have been replaced with '..'’ and n/a indicates no recorded cases.</li><li>Figures include households that have had their Housing Benefit and Universal Credit full service capped. Universal Credit full service is available to all claimant types but only in certain areas of the country at November 2018.</li><li>Figures for Universal Credit may be revised in future publications, as Universal Credit awards may be retrospectively revised. More information on the revision of data can be found here:</li></ol><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652170/universal-credit-statistics-background-methodology.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652170/universal-credit-statistics-background-methodology.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 14/02/2019 10:30:04 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1058951

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
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	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, if she will place in the Library a copy of the safeguarding policy used by her Department's contractors in relation to work capability assessments.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	219317
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2019 answer text <p>A copy of the Centre for Health and Disability Assessment Service (CHDA) safeguarding policy will be placed in the Library in due course.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 14/02/2019 14:58:06 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1058987

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
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	Personal Independence Payment: Middlesbrough
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time is for personal independence payment appeal tribunal dates in Middlesbrough constituency; and what steps he is taking to reduce the waiting time.
tabling member constituency	Middlesbrough
tabling member printed	Andy McDonald
uin	219455
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2019 answer text <p>Information on the average waiting time to a first tribunal hearing is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice publish statistics on the mean age of a case at disposal by tribunal venue. This is the average number of weeks from receipt in Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to the final outcome within the period. It will include cases cleared at hearing and cases cleared without a hearing which include strike outs, superseded and withdrawals prior to a hearing. An appeal may not necessarily be cleared at its first hearing.</p><p> </p><p>These statistics are available in the Tribunal Statistics CSV files, Tribunals and Gender Recognition Statistics Quarterly, July to September 2018 (Provisional) publication, available here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2018</a></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Ministry of Justice is in the process of recruiting more judicial office holders in order to increase capacity and help to reduce waiting times for appellants. In the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) jurisdiction, 225 new medical members have already been appointed and 119 disability-qualified members have recently been recruited. The SSCS jurisdiction will also benefit from the fact that 250 fee-paid judges and 100 salaried judges are being recruited across tribunals more widely.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, a new digital service has recently been launched to enable speedier processing of appeals and provide a better service for all parties to the proceedings. Information on the new digital service can be found at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-online-service-launched-for-pip-appeals" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-online-service-launched-for-pip-appeals</a></p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 14/02/2019 12:26:34 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4269 label Biography information for Andy McDonald

1058991

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
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	Employment: Poverty
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 implications for her policies of the findings of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, entitled UK poverty 2018, that in-work poverty is increasing faster than unemployment.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	219555
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2019 answer text <p>Our evidence shows that work offers people the best opportunity to get out of poverty. A working-age adult living in a household where every adult is working is about 6 times less likely to be in relative poverty than one living in a household where nobody works. The majority of people in in-work poverty are with part-time work only, single earner couples, or those in full-time self-employment. Universal Credit addresses this by supporting full-time work through smooth incentives to increase hours, a general expectation that lone parents and partners should work, and generous childcare subsidies.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 14/02/2019 16:13:43 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1058996

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
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	Pensioners: Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of pensioners living in poverty.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	219557
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to action that helps to alleviate levels of pensioner poverty. In 2018/19 we will spend £121.5 billion on benefits for pensioners, including £97 billion on the State Pension for this year. Between 2010 and 2018, we will have increased the basic State Pension by £1,450 a year.</p><p> </p><p>In the early 1970s roughly 40% of pensioners were in poverty. Relative poverty after housing costs is now down to 16% - one of the lowest rates since comparable records began. The rates, and numbers, of pensioners in absolute poverty are all lower than 2010.</p><p> </p><p>Pension Credit was introduced in October 2003 explicitly to help tackle pensioner poverty and from April 2018, the Standard Minimum Guarantee in Pension Credit will be the equivalent of over £1,500 per year higher in cash terms for single people and over £2,400 per year higher in cash terms for couples than it was in 2010.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to the Triple Lock for the remainder of this Parliament, guaranteeing that up to the full amounts of the basic and new State Pensions will rise by the highest of average earnings growth, price inflation, or 2.5% and in 2018/19 the increase was 3%. Between April 2010 and April 2018 the basic State Pension has risen by £660 a year more than if it had been just up-rated by earnings since April 2010. That is a rise of £1,450 a year in cash terms.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 14/02/2019 10:03:11 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1059021

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
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	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the allocation of funding for universal credit for the 2019-2020 financial year will reflect the fact that it will be a fifty-three week year.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	219417
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2019 answer text <p>No year contains 53 weeks. Departmental expenditure is set in advance to reflect anticipated delivery over the year.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 14/02/2019 15:23:26 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1057009

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	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether Jobcentres provide advice to universal credit applicants who start but do not complete an application; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	218739
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/02/2019 answer text <p>Most people claiming Universal Credit will be able to access and navigate the internet, to make and maintain their Universal Credit account. Our published Universal Credit Claimant Survey found that 98 per cent of claimants did claim online, and the majority of those said they found the claim process overall to be straightforward.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit has been designed with accessibility in mind and we are committed to providing personalised support for all claimants. Where a claimant requires assistance to complete the initial application process support is available via the Universal Credit helpline, face to face in the Jobcentre or in exceptional circumstances through a home visit.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant needs more intensive or specific support to make their claim, face-to-face and other help is available through our current Universal Support Assisted Digital Service offer, which provides bespoke help, support and skills for claimants to make and maintain their digital account online. Since 2017, Universal Support has been delivered by individual local authorities, funded by grants from DWP.</p><p> </p><p>From 1 April 2019 Citizens Advice (England and Wales) and Citizens Advice Scotland will deliver a new “Help to Claim” service to support vulnerable claimants through the process of making a claim to Universal Credit, and managing their money afterwards.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 218741 question first answered 13/02/2019 17:36:41 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms