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 previous answer version answering member constituency answering member printed answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1174329

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2020
	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	Pension Credit
	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 from the public purse has been spent on raising awareness of the availability of pension credit since June 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	9606
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2020 answer text <p>The Government wants to ensure that older people receive the support and help available to them. It is important to highlight that there are already 1.6 million people claiming some £5.4 billion in Pension Credit but some people may be missing out.</p><p> </p><p>We want to make sure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled. That is why we are currently considering options for raising awareness of Pension Credit, including working with our stakeholders, to help dispel some of the misconceptions that people might have about Pension Credit eligibility. For example, we want to make it clear that having savings, a pension or owning a home are not automatic barriers to receiving Pension Credit.</p><p> </p><p>Of course DWP continues to use a wide range of channels including information on <a href="http://www.gov.uk" target="_blank">www.gov.uk</a>, in leaflets and by telephone to communicate information about benefits including Pension Credit to potential claimants. We target activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or Attendance Allowance or report a change in their circumstances which may mean that they could be eligible for Pension Credit. In addition, the Pension Credit calculator <a href="https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator</a> enables potential claimants to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive</p><p>We know that often the best ways to reach eligible pensioners is through trusted stakeholders working in the community. The Pension Credit toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. It can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit</a></p><p><br>Information on how much has been spent on raising awareness of the availability of pension credit since June 2019 is not available.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 9605 question first answered 03/02/2020 17:54:44 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1174327

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2020
	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	Pension Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how her Department has promoted Pension Credit since June 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	9605
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2020 answer text <p>The Government wants to ensure that older people receive the support and help available to them. It is important to highlight that there are already 1.6 million people claiming some £5.4 billion in Pension Credit but some people may be missing out.</p><p> </p><p>We want to make sure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled. That is why we are currently considering options for raising awareness of Pension Credit, including working with our stakeholders, to help dispel some of the misconceptions that people might have about Pension Credit eligibility. For example, we want to make it clear that having savings, a pension or owning a home are not automatic barriers to receiving Pension Credit.</p><p> </p><p>Of course DWP continues to use a wide range of channels including information on <a href="http://www.gov.uk" target="_blank">www.gov.uk</a>, in leaflets and by telephone to communicate information about benefits including Pension Credit to potential claimants. We target activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or Attendance Allowance or report a change in their circumstances which may mean that they could be eligible for Pension Credit. In addition, the Pension Credit calculator <a href="https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator</a> enables potential claimants to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive</p><p>We know that often the best ways to reach eligible pensioners is through trusted stakeholders working in the community. The Pension Credit toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. It can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit</a></p><p><br>Information on how much has been spent on raising awareness of the availability of pension credit since June 2019 is not available.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 9606 question first answered 03/02/2020 17:54:44 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1172616

	registered interest
	date	22/01/2020
	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	Jobcentres: Computers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many computers are available for public use in Jobcentres in (a) each region of England and (b) the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	6616
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/01/2020 answer text <p>The information requested is detailed below and is from internal DWP data which is correct at the time of this response.</p><p> </p><p>a) English regions</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Region</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of devices</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Southern England</p></td><td><p>1380</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>London &amp; Home Counties</p></td><td><p>1128</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Central</p></td><td><p>1214</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Northern England</p></td><td><p>2096</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>b) UK</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Region (total)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of devices</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>England</p></td><td><p>5818</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Scotland</p></td><td><p>784</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wales</p></td><td><p>480</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><ul><li>The project that led on delivering our new PCs instructed offices to place the number of devices they have for replacement. However, some offices ordered a reduced number of devices based on capacity in the office and the need of customers at that time.</li><li>We closed a number of offices between 2017 and 2019. In the past twelve months, we have closed a further 9 sites and completed 7 co-locations and where those offices were co-located, DWP devices were not installed because PCs for public use were provided by the Local Authority or Third Party.</li></ul><p> </p><p>We also have improved access to our Wi-Fi services in all jobcentres, allowing customers to use their own personal devices to access internet services.</p><p> </p><p>We also constantly review the number of PC’s available for customers and have capacity to increase the number of devices quickly, if the need arises.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 27/01/2020 17:44:24 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1521177

	registered interest
	date	12/10/2022
	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
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests for reviews of existing awards of Personal Independence Payments her Department has received since 1 August 2021.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	61770
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/10/2022 answer text <p>The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) reviews initiated by the claimant, Change of Circumstances, can be found on <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Stat-Xplore</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The relevant data set is ‘PIP Award Review Registrations’, which can be filtered using the Intervention Indicator for Change of Circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html" target="_blank">here.</a></p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho question first answered 17/10/2022 13:13:44 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1143938

	registered interest
	date	02/09/2019
	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	Post Office Card Account
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the end on the Post Office Card Account on vulnerable people that use that service.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	285121
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2019 answer text <p>The Department’s contract with Post Office Limited for the Post Office Card Account is due to end in 2021.</p><p>For vulnerable customers who are unable to open or operate a standard account, the Department will implement a replacement payment service.</p><p>Customer insight has influenced business requirements for the new service which outline the positive outcomes that must be achieved to ensure that the payment needs of individuals who are in a vulnerable situation are met. This includes the ability to obtain cash payments from a network of payment outlets in their local area (including suburban and rural locations).</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 05/09/2019 11:08:58 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1140856

	registered interest
	date	22/07/2019
	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	Pensions
	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 plans to take to limit a person's pension age rise when age eligibility for the state pension is increased.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	280183
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/08/2019 answer text <p>The Government published its review of State Pension age in July 2017. The report can be viewed here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/630065/state-pension-age-review-final-report.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/630065/state-pension-age-review-final-report.pdf</a>.</p><p>The next Government review of State Pension age will be completed within six years of that report.</p><p>The Pensions Act 2014 requires the Government to regularly review State Pension age and report to Parliament, to help to ensure the rules about State Pension age are appropriate having regard to life expectancy and the costs of increasing longevity are shared fairly between the generations, and provide greater clarity around the plans for changing State Pension age in the future.</p><p> </p><p>The changes to State Pension age became law following consultation and extensive debates in Parliament. During the passage of the Pensions Act 2011, Parliament introduced limits to person’s State Pension age rise, worth £1.1 billion, which reduced the proposed increase in State Pension age for over 450,000 men and women, meaning that no woman will see her pension age change by more than 18 months, relative to the original 1995 Act timetable.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 12/08/2019 10:22:41 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1137502

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	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	Disability: Medical Examinations
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what specific qualifications are required to operate as a disability assessor for her Department.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	274452
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2019 answer text <p>Health Professionals that carry out Work Capability and Personal Independence Payment assessments on behalf of the department must have the following qualifications and experience:</p><p> </p><ul><li>are an occupational therapist, nurse, physiotherapist, doctor (or paramedic - PIP only)</li><li>fully registered with the relevant licensing body (doctors must have a licence to practise)</li><li>the licensing body has not placed any sanctions on the health professional's registration</li><li>at least 2 years post full registration experience or less than 2 years post full registration experience by specific agreement with the department.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Health Professionals are subject to a rigorous recruitment process followed by a comprehensive training programme in disability assessment for both physical and mental health conditions and have to be approved by the department. Health Professionals are then required to complete a programme of continuing professional development.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 11/07/2019 14:37:59 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1131301

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2019
	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	Pension Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of additional claims that will be made for pension credit following the limiting of free TV licences to people aged over 75 claiming that benefit.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	263077
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>The BBC made its announcement about future eligibility of free TV licences on Monday 10 June. It is too early for an assessment of the potential impact on additional Pension Credit claims to be made. Official statistics on the take-up of income related benefits, including pension credit at general Great Britain level can be found in the ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up in 2016 to 2017’ publication. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017</a></p><p>The Government is committed to ensuring that older people receive the support they are entitled to and the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits to potential customers; including information on <a href="https://gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://gov.uk/</a> , in leaflets and by telephone. DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit.</p><p>Potential customers can use the Pension Credit <a href="https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator</a> to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive. People wishing to claim Pension Credit can do so by calling 0800 99 1234.</p><p>One of the best ways to reach eligible customers is through trusted stakeholder working in the community and we have developed the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up. It can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit</a></p><p>The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits.</p><p>Most recently we have provided to relevant organisations a fact sheet about Pension Credit and the recent changes for mixed age couples to ensure that accurate information is available in the places where people are most likely to seek information.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 25/06/2019 13:34:48 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 123349 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1343067

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2021
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Correspondence
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many items of written correspondence from hon. Members sent to Ministers in her Department have been (a) received and (b) replied to since 1 April 2020; and how many of those responses were responded to by (i) Ministers and (ii) officials.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	25740
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/07/2021 answer text <p>The Cabinet Office is currently compiling data on the timeliness of responses to Hon. and Rt Hon. members from Government Departments and Agencies. This data will be released, and made available to Members, in due course.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 06/07/2021 12:22:33 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1127850

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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: Learning Disability
	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 support employers in creating equal opportunities for people with learning disabilities in the workplace.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
	tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
	uin	256951
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>Improving employment opportunities for people with a learning disability is a Government priority. We take a life course approach and are working with other Departments to tackle barriers to employment that start early in life. For example, we work with Department for Education on implementing the Maynard Task Force recommendations which help people with learning disabilities to access Apprenticeships. DWP is also testing ways to improve our support to this group, through initiatives like the Local Supported Employment proof of concept, which seeks to build our evidence base on how we can best help users of adult social care (many of whom have learning disabilities) to be able to work.</p><p> </p><p>Through Disability Confident, we are encouraging employers to offer more opportunities to disabled people, including people with a learning disability. Nearly 12,000 employers are signed up to the scheme and we recently announced our commitment to increase this number to 20,000 over the year.</p><p> </p><p>Access to Work supports disabled people, including those with learning disabilities, who are in work or participating on Traineeships, apprenticeships or supported internships. Last year, record numbers of people with learning disabilities received support from Access to Work, with figures up 22% on 16/17.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is working with the Supported Business Alliance (SBA) and The British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) to:</p><ul><li>help them develop a new quality mark for supported businesses and</li><li>to develop a new long term element of Access to Work to continue support for those already working for a supported business, and help more disabled people to join them.</li></ul><p>This will help those with the most severe barriers to work, including people with learning disabilities.</p><p> </p><p>We are investing £40m in a new Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme, which rolls out in late 2019 and is expected to benefit 10,000 people. It will provide highly personalised packages of employment support for disabled people, including those with a learning disability, who are at least a year away from moving into work.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 256950 question first answered 04/06/2019 14:00:20 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan